Definition of "grimoire"

There is something exceedingly unpleasant in being obliged to answer "No," to a traveller's "Pray, Sir, were you ever abroad?" and to sit mum-chance all the time that he is running over the "grimoire" of outlandish technicalities. For my own part, I am convinced that man is, par excellence, a travelling animal; [...]

1821, “M.” [pseudonym], “The Traveller”, in The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, volume II (Original Papers), number XII, London: Henry Colburn and Co. […], page 544

One day, a curate of the neighbourhood of Bayeux, who kept up a constant intercourse with the devil, left his grimoire thoughtlessly on the table. His domestic, a lad who was very curious, had long sought an opportunity to open the mysterious book. [...] Scarcely had he pronounced a certain word, which presented itself accidentally to his eyes, when the devil suddenly made his appearance in the form of a great black man, with red eyes, and a terrible mouth. [...] The poor man was nearly dead with fright, and promised readily that he would never again read in the grimoire.

1835 August, “Contes Populaires, Préjugés, Patois, Proverbes, Noms de Lieux, de l’Arrondisement de Bayeux, recueillis et publiés par Frédéric Pluquet. Deuxième Edition, 8vo. Rouen. Londres, Pickering. [book review]”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume IV (New Series), London: William Pickering; John Bowyer Nichols and Son, page 159, column 2

The Kabalah for Paracelsus, when it is not something quite fantastic and unimaginable, is a species of practical magic, and here we shall do well to remember that the adept of Hohenheim flourished at a period when, as we have seen, the spurious literature of clavicles and grimoires was fast multiplying.

1902, Arthur Edward Waite, “Book VII: Some Christian Students of the Kabalah”, in The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, London: The Theosophical Publishing Society, page 353

There is extant among the old Grimoires a prayer attributed to the St. Cyprian of legend, who is possibly the holy Bishop of Carthage: its obscure and figurative expressions may have given credit to the idea that prior to his conversion he was addicted to the deadly practices of Black Magic.

1922, Éliphas Lévi [pseudonym; Alphonse Louis Constant], “Legends”, in Arthur Edward Waite, transl., A History of Magic: Including a Clear and Precise Exposition of Its Procedure, Its Rites and Its Mysteries [...] Translated, with a Preface and Notes, 2nd edition, London: William Rider & Son, Limited, […], page 203

Nevertheless, to generations of writers after Independence, the printed word was a kind of magic, the grimoire that would bring about liberation.

1976, Jean Franco, “Preface”, in César Vallejo: The Dialectics of Poetry and Silence, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, page viii

In this conjuration you are calling the spirit and helping the seer to further attune to the spirit so she can see it through the magic mirror. The name of the spirit you are evoking is left blank. Fill it in from one of the spirits listed later in this book or from one of the grimoires.

1994, Donald Michael Kraig, “The Conjuration”, in The Truth about Evocation of Spirits (Llewellyn’s Vanguard Series), St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, page 36

If writing was so important to grimoire magic, what was the effect of the print revolution from the late fifteenth century onwards? [...] While print drained power from the grimoire in terms of its magical integrity, it also empowered it through growing access and social influence. Furthermore, print did not usurp the role of manuscript; the magic latent in the words contained in print grimoires could be reactivated through transcription.

2009, Owen Davies, “Introduction”, in Grimoires: A History of Magic Books, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 5

One well-known grimoire is called The Grand Grimoire, sometimes called The Red Dragon. This book was published sometime between the early 1500s and the 1700s (historians are not sure exactly when). It describes many frightful demons, including their names, habits, and powers. [...] A grimoire called the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum offers similar help. Published around 1583, this book lists 68 demons. It explains the rituals that summon each entity, and also pinpoints the best hours to perform these rituals.

2011, Kris Hirschmann, “Associating with Demons”, in Demons (Monsters and Mythical Creatures), San Diego, Calif.: ReferencePoint Press, page 46