author

John Linwood Pitts

1836–1917

A careful late-Victorian writer and editor, this author helped preserve the language, folklore, and local history of the Channel Islands. His best-known work gathers witchcraft trial records from Guernsey and frames them with clear historical commentary.

1 Audiobook

Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands Transcripts from the Official Records of the Guernsey Royal Court, with an English Translation and Historical Introduction

Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands Transcripts from the Official Records of the Guernsey Royal Court, with an English Translation and Historical Introduction

by John Linwood Pitts

About the author

Born in 1836 and dying in 1917, he is remembered today for Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands (1886), a work that draws on the official records of the Guernsey Royal Court. The book shows his interest in local history and in making archival material accessible to general readers.

The title pages and catalog records linked to his surviving books also show a wider scholarly focus. He was connected with Guernsey’s literary world, edited The Patois Poems of the Channel Islands, and worked on texts in the Franco-Norman dialects of Guernsey and Sark.

What makes his writing appealing now is its mix of research and curiosity. Rather than treating folklore as mere ornament, he preserved documents, language, and traditions that might otherwise have faded from view.