The Veritable Key of Solomon; (being a translation of Wellcome MS 4669 and Wellcome MS 4670 translated by Paul Harry Barron from the French version of the Hebrew text translated originally by Professor Morrisoneau)
London & Singapore: Golden Hoard Press, 2008. Collector's Edition. Hardcover. Small Quarto. 446pp. Hand bound in black half leather and maroon buckram, hand gold stamped titling to spine and upper board, marbled endpapers. A colour version with all the pentacles in colour reproduced as they are found in the original manuscripts. Numerous tables and index. Edition limited to 350 hand-numbered copies. SIGNED by Stephen Skinner on the limitation page. From the publisher: "'The Key of Solomon' is the most famous and infamous of all the Grimoires and books of magic ever produced. Yet amazingly only one version of it has ever been published, which was compiled from diverse sections drawn from seven different manuscripts in 1889 by S.L. MacGregor Mathers, the occult scholar who was one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Stephen Skinner and David Rankine have explored the labyrinthine trail of manuscripts of the Key of Solomon around the world, and after studying dozens of manuscripts, decided on the two which best represent this grimoire tradition to provide the widest range of material in their new work, The Veritable Key of Solomon. The book reproduces the Keys from Wellcome MS 4669 and MS 4670, two previously overlooked French manuscripts scribed for a French aristocrat in 1796, and here translated into English for the first time. They are not the earliest, but they are the most detailed,containing three separate Keys which cover a wealth of material not found in the Mathers' edition. These Keys are The Keys of Rabbi Solomon, The Key of Solomon King of the Hebrews and The Universal Treatise of the Keys of Solomon. One of these manuscripts was the one referred to by Bulwer-Lytton in his classic nineteenth century magical novel of initiation, Zanoni, and another one contains an early version of the material later found in the Grimorium Verum. The fame of the Key of Solomon probably stems from the fact that it was the closest thing available to a manual for the aspiring or practising magician wishing to evoke angels and demons during the Renaissance. Everything from how to construct the magic circle, how to determine the most auspicious times, what perfumes were most conducive to burn, how to prepare your tools, what prayers and conjurations should be used, how to make and use the pentacles which acted as magical foci for the appropriate intent, indeed all aspects of the process and practices were included.... These Keys contain the most comprehensive collection of practical planetary grimoire material ever seen in a book and greatly expand the scope of information available to students and practitioners. ... This is a book that every practicing magician will want without a doubt." A lovely copy in about Fine condition. Item #61928
ISBN: 9780954763985
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