Prospero is a powerful magician in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, who has been shipwrecked on an island. In the play, he uses books to cast spells on creatures who are living on the island.
Although Prospero is a made-up character, books of spells exist, and a few of them are at the Folger Shakespeare Library! You can see one of them, called a grimoire, in the exhibition Very Like a Whale. The grimoire has drawings and instructions for casting spells.
You can learn more about the book, as well as spells and magic, by clicking here.
