Two books share a French title and little else. One was copied by hand in the 1450s, a vellum list of spirits with their seals and threats. The other was dictated by séance tables in the 1850s, a systematic philosophy of reincarnation and moral progress. Livre des Esperitz is a medieval grimoire of conjuration; Le Livre des Esprits is Allan Kardec’s 1857 founding text of Spiritism. They are not translations, not sequels, not even distant cousins. They belong to different worlds, and confusing them tells you more about the limits of library cataloging than about either book.
What Each Book Actually Contains
Livre des Esperitz (The Book of Spirits) survives in a single manuscript, BnF français 25345, held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It lists 37 spirits, each with a name, a rank (king, duke, marquis), a physical description, and a seal. The text tells the conjuror what the spirit teaches: Bael makes a man invisible, Paimon teaches arts and sciences, Beleth inspires love. It is a practical manual. The language is late medieval French, the tone direct. No philosophy, no moral framework, no afterlife system. Just names, seals, and commands.
Le Livre des Esprits (The Spirits’ Book) runs over 500 pages in its standard edition. It is structured as a catechism: 1,019 questions posed by Allan Kardec to spirits through mediums, with the spirits’ answers recorded and organized. The topics cover God, creation, the spirit world, reincarnation, morality, and the purpose of life. It is a doctrinal work, meant to be studied, not conjured from. The spirits are not named individuals but a collective voice. The book’s authority rests on the consistency of messages received across multiple séances in Paris between 1854 and 1856.
One is a tool. The other is a scripture.
History and Origins: Two Centuries Apart
Livre des Esperitz was composed around 1450, likely in northern France. It belongs to a family of manuscripts that scholars call the “Lemegeton” tradition, though the Lemegeton itself was compiled later, in the 17th century. The Livre des Esperitz shares spirits with the later Ars Goetia: Bael, Agares, Vassago, and others appear in both, often with identical ranks and powers. The manuscript was probably used by a cleric or a learned magician. It was not printed until modern facsimiles appeared. For centuries it sat in the royal library, unread.
Le Livre des Esprits was published on 18 April 1857 in Paris. Allan Kardec, born Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail in 1804, was a former educator who turned to spiritualism after attending séances in 1854. He noticed that different mediums produced consistent answers to the same questions. He compiled those answers, organized them, and published them under the pseudonym “Allan Kardec” (a name he believed he had used in a past life). The book sold steadily and by 1862 had gone through four editions. It became the cornerstone of Spiritism, a movement that spread to Brazil, where it remains a major religious influence today.
The two books share no textual lineage. The Livre des Esperitz draws on earlier demonological lists (the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of Johann Weyer, 1563, is a close relative). Le Livre des Esprits draws on 19th-century spiritualist phenomena and the philosophy of reincarnation. They are separated by 400 years and by a fundamental shift in how Europeans understood spirits: as enemies to be bound, or as teachers to be consulted.
Purpose and Practice: Conjuration vs. Communication
The Livre des Esperitz is a grimoire. It assumes a world where spirits are dangerous, hierarchical, and bound by divine names. The practitioner draws the seal, recites the conjuration, and demands obedience. The goal is practical power: invisibility, knowledge, love, treasure. The spirits are not your friends. The book includes threats: if the spirit does not appear, the conjuror burns sulfur and repeats the names. It is a coercive relationship.
Le Livre des Esprits is a philosophy. It assumes a world where spirits are discarnate humans, progressing through multiple lives toward moral perfection. The practitioner does not command them. The practitioner asks questions, through a medium, and receives guidance. The goal is self-improvement and understanding of the afterlife. The spirits are not demons; they are ancestors, teachers, and sometimes lower beings who need help. There is no seal, no circle, no threat.
We keep both on our reference shelves. One is a manual of evocation, the other a manual of mediumship. They are not interchangeable.
Influence and Legacy: Two Different Streams
The Livre des Esperitz had a quiet afterlife. It was copied into the Lemegeton, which became the Ars Goetia of the Lesser Key of Solomon. Through that channel, it influenced the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley’s Goetia (1904), and the modern occult revival. Most contemporary practitioners who work with the 72 spirits of the Goetia are using a tradition that passes through the Livre des Esperitz, even if they never see the manuscript.
Le Livre des Esprits founded a religion. Spiritism has millions of adherents, especially in Brazil, where it blends with Afro-Brazilian traditions like Umbanda. Kardec’s books are studied in Spiritist centers, used for moral education, and cited in debates about reincarnation and mediumship. The book has never been an occult grimoire. It is a doctrinal text, closer to a catechism than to a spellbook.
The confusion arises because both titles translate to “The Book of Spirits” in English. A search for “Livre des Esprits” in a library catalog might return the grimoire under a variant spelling. But the contents are unmistakable once opened.
Common Misconceptions
Misconception 1: They are the same book under different titles.
No. The Livre des Esperitz is a 15th-century manuscript. Le Livre des Esprits is a 19th-century printed book. They are separate works with separate authors, separate purposes, and separate traditions.
Misconception 2: Le Livre des Esprits is a translation of the Livre des Esperitz.
The reverse is sometimes assumed because the grimoire is older. But Kardec never referenced the medieval text. His sources were the séances of his time, not Renaissance demonology.
Misconception 3: Both are about summoning demons.
Only the Livre des Esperitz involves conjuration. Le Livre des Esprits explicitly rejects the idea of evil spirits as demons in the Christian sense. It teaches that all spirits are imperfect beings on a path of progress.
Misconception 4: The spirits in one are the same as the spirits in the other.
The Livre des Esperitz names specific entities (Bael, Paimon, Beleth). Le Livre des Esprits rarely names individual spirits; it presents a collective wisdom. The two systems do not recognize each other’s spirit populations.
FAQ
Are Livre des Esperitz and Le Livre des Esprits the same book?
No. They share a similar French title but are completely different works from different centuries, traditions, and purposes.
Which one is older?
Livre des Esperitz, copied around 1450. Le Livre des Esprits was published in 1857.
Can you use both in practice?
You can study both, but they belong to incompatible frameworks. One assumes spirits are coercible; the other assumes they are teachers. Mixing them requires careful discernment.
Is one more dangerous than the other?
The Livre des Esperitz is a grimoire of evocation, traditionally considered risky without proper protection. Le Livre des Esprits is a philosophical work; its practice (mediumship) carries its own ethical and psychological challenges, but not the same kind of risk.
Closing
The two books share a language, not a lineage. One is a medieval key to commanding spirits; the other is a modern key to conversing with them. If you are working with the Goetia, you are following a path that passes through the Livre des Esperitz. If you are studying Spiritism, you are following Kardec. They are not rivals. They are separate doors into separate rooms of the same house. For more on grimoire traditions, see our guide to grimoires. For the spirit hierarchy of the Livre des Esperitz, start with the Ars Goetia. And for the philosophy of spirit communication, visit our glossary entry on Spiritism.