The Mysteries Of The Qabalah; Esoteric Studies, First Series
London: The Dharma Press, (ca. 1910). First Edition. Softcover, Small octavo (6 x 5 inches), 56 pp. Home-bound in later striped soft-paper wrappers, with glued-down black book cloth spine. An unusual study of the mystical kabbalah by Leonard Bosman (1879 - ca. 1940) an English author whose enthusiasms for Freemasonry and Theosophy are clearly apparent throughout the work. Originally from the library of Maiya Curtis Webb (later to become Maiya Tranchell-Hayes) with her esoterically themed bookplate on the front cover. Curtis-Webb was a childhood friend of Dion Fortune's, and member of the Alpha and Omega temple of J. W. Brodie Innes' offshoot of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who oversaw Fortune's experiments with trance-mediumship in the early 1920s. Later the property of Gerald Yorke (1901-1983) with his posthumous bookplate loosely inserted. 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. The home-made wrappers are rather poorly done, and starting to chip. A few old tape marks on the first blank, one two spots of foxing and a tear in the margin of pp. 29/30. Still a Good + copy of a scarce work - seldom seen in early edition - with an interesting provenance. Item #59060
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