BRITTEN, Emma Hardinge [ the Kurt Seligmann / Gerald Yorke copy ] .

[ Art Magic Spiritism ] Art Magic, or the Mundane, Sub-mundane and Super-Mundane Spiritism; A Treatise in Three Parts and Twenty - Three Sections, Descriptive of Art Magic, Spiritism, The Different Orders of Spirits in the Universe Known to be Related to, or in Communication with Man; Together with Directions for Invoking, Controlling, and Discharging Spirits, and the Uses Abuses, Dangers and Possibilities of Magical Art

Chicago, IL: Progressive Thinker Publishing House, 1898. Reprint. Hardcover. Octavo, 366pp + 2pp publisher's catalog. Original blue cloth with silver title and price to spine, blind rules, printed endpapers, b&w illustrations, secondary decorative title-page. A reprint of the first edition published in 1876. One of the best known works associated with Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899). The book itself is a curious overview of occult and religious practices, from ancient Egypt to the (then) contemporary Spiritualist literature of Andrew Jackson Davis, although with a particular focus on mediaeval evocatory and theurgical texts, the Cabala, and magic in general. Many suspect that Britten wrote the work herself, although she claimed only to have edited it, and seemed to imply that it had actually been written by one 'Chevalier Louis de B------,' a (possibly fictional) Adept who she also suggested had introduced her to a highly select and secretive occult fraternity called the 'Orphic Society.' Small bookplate of Kurt Seligmann, printed with both his name and "Ex Libris Cabalisticis," on the front pastedown. Seligmann (1900–1962) was a Swiss-American Surrealist artist who had a profound interest in the occult, which led him to write "The History of Magic", published in 1948. More recently from the library of Gerald Yorke (1901-1983) with his posthumous bookplate lightly tipped onto the penultimate blank. 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. It is by no means unforeseeable that Seligmann and Yorke knew one another. Corners lightly bumped, some mild discoloration to the cloth. Endpaper hinges cracked but quite firm, pages browned, particularly at edges (both flaws almost invariably encountered with this edition, which must have used quite cheap paper stock). Still, a sound and unmarked better-than-VG copy with an interesting double provenance. Item #60033

Sold