(CROWLEY, Aleister)
First edition. Quarto (7 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches). xxi, [1, blank], inserted color plate, 122, [2, printer's slug and blank] pp. Publisher's printed salmon wrappers. Quiet repair to one inch part of upper spine, owner's grandiose signature on half title, inner hinges reinforced with archival white tapen (preventative as there is no sign of separation). Overall, a very good copy, certainly better than usually seen.This is Book III of the four that comprise the first edition of this title. Part III is titled "Magick in Theory and Practice", and is perhaps the most influential section within the publication. In this part, Magick (with the terminal -k) is defined in Crowley's now famous "Introduction". It contains many influential essays on various magical formulae, such as Tetragrammaton, Thelema, Agape, AUMGN, and iao. This section also addresses fundamental magical theorems, essential components of ritual, and general practices (e.g. banishing, consecration, invocation, and divination). 'Magick' was originally issued in four parts; each in paper wrappers with an additional colour plate. However, he was dissatisfied with this design and had the plate removed, a new title page prepared, and most copies dis-bound and sent to Britain. They were then rebound in a durable cloth or buckram to make this; the 'Subscriber's Edition'. Although the title page has the date of 1929, the book did not actually appear until 1930.
CROWLEY, Aleister
First edition thus. One of 1,100 copies. Octavo. xxvii, [1], 155, [1, printer's slug] pp. including a full page illustration of the Tree of Life. Publisher's quarter parchment over blue cloth, spine with "777" in gilt, front cover with the title and publisher's devise in gilt. An excellent copy.A revised edition of Crowley's Qabalistic masterwork, originally published in 1909, and here published with much additional material.
ENGLISH, James Lake
Firs edition, Small octavo, viii, 41, [1], [2, testimonials] pp. Publisher's black-stamped nay belie cloth with gilt cover lettering, pale yellow endpapers. An excellent copy of a scarce item.Tipped in at rear are two autograph letters signed by English, signed, to a person curious as to his methods.
[LURID MARKETING] [DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan]
First edition of this ridiculous pirated edition. Octavo. 250 pp. plus frontispiece photographic illustration of Benares and 4 full page plates. Publisher's maroon cloth with an abundance of gilt lettering to the spine and front. Bookseller's receipt laid into font of book (which has caused some offsetting to the blanks). An excellent copy.This is, quite simply, a garishly re-titled edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Mystery of Cloomber" first published in 1888. Conan Doyle's fascination with Spiritualism is very well known. He once wrote in the Evening Standard in 1920- "There are only two vital propositions in Spiritualism. These are that personality survives death without a change; the other that under proper physical conditions communication is still possible." But what is remarkable here is de Laurence's hijacking of the title with almost no credit given to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, On the title page all that is given is the miserly attribution to "A.C.D." On the front cover in bright and bold gilt we read "Editorship of Dr. L W. deLaurence," It is not clear how it is possible but deLaurence even copyrighted it (1910). His publishing company (De Laurence, Scott & Co.) and spiritual supply mail order house was located in Chicago, Illinois. De Laurence was a pioneer in the business of supplying magical and occult goods by mail order, and his distribution of public domain books. His books were invariably printed on cheap paper and all bore signs of the occult. De Laurence, Scott & Co had a reputation for pirating the books of other occultists. De Laurence also wrote his own works, including The Master Key, a personal development book. In addition, he is believed to have co-written some books with his fellow Chicago resident, the prolific New Thought and yoga author William Walker Atkinson.
(DANCE)
Original boudoir card (4 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches). On photographer's printed mount. Very small piece of upper left corner chipped else and excellent image.Ruth St. Denis holds a hallowed placed in the history of modern American dance. Such was her gift that she influenced almost every phase of American dance."From an early age Ruth Dennis displayed a marked interest in the theatre and especially in dance. She began dancing and acting in vaudeville and musical comedy shows when she was a teenager, and she appeared in David Belasco?s productions of Zaza, The Auctioneer, and Du Barry. While touring in the last play she was reputedly inspired by a cigarette poster featuring an Egyptian scene of the goddess Isis to begin investigating Asian art and dance.Dennis took the stage name Ruth St. Denis, and in 1906, after studying Hindu art and philosophy, she offered a public performance in New York City of her first dance work, Radha (based on the milkmaid Radha who was an early consort of the Hindu god Krishna), together with such shorter pieces as The Cobra and The Incense. A three-year European tour followed. She was particularly successful in Vienna, where she added The Nautch and The Yogi to her program, and in Germany. Her later productions, many of which had religious themes, included the long-planned Egypta (1910) and O-mika (1913), a dance drama in a Japanese style (EB). It is quite likely that she is dressed her in her groundreaking role as Radha,
(YOSEMITE) CARPENTER, Ford A.
First offprint edition. Octavo. Comprised entirely of press reviews of the article and photograph published Nov. 27, 1911 in the Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History (v. 1, no. 3). The plate is a chromolithograph copy of the original photograph of the red snow made in natural color by Lumiere process by F.A. Carpenter on July 19, 1911. Ford Carpenter, of San Diego was a Sierra Club member and knew his way around the back country of Yosemite. The photograph was done on Lembert Dome, Yosemite. This was the first autochrome photograph made of such a snow field. The red snow comes from an animalcule, a plant organism that lives in the thawing snow and propagates rapidly. It was believed that Yosemite was the most southern locality on the Pacific coast of North America where this phenomena was observed. The caption on the tissue guard reads: "'Red snow' (sphaerella nivallis) on Lambert dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite, July 19, 1911. Photographed in colors from nature by Ford A. Carpenter, U.S. Weather Bureau." The tissue guard is inscribed in pencil, ?Personal copy to Mr. Daniels with kind regards. Ford A. Carpenter.? There are several offprints of the original article listed in OCLC, but only one copy of this printing of the reviews with the chromolithograph, at the University of California Berkeley.
WORKS, John D.
First edition. 128 pp. Publisher's light brown cloth with gilt spine lettering (a tad dulled). A very good copySigned by Berkeley professor off the time, A. E, Chandler. John Downey Works, a Senator from California; born near Rising Sun, Ohio County, Ind., March 29, 1847; attended private schools; during the Civil War served in the Tenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, of the Union Army; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1868 and commenced practice in Vevay, Ind.; member, State house of representatives 1878-1880; moved to San Diego, Calif., in 1883 and continued the practice of law; judge of the superior court of San Diego County 1886-1887; associate justice of the supreme court of California 1888-1891; moved to Los Angeles in 1896; president of the city council of Los Angeles 1910; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1911, to March 3, 1917; was not a candidate for renomination; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Sixty-second Congress), Committee on Fisheries (Sixty-second Congress); resumed the practice of law for a short time; died in Los Angeles, Calif., June 6, 1928.
