The art and science of magic in premodern Europe: Anthony Grafton: Magus: the art of magic from Faustus to Agrippa. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023, 289 pp, $39.95 HB.

The article discusses Anthony Grafton's book "Magus: the art of magic from Faustus to Agrippa," which explores the history of intellectual magicians in late fifteenth and sixteenth-century Europe. Grafton focuses on figures like Ficino, Pico, Trithemius, and Agrippa, examining their roles in shaping the concept of magic within intellectual communities. The book pays homage to earlier scholars like Frances Yates while also critiquing their approaches to medieval magic texts. Grafton's work delves into the connections between magic, philosophy, engineering, and cryptography, highlighting the complex interplay between these disciplines in premodern Europe. [Extracted from the article]