The Star In the West. A Critical Essay Upon The Works of Aleister Crowley.
London: Walter Scott Publishing Co. Ltd., 1907. First Edition. Limited Edition Signed. Hardcover. Octavo. Original white buckram with heavily gilt stamped occult seal and title on top board, and title, occult symbols etc. on spine. (x) + 328pp. (+ ivp. publisher's catalogue bound in at rear.) Frontispiece with original printed tissue guard, title page printed in red and black. Portraits of Fuller (facing p. 120) and Crowley (facing p. 206). The first edition of Fuller's work, limited to 100 numbered copies, SIGNED by both Fuller and Crowley. This copy is actually numbered "100," but while there is no doubt at all that the signatures are authentic, the number has been added in a different pen, and it seems possible that it is a later addition. Fuller, who went on to become one of Crowley's leading disciples, originally wrote this as an entry in a competition Crowley held for the best essay on his own literary work. Fuller's essay won (it is rumored to have been the only entry) and - surely somewhat surprisingly - he was duly paid the hundred pound prize that Crowley had offered. With Crowley's assistance Fuller rewrote the essay, and Crowley published it. This copy was formerly in the library of English bibliophile and Aleister Crowley scholar Nicholas Bishop-Culpeper, and has his book label tipped in at the rear. Cloth a bit rubbed. Spine and covers are a little age-darkened and very slightly grubby, endpapers unevenly browned, pages lightly browned, previous owner's details in pen on rear pastedown - but this is still a tight, unmarked VG + copy (issued without dust jacket). Item #52766
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