The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic And East Indian Occultism and The Book of Secret Hindu, Ceremonial, And Talismanic Magic. In One Volume.
Chicago, IL: The de Laurence Company, Inc., 1939. Fourteenth Edition. Hardcover. Large Quarto. (8 x 11 inches) 636 pp. Brown faux leather with gilt title, etc. to cover and spine, frontis photo portrait of L. W. de Laurence. Illustrated. A massive book 'by' Lauron William de Laurence (1868 - 1936), renowned book pirate, plagiarist, and publisher of occult literature. De Laurence was notorious for taking other people's works and reissuing them under his own name (sometimes re-titling them in the process). Despite his roguish eccentricities de Laurence played an important part in the occult history of the USA: he was a pioneer in selling occult books and supplies by mail order, and the cheap "Pow Wow" books and other books of simple magic which he published were surprisingly well received, and he is quite revered in some quarters. The title of this particular volume says 'Hindu' and 'East Indian' but in fact it is largely a grimoire of Western ritual magic, taken from a variety of sources including Francis Barrett's Magus, the works of Agrippa et al. It's odd title and genesis aside, it was probably one of the most books most widely used for actual magical practice in the USA in the middle twentieth century. Boards lightly rubbed & gold titling a bit dulled, corners and spine ends bruised, light rubbing to extremities, light browning to page edges, otherwise a solid, bright and unmarked VG+ copy. Item #60913
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