Editing Witchcraft: Modern Reproductions of Early Modern Witchcraft Pamphlets
Information about witchcraft and the ensuing trials was generally disseminated to the public in Early Modern England through pamphlets. The writers of such pamphlets were not the witches themselves, nor were they the parties claiming to be harmed by the witches. In reading the pamphlets, it becomes apparent that the writers of such pamphlets had their own agenda in printing sensational stories of confessions, trials, and maleficium. In effect these writers were the first editors of witchcraft. Now many of these pamphlets have been collected in modern anthologies. However, each editor’s collection is distinct.
This paper is a bibliographical study in which I explore the agendas behind the editing of such pamphlets, and the editing practices which affect the modern readers’ responses to them. I will be using one pamphlet, A True and Just Recorde, of the Information, Examination and Confessions of All the Witches Taken at S. Oses in the Countie of Essex, and its appearance in three different anthologies, as a case study. This pamphlet is specifically chosen because Brian Darcy, the original editor of the women’s stories, had his own agenda and editing practices, which affected the contemporary reception of the story, and now affects our scholarly interpretation of the events described.
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