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We are always interested in buying occult first editions, from a single title to whole collections. You can contact us by email or telephone: +44 (0)20 7937 1465.
ANONYMOUS. (A Society of the Brethren). The Free-Masons’ Calendar: or, an Almanac, For the Year of Christ 1775, and Anno Lucis MMMMMDCCLXXV, being the Third after Bissextile, or Leap-Year: Containing, Besides an accurate and useful Calendar of all remarkable Occurrences for the Year, Many useful and curious Particulars relating to Masonry. Inscribed, with great respect, To the Right Honourable Lord Petre, Grand Master. By a Society of the Brethren. Est et fideli tuta Silento Merces. London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, 1775. [32418] FIRST EDITION. Small octavo (160 x 97mm) pp. 48. Bound in recent full speckled calf , gilt title along spine between two raised bands with gilt rules. New plain endpapers, with older all edges gilt. Title printed in red and black featuring an allegorical woodcut. Faint stamp to title page and occasional light browning to pages. Narrow margins with catchword to B7 just touched by the binder’s knife. The first annual Calendar issued by Grand Lodge. A very good copy of a rare work: no auction records for the past 30 years. £1,250 Vibert [(b) 14]; Wolfstieg [790]
BIRD, J.Malcolm. [DOYLE, A.Conan] My Psychic Adventures. London, George Allen & Unwin 1923 [25953] FIRST EDITION. An account of the American Bird’s investigations into spiritualism, who, together with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, held seances with some of the best-known English mediums of the time. Publisher’s cloth in original dust jacket, edges lightly spotted else fine, in very good jacket, a little nicked and marked with some tanning and a rectangular sticker neatly removed from upper panel. With the original bookseller’s ticket of John M.Watkins.£95
BOEHME, Jacob. [REGARDIE, Israel.] The Signature of All Things and Other Discourses. London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1934. [29811] Everyman’s Library reprinted edition. Blue cloth, with gilt titles to spine. ISRAEL REGARDIE’S COPY, with his ink signature to flyleaf and his Golden Dawn inspired bookplate to front pastedown. £95
ISRAEL REGARDIE’S COPY
CARRINGTON, Hereward. [REGARDIE, Israel] The Case for Psychic Survival. New York: The Citadel Press, 1957. [27168] FIRST EDITION. Octavo pp. 157. Publisher’s black paper covered boards with white cloth spine, titled in black and white endpapers. Light browning to spine with waterstain at foot, which can just be seen at the bottom of the first and last leaves. Browning to pages, otherwise clean internally. WONDERFUL INSCRIPTION BY THE AUTHOR: ‘To Francis Regardie | fellow researcher into the unknown | from | Hereward (Carrington.)’. A nice association between the famous researcher into psychic phenomena and the great adept of the Golden Dawn tradition. £225
ISRAEL REGARDIE’S COPY WITH HIS BOOKPLATE
CARRINGTON, Hereward. [REGARDIE, Israel] Laboratory Investigations into Psychic Phenomena. London: Rider and Co., n.d. [1939] [27169] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo pp.255. Publisher’s burgundy buckram with gilt titles to spine and white endpapers. A little rubbing and light soiling to the cloth, clean internally. Regardie’s Golden Dawn inspired symbolic bookplate to front pastedown. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR: ‘To Israel Regardie | with warm personal | regards, and best wishes. | Hereward Carrington.’. A nice association between the famous researcher into psychic phenomena and the great adept of the Golden Dawn tradition. £250
ISRAEL REGARDIE’S COPY
CARRINGTON, Hereward. [REGARDIE, Israel] Psychic Science and Survival. An Essay in Psychical Research. (Bulletin V). New York: The American Psychical Institute (Two Worlds), n.d. [1948] [27163] FIRST EDITION (UK ISSUE). Small octavo pp. 90. Publisher’s tan cloth, titles in brown to upper and spine. Browning to endpapers otherwise clean internally. This is the UK issue, published by the long running Spiritualist magazine Two Worlds. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR to the front free endpaper: ‘F. I. Regardie | with sincerest regards | and all best! | Hereward Carrington.’ A nice association between the famous researcher into psychic phenomena and the great adept of the Golden Dawn tradition. £145
CROWLEY, Aleister. FOR BOOKS BY ALEISTER CROWLEY CLICK HERE
ENNEMOSER, Joseph. (HOWITT, William Trans.) The History of Magic. By Joseph Ennemoser. Translated from the German by William Howitt. To which is Added an Appendix of the Most Remarkable and Best Authenticated Stories of Apparitions, Dreams, Second Sight, Somnambulism, Predictions, Divination, Witchcraft, Vampires, Fairies, Table-Turning, and Spirit-Rapping. Selected by Mary Howitt. London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1854. [33575] FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Two Vols. small octavos pp. xvi, 471; viii, 518. Contemporary red half morocco over brown pebbled cloth boards, raised bands with gilt panneling and titles to spines with marbled endpapers. Top edges gilt others lightly trimmed. Some rubbing to joints and extremities, though binding still shows well. Bookplate of Theo L. De Vine to both front pastedowns and another owner’s ink name to flyleaves. A little staining and foxing to first blanks, otherwise pages are clean and free from writing or other marks. A very good set. £475
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FORTUNE, Dion. Moon Magic. Being the Memoirs of a Mistress of that Art. London: The Aquarian Press, 1956. [33163] FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Octavo pp. 241. Publisher’s blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. Original pictorial dust jacket, printed in grey, blue and white. A near fine copy of the book in a very good dust jacket. The Lanta Spurrier designed jacket is a little rubbed to edges, with minor chips to head and foot of spine, but is complete and not price-clipped and just a little faded to the spine. Her last occult novel - a sequel to The Sea Priestess (1938) and published after her death. £95
‘All women are Isis, and Isis is all women.’
FORTUNE, Dion. The Sea Priestess. London: Published by the Author, 1938. [33162] FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Octavo pp. 316, [2 ads.] Publisher’s light blue cloth with gilt tiles to spine, top edge blue, in original grey/brown dust jacket, printed in dark blue. A very good copy of the book in near fine dust jacket, with browning to cloth corresponding with the browning to the jacket. Top edge slightly faded, pages clean. The jacket is not price clipped and is only lightly rubbed at the edges, with no tears or loss - a rare survival. Browned to spine and edges. It has part of the author’s introduction printed to the upper panel, above her name and address (3 Queensborough Terrace) and adverts for The Winged Bull and The Goat Foot God to the lower. The last of Dion Fortune’s occult novels to be published in her lifetime, featuring the enigmatic Miss Le Fay Morgan as the priestess of a revived cult of an ancient goddess. Uncommon in dust jacket. £350
FORTUNE, Dion. The Winged Bull. A Romance of Modern Magic. London: Williams and Norgate, 1935. [33798] FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Octavo pp. 323. Bound in recent half brown morocco leather, cloth sides, raised bands and gilt titles to spine, plain endpapers. A clean, fine copy. £175
FLUDD, Robert. Philosophia Moysaica. In qua Sapientia et scientia creationis et creaturarum Sacra veréque Christiana (ut pote cujus basis sive Fundamentun est unicus ille Lapis Angularis Iesus Christus) ab amussin et enucleaté explicatur. Authore, Rob. Flud, alias De Fluctibus, Armigero et in Medicina Doctore Oxoniensi. [together with] Responsum ad Hoplocrisma-Spongum M. Fosteri Presbiteri... Gouda, Petrus Rammazenius 1638. [24521] FIRST EDITIONS. Two works in one volume. Small folio. pp.153, 30, [2 errata]. Modern full vellum, yapp edges, with ink titles to spine. Engraved title, image repeated as separate plate and again for the divisional title of second part, and other small woodcuts within the text. Some decorative initials and tail-pieces. Some browning to vellum as usual. Repair to bottom corner of first 4 leaves, with a little loss to the date numerals on the title page, occasional light contemporary underlining, otherwise a fresh clean copy with wide margins and strong bold type. Housed in a cloth drop-over box with leather title label to spine. Robert Fludd (1574-1637) was a doctor, alchemist and the foremost Rosicrucian apologist in 17th Century England. He published a series of folios, describing his mystical and alchemical cosmology. In the Philosophia Moysaica, his last work, we find a culmination of his theories of creation via the separation of the three principles of Light, Dark and Water (influenced by the Paracelsian theory of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt), by the divine alchemy of God. The second work is a reply to William Foster’s Hoplocrisma-Spongus: Or, a Sponge to Wipe Away the Weapon Salve, in which he accused Fludd and others who practiced this cure (the wound was kept clean but untreated, and the weapon was anointed with the patient’s blood or a mixture containing it) of witchcraft. An excellent copy of Fludd’s last work. £3,750 Craven [pp. 249, 251]; Gardner Rosic. [187, 186]
GEBER (HAYYAN Jabir Ibn) [PSEUDO-GEBER] Gebri Arabis. Chimicæ Cum Correctione et Medulla G: Horni M. d. Nor. Gebri Arabis Chimia sive Traditio summæ Perfectionis et Investigatio Magisterii innumeris locis emendata, à Caspare Hornio Medico Reip. Noribergensis Accessit ejusdem Medulla Alchimiæ Gebricæ Omnia Edita à Georgio Hornio. Lugduni Batauorum (Leiden): Arnoldo Doude, 1668. [24929] Duodecimo (137 x 70mm). pp. 279 (241-279 mispaginated as 141-179). Later full limp vellum, orange label with gilt titles to spine, plain endpapers. Engraved title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. A little soiling to vellum, rubbed to top corner of lower board and small split to upper board. Title label rubbed and chipped to edges. Bookplate of the Bibliotech Rosales Bernate to front pastedown, but no other library markings. Small ink stain to page 63, not affecting text, otherwise clean internally. Many works were attributed to Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan c.721 - 800) divided between the earlier, more authentic Greek influenced Arabic writings and the later spurious Pseudo-Geber, 13th and 14th Century Latin works. It is these latter works that are contained in this volume, particularly the famous Sum of Perfection, a concise and clearly written summary of alchemical theory and practice. The editor of this edition was Caspar Horn and he also contributed the Medulla Alchimiæ Gebricæ, a summation of Geber’s works in 100 aphorisms, which is printed here for the first time. This edition was not published until after his death by Georg Horn. £750 Caillet [4419]; Duveen [239]; Ferguson/Young [299]
GLANVIL, Joseph. Saducismus Triumphatus: Or, Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions. In Two Parts. The First Treating of their Possibility. The Second of their Real Existence. By Joseph Glanvil, late Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty, and fellow of the Royal Society. The Second Edition. The Advantages Whereof Above the Former, the Reader may Understand out of Dr. H. More’s Account Prefixed Thereunto. With Two Authentick, but Wonderful Stories of Certain Swedish Witches; done into English by Anth. Horneck D. D. London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, for S. Lownds at his Shop by the Savoy Gate, 1682. [28022] SECOND EDITION. Small octavo (180 x 110mm) pp. [Title, blank 16]; 52; [Title, blank, 10]; 162; [Title, blank, 4]; 78; [2 blank]; [Title, 10, blank]; 273; [blank]; [Title, blank]; 3-67; [blank]; [Title, blank]; 5-45; [blank]; [Title, blank, 16]; 3-24; [Errata, blank] Contemporary calf boards, later respine to style with four raised bands, no titles. All edges marbled with plain endpapers. Illustrated with frontispiece and engraved title showing six images, 3 small woodcuts within the text and 1 plate to the end of the last section. A contemporary ink note to verso of flyleaf, small ink name to title and occasional small ink pointers to margins. Old staining to the bottom corners of the last few leaves, otherwise the pages and plates are clean and undamaged. An excellent copy of this famous treatise seeking to prove the actual existence of real witchcraft. Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680) first published: Some Philosophical Considerations Touching the Being of Witches and Witchcraft in 1667. The credulousness of Glanvill, along with Meric Causabon and Henry More was derided by John Webster in his Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft of 1677. Henry More responded by republishing Glanvill’s work, adding much of his own material, in 1681, quickly followed by various other editions. The book strongly influenced Cotton Mather and was refered to at the Salem witch trials. His own Wonders of the Invisible World (1693) was largely modelled after this book and its arguments. The book is also famous for the telling of the Demon Drummer of Tedworth, an early poltergeist story. £975 Coumont [G38.5]
GRANT, Kenneth. Outside the Circles of Time. London: Frderick Muller Limited, 1980. [33567] FIRST EDITION. Octavo pp. 316. Publisher’s black cloth with gilt titles to spine, in original dust jacket. Illustrated with 24 black and white reproductions of paintings and two diagrams. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR to title page: ‘Kenneth Grant 1980 e.v.’ Pages browned as usual with this edition, small booksellers’ sticker to flyleaf. Creasing to the back of the jacket, otherwise near fine. £225 Bogdan [A16]
RARE AMERICAN 19TH CENTURY ALCHEMY
HITCHCOCK, Ethan Allen. Remarks upon Alchymists, and the Supposed Object of their Pursuit: Showing that the Philosopher's Stone, is a Mere Symbol, Signifying Something Which Could not be Expressed Openly Without Incurring the Danger of an Auto de Fé. By an Officer of the United States Army. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Printed for Private Circulation at the Herald Office, 1855. [29325] FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Pamphlet pp. 40. Sewn with yellow paper wraps, title page reproduced in black within a decorative border to upper cover. Slight creasing and small chip to spine, small brown spot to lower cover, fading through the last few leaves. Corners sharp without folding or creasing. Internally very clean with no writing or other marks; a remarkable survival. One of the earliest original publications on the subject of alchemy in the United States. Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1798 - 1870), the son of a lawyer, fought in the Mexican and US Civil Wars, rising to the rank of Major General. He was interested in Hermetic Philosophy and after leaving the army he dedicated himself to writing and collecting books on Hermeticism and Alchemy, forming probably the largest library on these subjects in the USA at that time. He expanded his ideas, the central argument of which was a more spiritual interpretation of alchemical symbolism, in Remarks on Alchemy and the Alchemists (Boston, 1857). The latter book is scarce; the 1855 publication is truly rare. It is noted in Pritchard's Alchemy, A Bibliography of English-Language Writings, but he could not locate a copy to examine. It appears in none of the other major bibliographies or collections. £1,450 Pritchcard [548]
LOGAN, William. History of Freemasonry in the City of Durham, in Connection with the Marquis of Granby Lodge, No. 124, of the Antient Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. London: George Kenning, 1886. [26560] FIRST EDITION. Octavo. pp. 107. Publisher’s bright blue cloth, gilt rule and titles to upper board and spine, blind rules to lower board, black endpapers. A touch of rubbing to the lower board and some light spotting to fore-edge. Essentialy a sharp, fine copy. £65 Gardner Masonic [124]; Wolsteig [6050]
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Rare Golden Dawn Related Manuscript
MATHERS, S. L. MacGregor; WESTCOTT, W. Wynn. [Golden Dawn - Enochian Chess] The Ancient Instruction on Chessman and Tarots: With the Elementary Notes of G. H. Fratres D. D. C. F. 7=4 and N. O. M. 7=4 Upon Chess and Chaturanga. (Y1 and Y2 Papers). London: c.1920s [32682] Manuscript, 22 lined pages, written in black ink on one side only. Original buff coloured card folder, tied through two holes, with a white ‘The Rosicrucian Order of the A. O.’ label to upper, printed in red. Numerous diagrams throughout, some symbols in coloured inks. A little light soiling to covers; pages clean and in excellent condition. The A. O. (Alpha et Omega Temple) was a descendant order of the original Golden Dawn, led by Moina MacGregor Mathers from around 1919 to her death in 1928, when Capt. E. Langford Garstin and Mrs.Trenchell-Hayes took over. Papers Y1 and Y2 were originally written by S. L. MacGregor Mathers and W. W. Westcott, circa 1895, for distribution to members of the second or inner order of the Golden Dawn, the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis. As usual with these rituals and instructional works, an official copy (Loan Copy No. 1) was made for lending to members, by Emily Burnett (Meus Conscia Sponsus), from which in this case, a copy was made by Dr Edmund Berridge (Resurgam). The present manuscript was copied from Berridge’s by a member with the motto Providentiae Me Committo - whose actual name I cannot discover. There are short notes in pencil by PMC to two pages and at the end. The printed label on the cover, indicating that this is a loan copy and should be returned to Mrs. MacGregor Mathers c/o Mrs Boyd, 36 Elm Park Road, Chelsea, SW3, has been signed by William Park and dated February 1930. The name of Mrs MacGregor Mathers and the Chelsea address have been crossed out and replaced with Langford Garstin’s. The description of Enochian Chess and correspondence with the Tarot contained in these papers, differs from those published by Israel Regardie in his The Golden Dawn (1937-40), since he gained his information from the Stella Matutina, another descendant order of the GD, which did not have access to all the original manuscripts held by the A.O. A rare survival of original Golden Dawn related material. £2,750
MIZAULD, Antoine. (Antonii Mizaldi Monluciani). De Arcanis Naturæ, Libelli quatuor. Editio tertia, Libellis duobus pulcherrimis aucta et locupletata. [Book of Secrets] Lutetiæ (Paris): Jacobum Keruer, 1558. [24886] Small octavo (110 x 70mm). ff. 158. including a 5 page bibliography at the end. Later full vellum with yapp edges and leather label with gilt titles to spine. Floral endpapers in pink, green and yellow. Green silk page-marker. Printer’s woodcut device to title page, head- and tail-pieces and decorated capitals to the epistle at the beginning of each of the four parts. A little soiling to vellum, faded ink name to title page and very occasional underlining or marginal notes by an early hand. Light toning to pages otherwise in excellent condition internally. Stated third edition in the title, but no earlier editions are mentioned in the book list printed at the end, and both Ferguson and Wellcome list this same title. Perhaps it is an early example of a familiar marketing ploy found throughout the history of publishing. There are no recent auction records for this title and it is not in Caillet, Bibliotheca Esoterica or L’Art Ancien. Ferguson, in his Books of Secrets, mentions it among titles he has only heard of, not seen. £975 Ferguson, Books of Secrets [Part IV p. 4]; Wellcome [4352]
PORTA, John Baptista. [Giambattista della Porta] Natural Magick By John Baptista Porta, A Neapolitane: in Twenty Books... Wherein are Set Forth All the Riches and Delights of the Natural Sciences. London: Printed for Thomas Young, and Samuel Speed; and are to be sold at the three Pigeons, and at the Angel in St. Paul’s Church-yard, 1658. [33569] FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Small folio (280 x 170mm) pp. 409 (mis-paginated 381-388 for 385-392), [blank], [6] table of contents. Bound in recent speckled parchment, gilt titles to spine label. Title in red and black. Illustrated with engraved title page and some woodcuts and diagrams throughout. Browning to some leaves and occasional marginal notes in an early hand. Chipping to the edges of the engraved title, title page and first leaf of the preface, without loss of text, but just touching top left of the title page border. Loss to top corner of page 135, not affecting text. A very good copy with the often lacking engraved title page showing a portrait of Porta and representations of the Four Elements, Chaos and of Art and Nature by R. Gaywood. First published in four books in 1558, it was later expanded to 20 books in 1589, of which this is the first translation into English. A work of popular science, it contains books on cosmology, geology, optics and lens making, plant products, medicines, poisons, cooking, transmutation of metals and chemical transformations, distillation, artificial gems, the properties of magnets, women’s cosmetics, fires, gunpowders and Greek fire, enamels and pottery colouring, invisible writing etc. £2,750 Coumont [P59.59] Ferguson ‘Books of Secrets’ [I.15] Toole Stott [576]
PRESENTATION COPY
REGARDIE, Israel. [KOLLERSTROM, Oscar] My Rosicrucian Adventure. A Contribution to a Recent Phase of the History of Magic, and a Study in the Technique of Theurgy. Chicago: The Aries Press, 1936. [26840] FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Octavo pp.144. Publisher’s red cloth, gilt titles to spine and white endpapers. Lacking the dust jacket. Rubbing to extremities, spine darkened. Internally clean with occasional light pencil lines to margins. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR: ‘To Oscar Kollerstrom | in token of my esteem | Israel Regardie’. Oscar Kollerstrom was a leading member of the The Theosophical Society, and a close associate of Annie Besant. He and Regardie worked together on meditation and relaxation techniques, some of which were published in Regardie’s Art of Relaxation. My Rosicrucian Adventure, not only contains Regardie’s personal experiences of the Golden Dawn, but also announced his controversial forthcoming publication of its rituals and teachings, that began the following year with the first of four volumes. The inscription represents an interesting coming together of two of the most influential occult movements. £350
INSCRIBED COPY
REGARDIE, Israel. [DEE, Gabriel] My Rosicrucian Adventure. A Contribution to a Recent Phase of the History of Magic, and a Study in the Technique of Theurgy. Chicago: The Aries Press, 1936. [29163] FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Octavo pp.144. Publisher’s red cloth, gilt titles to spine and white endpapers. Original pale yellow dust jacket, printed in black and orange. A little rubbing to extremities, but internally clean. The price-clipped dust jacket has loss to the corners and the top and particularly the foot of the spine, affecting the publisher’s name. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR: ‘To Gabriel Dee | with friendship | I. Regardie’. Gabriel Dee was a professional astrologer whose advertisements can be found in various issues of the Occult Review. My Rosicrucian Adventure, not only contains Regardie’s personal experiences of the Golden Dawn, but also announced his controversial forthcoming publication of its rituals and teachings, that began the following year with the first of four volumes. £275
REMY, Nicolas. (ASHWIN, E. A. Trans. SUMMERS, Montague. Ed.) Demonolatry. By Nicolas Remy. Privy Councillor to The Most Serene Duke of Lorraine, and Public Advocate to his Duchy. In 3 Books. Drawn From the Capital Trials of 900 Persons, More or Less, Who Within the Last Fifteen Years Have in Lorraine Paid the Penalty of Death for the Crime of Witchcraft. London: John Rodker, 1930 [33165] LIMITED EDITION OF 1275 COPIES, this being copy 197. Large octavo pp.xxxvi, 188. Finely bound in recent half burnt orange morocco leather, raised bands, gilt titles to spine, with orange cloth boards and plain endpapers. Small owner’s name to title page otherwise pages clean without writing or other marks. An excellent copy of this first edition in English of Remy’s 1595 work Daemonoloatreiae Libri Tres. £250 Coumont [R32.8] d’Arch Smith [B22]
17th Century Italian Alchemy
RIVIERA, Cesare Della. Il Mondo Magico de Gli Heroi: Nel Quale con Inusitata Chiarezza si Tratta Qual Sia la Vera Magia Naturale: E Come si Possa Fabricare la Reale Pietra de Filosofi Unico Istromento di Tale Scienza: Narrandosi ad Uno Gli Stupendi et Infallibili Effetti, Che Vale ad Operare col Detto Mezzo un Perfetto Heroe. Hora di Novo Ristampato, e dal Medesimo Autore Ricorretto, et Accresciuto, con Aggiunta di Due Copiose Tavole, l’Una Delle Cose Piu Notabili, l’altra de’ Nomi de Gli Scrittori Ciati nel Libro. In Milano (Milan): Per Pietro Martire Locarni, 1605 [28393] SECOND EDITION. Octavo (210 x 150mm) pp [2 blank], [title], [30], 222. Bound in 19th Century marbled boards with gilt titles on morocco label to spine. One woodcut showing John Dee’s Hieroglyphic Monad. Soiling to boards, rubbing to corners and spine ends with some chipping to the marbled paper at head of spine and joints. Old ink inscriptions to first blank and names (some crossed out) to title page. Repairs to title touching some letters, a little worming to last few leaves affecting some text and some chipped page edges with loss to a few lower corners, affecting the margin only. Some browning and occasional spotting, though pages clean and without writing or underlining. This work could be called a summation of Renaissance Neoplatonism and contains much on alchemy and the search for the Philosopher’s Stone. A discussion of the alchemical significance of Dee’s Hieroglyphic Monad, fails to credit him as author, but is an interesting early response to his work. A very good copy of an uncommon work. £1,250 Caillet [2951]; Duveen [166]
SHIRLEY, Ralph. (Editor) [FORTUNE, Dion. and Others] The Occult Review. A Selection of Issues from Vols. XLV and XLVI bound with One Issue of The Theosophical Review. London: William Rider and Son, Limited, 1927. [25464] Octavo containing 5 issues of The Occult review (March, July, September, November and December) and 1 of The Theosophical Review (April). Bound in dark red buckram, gilt titles to spine, all edges sprinkled red with white endpapers. A little staining to bottom edge of pastedowns and occasional pencil marks/underlinings, otherwise pages are clean and in good condition. The March edition of Occult Review contains an 11 page article: Seeking the Master by Dion Fortune. Also in this issue is the second part of A. E. Waite’s The Templar Orders in Freemasonry; some reviews by him and Meredith Starr and a letter from Arthur Conan Doyle regarding Spiritualism. Among the other issues are: The Happy Valley Foundation by Annie Besant; The Astrology of Chaucer by Margaret Manson; A letter from F. L. Gardner regarding H. P. Blavatsky; The Four Elements in Christian Liturgy by Ethel Archer and The Quest for Truth in Alchemy by Stanley Redgrove. £75
BERTRAM, James and RUSSELL, F. (SPARE, Austin Osman) The Starlit Mire. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1911. [25545] FIRST EDITION. Limited to 350 copies. Octavo (220 x 75mm) pp. viii, 62, [2 ads.] Publisher’s green cloth, with triple white rule to margins, gilt titles and Horned God design to upper board and gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed with two leaves uncut and white endpapers. Illustrated with ten black and white illustrations by Austin Osman Spare. A little soiling to boards with a faint stain to lower inner corners, showing on the pastedowns, but not penetrating into the rest of the text block. Tissue guards show light foxing and one is creased, otherwise clean internally. The book consists of a series of axioms, ten of which are interpreted by Spare in his typically bold and imaginative style, containing self-portraits and familiar Spare motifs. A very good copy. £395 Harper [C9]
Twelve Fantastic Folio Plates
SPARE, Austin Osman. A Book of Automatic Drawing. London: Catalpa Press, 1972. [26236] FIRST LIMITED EDITION of 200 numbered copies, this copy being out of series and not numbered. SIGNED by Spare twice by way of a personal cheque as called for. Twenty loose unpaginated folio sheets of hand made paper (310 x 440mm) printed on one side only comprising of: title; limitation; two page introduction by Ian Law; 1 plate; illustrated title; illustrated contents; 11 plates; illustrated sine curve calligraphy and illustrated final page. Housed in a recent green cloth, felt lined drop-over box with gilt titles to spine. All sheets in fine condition. A wonderful portfolio of beautifully printed drawings, with all the power of Spare’s magical imagery. Since this set is not numbered and does not have the original box, it would appear that not all of the 200 copies were issued at the time. Clive Harper, in his bibliography of Spare, notes that of the proposed 1000 copies of the cloth backed boards bound trade edition only about 100 were issued and only a further 500 issued in grey card wraps. £375 Harper [A6.a.]
SPARE, Austin Osman. (GUTHRIE, James. Intro.) A Book of Satyrs. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head. New York: John Lane Company, [1909] [29722] SECOND LIMITED EDITION OF 300 COPIES. Folio (430 x 320mm) unpaginated. Pale green paper boards with vellum spine, titles and illustration in black to upper. Top edge trimmed others left; printed on Van Gelder Zonen paper. Frontispiece and eleven further plates in black and white and numerous small decorations. Some wear to edges and typical soiling tp the vellum spine. Staining to the bottom left of upper board. Closed tear to the fore-edge of the last plate, not touching the image, otherwise clean and fresh internally. A very good copy of the second edition, with the extra plate ‘Pleasure’ used as a frontispiece, not issued in the first edition. £500 Harper [A2b]
SUMMERS, Montague. The History of Witchcraft and Demonology [Together With] The Geography of Witchcraft. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd., 1926 and 1927. [33271] FIRST EDITIONS 2 Vols. Octavo pp. xv, 353, [16 ads.] and xi, 623. Bound in recent half black morocco leather, black cloth boards, raised bands, gilt titles and centres to spines. Top edges gilt with plain endpapers. The two volumes are housed in a black cloth slipcase. Both volumes illustrated with black and white plates. A little light foxing to half title of the first volume, otherwise the books are internally clean without writing or other marks. A beautiful presentation of Summers’ classic works on Witchcraft, published as part of the History of Civilisation series. £475 Coumont [S113.1] [S113.5]
VALENTINUS, Basilius. Basil Valentine His Triumphant Chariot of Antimony, with Annotations of Theodore Kirkringius, M.D. with The True Book of the Learned Synesius a Greek Abbot taken out of the Emperour's Library, concerning the Philosopher's Stone. London: Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultry, 1678. [32752] THOMAS SOUTH’S AND THEN MARY ANNE ATWOOD’S COPY. Small octavo (175 x 105mm) pp. [Title], [1 advert], [14], 1-160, [Title], [1], 163-176. Mid 19th Century full brown morocco with decorative blind-stamping to upper and lower boards in a “Bagster” style. Raised bands and gilt titles to spine. All edges red, marbled endpapers. Illustrated with 3 (of 5) engraved plates, showing chemical vessels, retorts etc Expert repair to lower joint and top of spine, some rubbing and wear to boards. Occasional spotting, though generally clean internally. South’s bookplate to front pastedown and “A J & M A Atwood 1859” (the year of her marriage to the Rev. Alban Atwood) in ink to verso of front free endpaper. Mary Anne Atwood (1817-1910) and Thomas South, her father, published A Suggestive Enquiry into the Hermetic Mystery in 1850 - a near legendry and very rare alchemical work, because they quickly withdrew all published copies and apparently burned them in their back yard. Her library was first sold in 1908 by William Tait in Belfast and later Bernard Quaritch sold many books of the collection in a catalogue of 1928. This translation (the second in English) of Valentine’s famous treatise was made by Richard Russell, who translated several alchemical works in the 17th Century. It was first published in 1604 and is regarded as one of the earliest monographs on a chemical element. “...there is no doubt but that his treatise brought together into one volume the facts of the chemistry of antimony and its combinations, and its uses in medicine in a form that made his book the standard work on that subject for many decades. The work is, in far as its chemistry is concerned, clear and comprehensible for its time.” (Stillman, The Story of Early Chemistry). £1,250 Bibliotheca Walleriana [11056]; Duveen [49]; Krivatsy [879]; Pritchard [424.1]; Wellcome II [111]; Not in Ferguson/Young
WAITE, A. E. (Arthur Edward). Devil-Worship in France or the Question of Lucifer. A Record of Things Seen and Heard in the Secret Societies According to the Evidence of Initiates. London: George Redway, 1896. [31084] FIRST EDITION. Octavo pp.xii, 325. Publisher’s black cloth with red titles to upper and spine. variant issue with white instead of black endpapers and fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Top edge stained red. Very light rubbing to head and tail of spine, but essentially a fine copy. An excellent copy of Waite’s expose of a masonic/diabolist hoax in late 19th Century France. £225 Gilbert [A13]
WAITE, Arthur Edward. The Occult Sciences, A Compendium of Transcendental Doctrine and Experiment Embracing an Account of Magical Practices; of Secret Sciences in Connection With Magic; of the Professors of Magical Arts; and of Modern Spiritualism, Mesmerism and Theosophy. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd. 1891. [33580] FIRST EDITION. Octavo. pp 296 including index and adverts. Publisher’s black cloth, red border and circular sigil to upper board, gilt tiles to spine, black endpapers. Light wear to extremities, boards and spine uniformly faded. Ink name and date to half-title, otherwise pages clean and free from writing, underlining etc. A very good copy £225 Caillet [11337]; Coumont [W3.1]; Gilbert [A9a]; Pritchard [2518]
WAITE, A. E. (Arthur Edward). The Real History of the Rosicrucians. Founded on Their Own Manifestoes, and on Facts and Documents Collected from the Writing of Initiated Brethren. London: George Redway, 1887. [30222] FIRST EDITION. Octavo pp. viii, 446. Publisher’s blue cloth, red lines and gilt symbols to upper with gilt titles and red rules to spine. Edges untrimmed and brown endpapers. Later issue variant binding with Paul Trench Trubner and Co. imprint to foot of spine and no ads. at rear. A little fading to spine and some typical browning to the endpapers, otherwise a clean, fine copy. Written in response to Hargrave Jennings’ The Rosicrucians, their Rites and Mysteries (1870) , which Waite reviewed as being filled with ‘...purposeless and rambling speculations of its eccentric author’. He vastly expanded his history and research in The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (1924). £250 Gilbert [A5(c) binding variant (c)]; Gardner Rosic. [568]
SIGNED LIMITED EDITION
WAITE, A. E. (Arthur Edward). Strange Houses of Sleep. London: Philip Sinclair Wellby, 1906. [29323] FIRST EDITION limited to 250 signed copies, this being number 13. Quarto pp. xix, 323, [3 ads.] Publisher's full vellum, gilt titles and heraldic shield with motto to upper board and gilt title and three raised bands to spine. Corners tipped with metal (brass), white endpapers. Top edge gilt others untrimmed. Photogravure portrait of author as frontispiece. Some soiling to boards as often with vellum bindings and light rubbing to top and bottom of spine. Bookplate of Lewis Richter to flyleaf. Light browning to prelims else clean internally. Original red ribbon page marker has at some point been replaced with green one. A very good copy of this collection of visionary poetry and a mystery play in verse, probably written with Arthur Machen, The Hidden Sacrament of the Holy Graal. £375 Gilbert [A18]
18th Century Alchemical Classic
WELLING, Georg von. Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum. Darinnen der Ursprung, Natur, Eigenschafften und Gebrauch, des Salzes, Schwefels und Mercurii, in dreyen Theilen beschrieben und nebst sehr vielen sonderbahren Mathematischen, Theosophischen, Magischen und Mystischen Materien, auch die Erzeugung der Metallen und Mineralien, aus dem Grunde der Natur erwiesen wird; Samt dem Haupt-Schlussel des ganzen Wercks, und vielen curieusen Mago-Cabbalistischen Figuren. Deme noch beygefuget: Ein Tractatlein von der Gottlichen Weissheit; und ein besonderer Anhang etlicher sehr rar- und kostbahrer Chymischer Piecen. Nunmehro das erstemahl also zusammen zum Druck befordert von einem Liebhaber Gottlicher und Naturlicher Geheimnusse. Homburg vor der Hohe: Joh. Philipp Helwig (Hamburg), 1735. [32754] FIRST EDITION. Quarto (205 x 165mm) pp. [6], 582, [21] ( p. 498 is wrongly numbered 598; 499 is 599). Recent full calf, red label with gilt titles to spine, title page in red and black, retaining early endpapers. Illustrated with decorative woodcut head- and tail-pieces and 15 engraved plates, 1 folding. Gift inscription to front pastedown dated 1904 and some alchemical notes in an earlier hand to flyleaf. Light browning to pages but generally clean and free from spotting or other marks. The first book on salt was originally published under a pseudonym in 1719 and there were two further editions of the complete text in 1760 and 1784. Welling (1652 - 1727) was director of construction and mines in Baden-Durlach and is chiefly remembered for this large and encompassing work. It influenced many following authors, most notably Goethe, and contains much of mystical, alchemical and chemical, Rosicrucian, cabbalistical and Boehmean cosmology. The 15 amazing plates are beautifully executed and very detailed. An English translation was published for the first time in 2006. A very good copy of a scarce work. £2,450 Ferguson [II, 543]; Gardner Rosic. [576]; Rosenthal [904] Later editions in Caillet, Duveen and Bibliotheca Esoterica.
SAPERE AUDE (WESTCOTT, W. Wynn.) The Science of Alchymy, Spiritual and Material. An Essay by ‘SAPERE AUDE’ Fra. R.R. et A.C. London: The Theosophical Publishing Society, 1893. [29814] FIRST EDITION. 22pp. Pamphlet, sewn, in publisher's pale blue card wraps with titles in dark blue to upper. A little light soiling and a tiny loss to the top corner of the upper cover; internally clean. Published just before the multi volume Collectanea Hermetica series, this is a general overview of the subject, well written by a great scholar of the Occult and co-founder of the Order of the Golden Dawn. £75 Pritchard [2265]
WESTCOTT, W. Wynn. Data of the History of the Rosicrucians. Arranged by WM. Wynn Westcott, M.B. Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. London: John M. Watkins, 1916. [29812] FIRST EDITION. Pamphlet. pp. 11. Original red sewn paper wraps printed in black. Some fading and splitting along the spine, though the upper cover remains attached. An uncommon item, with some interesting references by Westcott regarding the creation of the Golden Dawn and 17th to 19th Century occultism. £50
WESTCOTT, W. Wynn. The Religion, Philosophy and Occult Science of China. London: Privately Printed, 1911. [29813] FIRST EDITION. Pamphlet. pp. 10. Original red sewn paper wraps printed in black. Illustrated by one plate, probably drawn by the author. Some chipping and creasing to covers with loss to lower front corner. A rare essay by the Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and co-founder of the Golden Dawn. £85
WEYER [WIER], Johann. De Lamiis Liber: Item De Commentitiis Ieiuniis. Cum Rerum ac Uerborum Copioso Indice. [Witchcraft] Basilae: Ex Officiano Oporiniana, 1577. [32753] FIRST EDITION. Slim quarto (250 x 180mm). 38 leaves: [Title, portrait]; 4-6, main text in two columns numbered 7-134; [7 index] Bound in twentieth century half vellum with marbled boards, new endpapers, all edges gilt in the rough. Woodcut portrait of author to verso of title and one other woodcut to H4 verso. Printer’s device to title page and historiated capital at the beginning of the preface. Small old ink name to title, pages are clean with only light browning. Some worming, mainly to margins, has been neatly filled, affecting a few letters. This restoration has been expertly executed to a high standard. A very good copy of a scarce work, in which Weyer (1515-1588) elucidates his incredulity regarding actual witchcraft, presents new theological ideas and continues to question the validity of the torture and execution of those accused without firm evidence. £1,450 Caillet [1577]; Coumont [W21.7]; Lea [532-44]; Rosenthal [4161]
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