The Times Deceas'd. The Rare Book Department of the Times Bookshop in the 1960's (with related ephemera).
York, England: Stone Trough Books, 2003. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 140pp. Light blue cloth with red titling to spine, index, b/w illustrations. First edition. Although not stated, only 400 copies were printed. Related ephemera loosely inserted comprises an original prospectus for the book, a news-clipping about the closing of The Times Bookshop and a typed letter, signed, from the author to previous owner, Nicholas Bishop-Culpeper. The reminiscences of Timothy d'Arch Smith who was the head of the rare books department of The Times Bookshop. Under his guidance The Times became the place to go for unusual, eccentric, and censured books in 1960s London. In its cluttered shelves, the works of fin de siècle decadents and the poetry of their "Uranian" successors jostled for shelf-space with the literature of the occult and other yet more dubious tomes. Ancient texts on witch-hunting, manuscripts by Frederick Hockley, handsome quartos by that most peculiar Reverend gentleman Montague Summers, could be found alongside exquisite limited editions of works by the then-unmentionable Aleister Crowley. Predictably, d'Arch Smith's office became a required destination for enthusiasts and scholars from all walks of life, with visitors ranging from relatively private individuals like the bibliophile and self-proclaimed practitioner of "the spagyrical arts" Gerard Heym and former Crowley disciple and afterwards occult scholar, Gerald Yorke, to the famous and celebrated, such as the Beatles. The exotic "Countess" Tamara Bourkoun, who headed her own offshoot of the Golden Dawn magical fraternity, provided d'Arch Smith with a personal pathway into Hermetic practice. From the collection of English bibliophile and Aleister Crowley scholar Nicholas Bishop-Culpeper, with his name in pencil on the front free endpaper and book-label tipped in at the rear. Light shelf dust - otherwise Fine condition. Item #39613
ISBN: 0952953463
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