Three Books on Frank Bennett and Aleister Crowley.
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Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett; Charles Stansfeld Jones; Leilah Waddell; Leah Hirsig et al. The Progradior Correspondence, Letters by Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett, C. S. Jones, & Others. Edited and Introduced by Keith Richmond. York Beach, Maine USA: The Teitan Press, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Large 8vo. (9 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches, approx 23.5 x 16cm), xii + 148pp. Blue cloth with gilt titling to spine. Dustjacket. b&w frontispiece. Index. Edition limited to 666 numbered copies.
"The Progradior Correspondence" comprises the text of ninety letters and other documents that were exchanged between "Frater Progradior", Aleister Crowley's Lancashire-born follower, Frank Bennett, and members of "the Beast's" inner circle, including Crowley himself, Charles Stansfeld Jones, Leilah Waddell, Leah Hirsig and others. The correspondence began in 1910 when Bennett wrote to Crowley seeking his advice on the performance of "The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage." It continued through the years of The Equinox, through Crowley's residence in the United States during the First World War, and on past the heydays of the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu in the early 1920s. The exchange finally drew to a close in 1926, by which time Crowley had dropped or otherwise lost contact with most of his associates of the preceding decade and a half. A third of the letters were written by Aleister Crowley. Like the rest of the correspondence, these focus largely on the efforts that he and his followers were making to promote his occult fraternities, the A.'. A.'. and the O.T.O. As such they offer valuable first-hand accounts of the development of Crowley's creed of Thelema during this important period. The letters are highly revealing on a personal level as well, and provide considerable insight into Crowley's character and the influence that he had on the people around him. In broader terms they give a fascinating impression of the lives and activities of all those involved. "The Progradior Correspondence" is edited by Frank Bennett's biographer, Keith Richmond, who has also contributed a short Introduction and added footnotes to elucidate some of the more obscure names, words and passages in the letters.
New book. Fine in Fine Dustjacket. (Item ID: 37440) $45.00
Keith Richmond, Progradior and the Beast. Frank Bennett & Aleister Crowley. London: Neptune Press, 2004. First Trade Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. 316pp. Clothbound, with full colour dustwrapper, and black and white illustrations. Bibliography and Index.
Progradior and the Beast recounts the story of Lancashire-born Frank Bennett (1868-1930), one of Aleister Crowley's more successful, if little-known followers. Whilst still a youth Bennett embarked on a spiritual odyssey which eventually led him to the study of ceremonial magic, and into contact with Crowley. Bennett, also known by his magical name, Frater Progradior, migrated to Australia in 1911 where he founded A .'. A.'. and O.T.O. groups, and sought to promote Crowley's law of Thelema. In 1921 Bennett traveled to Crowley's Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu, where he rapidly became one of the Beast's star pupils.Progradior and the Beast is largely drawn from previously unpublished sources - letters, journals, and other documents - and provides rare insight into the private and public worlds of these two twentieth century magicians. It is illustrated with a number of previously unseen pictures of Crowley and Bennett, and the dustwrapper and endpapers include striking colour reproductions of two paintings by Crowley: one a portrait of Frank Bennett, and the other a Cefalu landscape. The book is uniform in format with its companion volume: 'The Magical Record of Frater Progradior.'
ISBN 0-9547063-4-X New book. Fine in Fine Dustjacket. (Item ID: 18466) $65.00
Frank Bennett, The Magical Record of Frater Progradior & Other Writings by Frank Bennett. Edited and Introduced by Keith Richmond. London: Neptune Press, 2004. First trade edition Hardcover, 8vo. 176pp. Clothbound, with full colour dustwrapper, and black and white frontis-portrait of Frank Bennett.
"The Magical Record of Frater Progradior" is a journal chronicling the visionary and magical experiences which Lancashire-born Frank Bennett (1868-1930) underwent during an intense retreat or Magical Retirement which he undertook at Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu in 1921. Crowley himself was profoundly moved by Bennett's visions, which he described as "exalted and intense and intimate," and felt displayed a 'kinship of the soul' with John Bunyan." "The Magical Record" contains the text of Frank Bennett's Cefalu diary, with Aleister Crowley's added comments, along with several other writings by Bennett. It also includes the text of Crowley's "Liber Samekh," a ritual he prepared especially for Bennett's use during his Magical Retirement The collection has been assembled and introduced by Keith Richmond, the author of the biographical study of Crowley and Bennett: "Progradior and the Beast." "The Magical Record" has a previously unpublished photographic portrait of Bennett as its frontispiece, and the book's dustwrapper and endpapers include striking colour reproductions of two paintings of Cefalu by Crowley which he presented to Bennett. The book is uniform in format to its companion volume: "Progradior and the Beast."
ISBN. 0-9547063-5-8 New book. Fine in Fine Dustjacket. (Item ID: 18471) $55.00
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