Item #59463 Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author]. Christopher COOKE.
Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author].
Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author].
Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author].
Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author].
Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author].

Curiosities of Occult Literature [Annotated by Author].

London: Arthur Hall, Smart, and Allen, ND ( Ca 1863 - 1878). First Edition Thus. Hardcover, Octavo, xii + 276pp + 52pp (26 leaves) bound in manuscript notes. Original publisher's blind-stamped pebbled brown cloth, with gilt titling to spine: "Occult / Literature / 1878 / M.S.S." Two tinted plates bound in at rear. Extensively annotated by the author, with additional pages interleaved throughout the volume for his notes, astrological charts, and hand-drawn illustrations, which also fill all the blanks and many margins. A wildly eccentric book, with a rather misleading title. The book is largely an account of the author's life from the time of his first introduction to "astrological science" in 1847 onwards. Much of it is focussed on Cooke's personal, occult, and (rather disastrous) business relationship with the English astrologer "Zadkiel" (Richard James Morrison: 1795 – 1874), with chapters on their failed business ventures interspersed with those chronicling their esoteric pursuits and involvement with occult movements of the time. Cooke, a solicitor, begins with a short biography of Zadkiel, a general discourse on astrology, and a discussion of the actions that he and Zadkiel took to defend a number of astrologers who had been prosecuted, and in some instances imprisoned, for fortune telling. He then gives a precis of a defence of astrology that he published as a pamphlet, and writes of its reception, before going into a discussion crystals and scrying, on which he quotes Frederick Hockley and refers to scrying sessions that he has attended. There follows a discourse on astronomy, and a rather lengthy account of a trip through America, including experiences with the Spiritualist movement, an account of a trip to Glasgow and the foundation of the Astro-Meteorological Society etc. The work is a major biographical source for "Zadkiel" who was a quite remarkable individual, a naval officer, who immersed himself in astrology, and in 1863 famously brought a libel action against Admiral Sir Edward Belcher. In a letter to the "Daily Telegraph" Belcher had asserted that 'the author of "Zadkiel" is the crystal globe seer who gulled many of our nobility about the year 1852' suggesting that Zadkiel had charged money to observe scrying through a crystal globe (sometimes said to have belonged to John Dee) through which various people said they saw visions, conversed with spirits etc. Rather remarkably Zadkiel won the case (in which some say Cooke acted for the defence), apparently on the basis that he did not charge everyone for the viewings, although he was only awarded one pound in damages and deprived of his costs. Cooke's book has a remarkably complex and little-explored bibliographic history, there appear to be two editions, or perhaps better one edition with two different title pages, one (as this) with the imprint Arthur Hall, Smart, and Allen, and the other with "Privately Printed" in place of the publisher's imprint. The former is undated, the latter dated 1863, although they were likely issued at the same time, and the sheets appear to have been the same. Cooke evidently kept a supply of sets of sheets of the Arthur Hall, Smart, and Allen, issue, and at some stage around 1878 had additional blank leaves added to a small number of copies and had them bound as described above. Cooke then extensively annotated, drew in, and added astrological charts, and marginalia, to these copies. The present copy has 26 extra leaves bound in (thus 52 pages) and Cooke has covered these, plus the 5 blanks, with his notes etc. In addition his notes can be found on some 60 other pages, ranging from covering the blank half of a page with only a small amount of printed text, to a few corrected words. It is unknown how many copies he altered thus, but given the work involved it can not have been very many (when all the notes etc. are added together each copy has the equivalent of well over 65 pages of handwritten notes in it). We have managed to find records of 8 copies thus - mainly in libraries - and it seems reasonable to surmise that he might have originally prepared three times that number. Perhaps most surprisingly, while there is some overlap, much of the handwritten text appears to vary from copy to copy. At some point this copy was in the "Psychic Library", a circulating library based in Westminster, London, and it has the library's bookplate on the front paste-down, and the remains of a label on the front board. No other library markings. The boards are somewhat bumped around the edges, and there are short splits to the cloth of the joints at the front and back, and some chafing at the head and tail of spine. Despite this the boards are still firmly attached. There is some darkening to the bottom margin of pages 133/134, 135/136, 137/138, & 139/140, - probably due to a printing flaw - with the extreme bottom edge of the two middle leaves slightly chipped. Still a solid, near-VG copy of an unusual and fascinating item. Was $750.00. Item #59463

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