The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. The Mystery of all Mysteries. The Citation on all Spirits, ..... Healing by Amulets. The Wonderful Magical and Spirit Arts of Moses and Aaron......Contains One Hundred and Twenty-Five Seals and Talismans.
Chicago: The de Laurence Company, 1914. Second Edition Thus (?). Hardcover. Octavo. 190pp. b&w illustrations. Original dark green decorated cloth with gilt title and design to cover and spine. Despite being of relatively recent origin - most scholars suggest it first began to appear in manuscript form in the 18th century - "The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses" is arguably one of the most influential of all the grimoires. It contains a series of magical incantations, spells and seals purportedly from the lost magical Books of the Biblical prophet Moses. The work apparently originated in Germany and then spread to America via the Pennsylvania Dutch, and their "pow-wow" books. It began to appear in print in the late nineteenth century, and became popular in the African American South and also in the Caribbean, and West Africa, making its mark on the Hoodoo, Rastifarian, and various African religious movements, as well as on European and American occultists. This edition was published by Lauron William de Laurence (1868 - 1936), renowned book pirate, plagiarist, and publisher of occult literature. de Laurence was notorious for taking other peoples works and reissuing them under his own name (sometimes retitling them in the process). In this case he has not done that, although it is quite likely that he simply borrowed the book verbatim from another published edition. For all his faults and 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 books that he published were received with great fervor by many in the American occult community. The volume has the year 1914 on both the title and the copyright pages, and while de Laurence publications are notoriously difficult to date, all indications are that this is indeed it's year of publication. De Laurence first published the work in 1910, and we are unaware of any other edition published between then and 1914, so it is most likely a second edition. A little bubbling and and a few small marks to the cloth, corners lightly bruised and cloth a little chafed at head and tail of spine and points. Pages uniformly tanned and with the occasional light crease of dog ear. Still a sturdy, clean, better than VG copy of a scarce edition (Issued without dust jacket). Item #62051
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