The Gates to Mystery: Title Pages
These two images show the title pages of the grimoires, Les Vrais Clavicules and Enchiridion. Both texts claim to contain sacred knowledge of ancient religious figures, and their use of complex pentacles with Hebrew text on their title pages demonstrates this desire to appear archaic and mysterious. The more time-tested and secret the knowledge contained within, the more desirable the text.
Just from the title pages, one can see differences in the books. Les Vrais Clavicules, hand-written and hand-illustrated, contains the signs of a personal touch, with messy lines and a small doodle of a sun with a face. The printed title page of Enchiridion, on the other hand, has neat lines, is largely in Latin, claims to have originated in Rome, and marks its apparent date of publication in roman numerals. The page contains only three French words, contained in the outer ring of the pentacle. This use of Latin presents the grimoire as a text of lofty, inaccessible knowledge, whereas the homely style of the title page of Les Vrais Clavicules, which is mostly in French, presents the text as more accessible to the common sorcerer. These presentations show the reader what to expect of the rest of the grimoires' contents.