8vo., seventeenth century acid calf, plain sides; spine with five raised bands and gilt decoration within the compartments, except for the one with the red morocco title label. Minor wear to the front joint, board edges gilt, all edges marbled.The first appearance of this work by Lavater, a Protestant minister from Zurich, was in 1570, and there were several subsequent editions into the next century. Examples from the sixteenth century are uncommon (and most institutional references are to copies on microfilm). Lavater's treatise focuses on night-walking spirits of the dead [lemures] and ghosts, which presage great events such as the fall of an empire or some natural disaster. His contention, in part, is that many of these apparitions are not the souls of the dead but are in fact the work of demons. The book is considered by some as a precursor of the study of psychology four centuries hence. See: Thorndike VI, 530. Adams. L 301. Caillet II. 434.