Originally thought to be the work of Dr. Charles Hacks, who contributed the preface entitled "Revelations of an Occultist", the book was later revealed to be the work of journalist and editor Gabriel Jogand-Pagés, also known as "Leo Taxil," who later confessed to fabricating the book as an anticlerical hoax.
Dr. Bataille [pseud. of Gabriel Jogand-Pagés], Le Diable au XIX. Siècle. Paris : 1892