The Key of Solomon is the most famous, or infamous, of all magical textbooks. The Key is of unknown origin, although Mathers, who prepared this edition from seven manuscripts in the British Museum, accepts the authorship of King Solomon. The King instructs his disciples in incantations that summon and master the spirits. The process of summoning these beings illustrates the extraordinary complexity of Western ritual magic -- the choice of a time and place, preliminary prayers, fasting, fumigations, and preparations, as well as the manufacture of magical equipment, robes, and trappings.

This work is of interest not only as the most celebrated of the Western magical texts, but also because it is edited by MacGregor Mathers, who was head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, perhaps the most influential of all modern magical groups. While Mathers detested black magic, The Key itself amply demonstrates that the distinction between black magic and white, evil magic and good, is not so simply drawn.

Included in this edition is a new foreword by R. A. Gilbert, esoteric scholar and antiquarian bookseller. Gilbert highlights the importance of the Key as a primary source for those interested in Western ritual magic, as well as the historical background and contemporary magical contexts of Mather's editorial work and commentary.