Like many demonologists before him, de Plancy set out to create an accounting of demonic events and forces in his book, Dictionnaire Infernal. By the sixth edition of the Dictionnaire Infernal, published in 1863, whether influenced by his conversion or simply thanks to extra resources, de Plancy included illustrations.

It was written by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy and first published in 1818[citation needed]. His images were based on his imagination and previous sources, such as grimoires, folklore, and art.He also aimed to provide instruction on both the history and the practical utility of the more exalted among Satan’s minions. The text and images of the spirits, from the 1863 edition are presented here, in this Infernal Dictionary. There is ambiguity in the book’s project itself, for what could be more modern than the dictionary, and yet what could be more antique than the knowledge collected in this particular dictionary? He joined forces with Collin de Plancy to provide 69 engravings of various demons for the 1863 edition of the Dictionnaire Infernal.

In his later editions of the Dictionnaire Infernal, he affirmed the existence and power of the demons and added many engravings and stories to illustrate their nature and actions. De Plancy published dozens of titles in his lifetime, but he never surpassed the success (or infamy) of the Dictionnaire Infernal, which first appeared in 1818 and was followed by several updated editions. Anecdotes of the nineteenth century or stories, recent anecdotes, features and little known words, singular adventures, various quotations, compilations and curious pieces, to be used for the history of the customs and the mind of the century in which we live, compared with centuries past.He combined the rectilinear logic of men like Voltaire and Diderot with the chthonic visions of the symbolist and decadent poets of a generation later — Rimbaud, Baudelaire, and Verlaine, who drunkenly stomped through the rainy streets of Paris clutching their fleurs du mal. He collaborated with Jacques Paul Migne, a French priest, to complete a Dictionary of the Occult Sciences or Theological Encyclopaedia, which is described as an authentic Roman Catholic work. And it’s a good thing he did, as the bizarre images that accompanied the text are some of the most indelible depictions of demons ever created.