Waite, A.E. OCCULT The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts Grimoire de Laurence

Description: Book in overall good+ condition, prev. owner name, and unique saying written in pencil on inside cover. Some toning, as would be expected for a book of 84 years. Sturdy binding, some minor cosmetic flaws to leather cover that appear stronger in photos than with the naked eye. Still, it’s probably the best copy available. About the book: An exhaustive guide to the occult, featuring passages on folklore, occultist history, and magic ceremony. First published in 1898, The Book of Black Magic and Pacts contains a large number of magic spells and occult writings taken from a variety of sources. This volume is one of the greatest overviews of the occult. Written by Arthur Edward Waite, influential scholarly mystic and co-creator of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck. The contents of this volume feature: - The Literature of Ceremonial Magic - The Antiquity of Magical Rituals - The Rituals of Transcendental Magic - The Rituals of Black Magic - The Initial Rites and Ceremonies - Concerning the Descending Hierarchy - The Mysteries of Infernal Evocation According to the Grand Grimoire - The Method of Honorius - Miscellaneous and Minor Processes - Concerning Infernal Necromancy WAITE, Arthur Edward [ L. W. de Laurence, publisher ]. The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts. Including the Rites and Mysteries of Goetic Theurgy, Sorcery, and Infernal Necromancy. Chicago, IL: The de Laurence Company, Inc, 1940. (Second US Edition). Hardcover. Quarto (10 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches) xvi + 296 pp. Full black pebbled faux leather with dull gold titling to spine and solar design to upper board, b&w illustrations. An attractive, large format edition - the second major de Laurence edition. Originally published in England in 1898, a pirated edition of the book was first published under the imprint "Occult Publishing House" in the US circa 1910. The "Occult Publishing House" seems to have been an early endeavour by de Laurence, who in 1940 republished the title under his own "de Laurence" imprint. Typically for de Laurence, the book went through a number of different printings, but the differentiating details were not noted. While the different bindings were sometimes obvious, internally the later printings were largely the same as the 1910 printing with the exception that one of the earlier printings omitted the frontispiece, possibly for reasons of (wartime?) economy (the frontispiece was typically printed on a separate sheet of coated paper and tipped or bound in). This is one of the printings that was issued without the frontispiece. As the title suggests "The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts" is a study and collection of material from various grimoires, including "The Key of Solomon," "The Lesser Key of Solomon," "The Grimoire of Honorius," "The Fourth Book of Agrippa," "The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage," etc. etc. It was arguably the first major collection of grimoires to be published in the English language, and (in the form of the first edition) is known to have been one of the first books on the subject to have been studied by Aleister Crowley, whose reading of it was part of the chain of events that led to him joining the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Price: 399.99 USD

Location: Buffalo, New York

End Time: 2025-02-09T18:27:05.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6.13 USD