Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah.
London: John M. Watkins, 1910. First Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. iv + 66pp + adverts. Original blue buckram with gilt titling to spine and upper board, b&w illustrations. Eight diagrams in six plates. An early edition of this study of the Kabalah by W. Wynn Wescott, one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In the Preface Westcott refers to the work first being delivered "in the form of lectures to a Society of Hermetic Students in 1888." The society in question was almost certainly the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was of course founded in that year. Westcott also suggests in the Preface that the essay had been previously published; this was not the case. This copy with the posthumous bookplate of Gerald Yorke (1901–1983) affixed to the front pastedown. A great occult scholar and bibliophile, Yorke ("Frater Volo Intellegere") was for a short time Aleister Crowley's chief disciple. In later life Yorke played a crucial role in preserving Crowley's literary legacy as well as in the publication of works on the occult and Eastern religions, editing and commissioning works for a number of British publishers from the 1950s through 1970s. A hint of shadowing to the endpaper, a little flecking to the edges, still a lovely tight, clean copy, as close to Fine as it would be possible to get for a book of this vintage (no dust jacket issued). Item #58728
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