If your goal is demonic lore or witch trial history, you may not need the full De Praestigiis. Consider these alternatives while you search for the full English PDF:
Weyer was a student of the great occult philosopher Cornelius Agrippa. Unlike later rationalists, Weyer fully believed in demons, the Devil, and magic. But he drew a sharp line: witches, he argued, were not willingly evil. Instead, they were deluded, melancholic, and physically ill. Their confessions of flying to sabbats, copulating with demons, and cursing crops were not real—they were praestigiae (illusions, deceptions) planted by demons.
This was revolutionary. In an era where Heinrich Kramer’s Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch’s Hammer) demanded the burning of witches, Weyer insisted that the “crime” of witchcraft was impossible. Only demons could perform supernatural harm. Old women who thought they were witches were pitiable victims of their own biology and demonic trickery.
Short answer: No, not legally.
Because the 1991 Shea translation is still under copyright (and the rights are held by an academic press), you will not find a legitimate, free, complete PDF on JSTOR, Google Books, or Archive.org.
You will find:
Weyer’s original Latin text is in the public domain. However, complete modern English translations are rare. The most accessible English version remains: de praestigiis daemonum english translation pdf
Legitimate ways to read or access the text:
Warning: Many websites claiming to offer a free PDF of the complete English translation are either (a) the Latin original mislabeled, (b) a short excerpt, or (c) pirated copies of the Mora translation. Downloading copyrighted translations without permission is illegal.
De Praestigiis Daemonum is a sprawling work, part medical treatise, part theological argument, part grimoire. Weyer systematically dissects: If your goal is demonic lore or witch
The Verdict: ★★★★½ (Essential Reading for History of Psychology and Occultism)
Johann Weyer’s De Praestigiis Daemonum (On the Tricks of Demons) is one of the most audacious and intellectually dangerous books of the 16th century. Written in 1563, at the height of the European witch craze, Weyer—a physician and disciple of the famed occultist Cornelius Agrippa—dared to suggest that the thousands of women being burned at the stake were not servants of Satan, but victims of their own minds.
For modern readers seeking an English translation PDF, this text offers a fascinating, albeit sometimes frustrating, window into the transition between medieval superstition and early modern medicine. Weyer was a student of the great occult