A magic circle is circle or sphere of space marked out by practitioners of many branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. 18th century demonology book showing various demon figures, as well as magic and cabbalistic signs. The full Latin title of Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros, roughly translates to "A rare summary of the entire Magical Art by the most famous Masters of this Art". The bulk of the illustrations depict a varied bestiary of grotesque demonic creatures up to all sorts of appropriately demonic activities, such as chewing down on severed legs, spitting fire and snakes from genitalia, and parading around decapitated heads on sticks. In addition there are illustrations relating to necromancy, the act of communicating with the dead in order to gain information about, and possibly control, the future. Written in German and Latin, on white, brown and grey-green paper, the book has been dated to around 1775, although the unknown author tried to pass it off as an older relic, mentioning the year 1057 in the title page.