The name of King Solomon has been associated with magic, spirits and secret wisdom for centuries. The Three Books of Solomon the King brings together three important texts from that tradition: The Key of Solomon the King, The Lesser Key of Solomon, and The Testament of Solomon. Together they offer a substantial introduction to the body of magical and demonological literature that developed around the legendary figure of Solomon.

The Key of Solomon the King appears here through the work of S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers, whose English edition was published in 1889 after his study of manuscripts held in the British Museum. The text is concerned with ceremonial magic: prayers and conjurations, planetary correspondences, pentacles, ritual preparation, magical circles, incense, garments and the instruments required for various operations. Mathers's edition also contains numerous plates illustrating the pentacles and other figures described in the text.

The Lesser Key of Solomon, or Lemegeton, belongs to a related but distinct grimoire tradition. Its best-known section, the Ars Goetia, catalogues spirits and the seals associated with them, together with material concerning their invocation and control. The Lost Book Project compilation identifies the version included here with L. W. de Laurence.

The final work, The Testament of Solomon, differs considerably in character. It is an ancient pseudepigraphical text presented as the testimony of Solomon himself, relating how the king acquires power over demons and questions them about their names, activities and the means by which they may be thwarted. F. C. Conybeare published an English translation in 1898.

These texts were composed and transmitted in very different periods, and none should be understood as the historical writings of the biblical King Solomon. Their importance lies instead in the long and complicated tradition that attached magical knowledge to his name.

Collected together, the three works provide a revealing survey of Solomonic magic, from ritual instructions and elaborate pentacles to catalogues of spirits and the legends that helped establish Solomon as one of the central figures in the history of Western ceremonial magic.