Death's Library

Death's Library (published 1448) is a book by the 15th century magician Peter Watershippe. Naturally a copy was in the possession of Gilbert Norrell and contained a spell, One Spell to Discover what My Enemy is doing Presently, he personally copied out, intending John Childermass to use it in his efforts to drive Vinculus out of London[20]. Instead, by a series of coincidences, the spell came into the hands of Jonathan Strange and inspired him to his first act of magic[22].