FO: The Third Messenger of God.
London: Englishman Office, 1878. First edition. Hardcover. Small thick octavo. cclxxxviii, viii + 334 pp. Original brown cloth bordered in blind on upper board, and titled in gilt on spine, index. Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy (1819 - 1880) is remembered as the barrister whose overly zealous defense of Arthur Orton, the infamous Tichborne claimant, ultimately led to his disbarrment. He was an eclectic scholar with an erratic temper, possibly inflamed by illness, who was once jailed for punishing one of his step children with excessive severity. Kenealy was also a prolific writer, who published a large number of poems, including translations from a number of languages, with which his critics unkindly suggested he was unfamiliar. "Fo: The Third Messenger of God" follows his earlier: "The Book of God - The Apocalypse" series published between 1867-1870 which included three massive volumes of extraordinarily unconventional theology, in which he apparently believed himself to be "The Twelfth Messenger of God" and charted his own descent from Genghis Khan. Madame Blavatsky was apparently amongst those who thought highly of him and cited his work several times in 'The Secret Doctrine." All volumes of Kenealy's esoteric works are now scarce. Cloth a bit rubbed and worn (as common), all edges and points chafed with some light fraying, short closed tear at rear edge of spine and a little fraying at upper spine, a few bumps to edges, page edges darkened, some light scattered foxing. Still, overall an unusually clean and tight VG copy of this scarce first edition. Item #61610
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