A Prophet in his Own Country. Being the Letters of Stuart X.
Washinton, D. C. Privately Published, N.D. 1916. First Edition - "Author's Edition" Hardcover. Octavo. 500pp. Original navy blue cloth with white lettering. Frontispiece portrait. "Author's Edition": limited to 500 copies signed and numbered by the author (that is Henry Clifford Stuart). A bizarre collection of letters mainly preoccupied with politics and finance - but touching on everything from the duties of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to the moral superiority of the Zulu warrior - written by New York businessman Henry Stuart Clifford to a number of luminaries including Lloyd George, President Woodrow Wilson, Sun Yat Sen as well as to various newspapers. Aleister Crowley, who spent the years of the First World War in the United States in relative penury, was apparently more than happy to take on the presumably reasonably-paid task of collecting, editing, and arranging the letters, as well as writing a 16 page introduction to them. Indeed he does so with considerable gusto, and it is difficult not to suspect that some of his more sycophantic observations are more than a little tongue-in-cheek. The inside front hinge is cracked but firm (suggestive of a judicious application of binder's glue at some stage). A little wear to the edges of the boards. Overall a better than VG copy. (no dustwrapper - believe none issued). Item #35603
Price: $275.00