The Red Dragon has been variously treated as a grimoire, a piece of folk literature, and a joke manuscript; it comprises one part of what is loosely termed "The Grand Grimoire"- a collection of magickal works from the Renaissance such as the Black Pullet and Lesser Keys of Solomon.

The Red Dragon however bears the title "Grand Grimoire" on its own. Multiple editions of it exist, some with material tacked on. It takes the form of a long ritualistic ceremony designed to secure communication with a demon known as "Lucifuge Rofocale" followed by various invocations and incantations and spells.

The contents are heretical in the extreme, from rituals involving boiling a black cat to the use of toxic substances in ritual form. Small wonder, that this text has gained so much notoreity.