These calendar pages come from the rare book Calendrier Magique, which was printed in France in 1895 in a small run of 777 copies.

The larger images in the calendar are by Manuel Orazi, an Italian lithographer working in Paris who produced art for stage posters, books, and theatre sets.

Count Austin de Croze, who compiled the text for the calendar, was a folklorist who wrote on French foodways, cataloging regional specialties and traditional dishes.

Did de Croze believe in the magical ideas that he collected in this calendar?

“The Devil is only the symbol of Evil, as God is the symbol of Good”, de Croze writes in a signed statement on the book’s last page, lending credence to the idea that the book was meant to serve as an anthropological curiosity and a work of art, rather than a sincere handbook for occult practice.

…Which I’d also be inclined to back up. While he does use a couple of symbols that are similar in style to traditional occult symbols, it’s more of an artistic rendition.

Via Slate.