Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLACK'-BOOK, n. [black and book.]

1. The black-book of the Exchequer in England, is a book said to have been composed in 1175, by Gervais of Tilbury. It contains a description of the court of Exchequer, its officers, their ranks and privileges, wages, perquisites and jurisdiction, with the revenues of the crown, in money, grain and cattle. – Encyc.
2. Any book which treats of necromancy. – Encyc.
3. A book compiled by order of the visitors of monasteries, under Henry VIII., containing a detailed account of the enormities practiced in religious houses, to blacken them and to hasten their dissolution. – Encyc.