The Key of Solomon is probably the most famous of all Grimoires, and the best known translation is that by Mathers The oldest of the manuscripts used by him is probably 16th century but there are however older texts, including several English manuscripts, three Hebrew manuscripts and an ancient Greek manuscript version of this Grimoire.

De Nigromancia, or, Concerning the Black Art, is a Latin manuscript attributed to Roger Bacon, first appearing some time in the 16th century. The text is concerned with Goetic summonings, especially of wraiths. Goetia is the common name for that branch of Ceremonial Magic that deals with the conjuration of infernal spirits or demons.

A scarce French grimoire text, considered the companion volume to the infamous Le Dragon Rouge or Red Dragon, a French version of the medieval Grand Grimoire. It contains, with specific instructions on making a demonic pact and diagrams of talismans.

Le Dragon Rouge or the Red Dragon is another "black book" that is also known as a Grand Grimoire. It was published in 1822. It allegedly dates back to 1522, however there is no concrete evidence to substantiate this. The Red Dragon is considered by some to be the source of black magic and demonic evocation.

The Grimoire of Armadel is supposedly translated from the original French and Latin of a manuscript in the Biblotheque l'Arsenal in Paris. This Christian grimoire contains many of the important seals and sigils of the various demons and planetary spirits.

Another grimoire is the Grimoire of Honorius, a catalogue of fallen angels and how to raise them. This book was credited to Pope Honorius III, who succeeded Pope Innocent III in 1216. The book is full of Christian benedictions and formulae. "It not only instructed priests in the arts of demonology but virtually ordered them to learn how to conjure and control demons, as part of their job." It was recommended that the sorcerer wrote the grimoire with his own hand to obtain the power of the spells.

The True Grimoire. Originally claimed to be published in French, by an Egyptian named Alibek, in 1517 in Memphis (Egypt). The book claims a connection to Solomon but many believe that it was really written in the 18th century. The work concentrates on rituals for summoning of demons, and gives "Characters" for some of these demons.

Also known as the Red Book, the Grand Grimoire is a name given to a collection of invocations, spells and elementary magic, supposedly from the pen of King Solomon, but almost certainly no older than the sixteenth century. This text constitutes one of the more famous and outrageous Grimoires of black magic. A. E. Waite pronounced this the most fantastic of the texts of the Black Magic cycle, and "one of the most atrocious of its class.

It is claimed that this text was written by Albertus Magnus in 1272, in French. The work contains instructions for the creation of such magical aids as the Hand of Glory, often featured in trials for witchcraft.

The Necronomicon was written in Damascus in 730 A.D. by Abdul Alhazred. The Necronomicon (literally: "Book of Dead Names") is not, as is popularly believed, a grimoire, or sorcerer's spell-book. It was conceived as a history, and hence "a book of things now dead and gone". An alternative derivation of the word Necronomicon gives as its meaning "the book of the customs of the dead", but again this is consistent with the book's original conception as a history, not as a work of necromancy.