An original Appointment Book for April-May 1938, with Crowley's manuscript notes of addresses, meetings, etc. for that period, including the original mss. of an extremely crude pornographic poem on 'Sally Pace' all written in a blank printer's "dummy" of the first British edition of "The Book of the Law."
NP, [1938]. Written in a plain, blank, soft-covered 5 x 6 inch book, that was obviously a printer’s dummy of the 1938 softcover edition of "The Book of the Law." Approx 48 pages, some of which are loose as a consequence of Crowley having removed conjunct leaves, probably for use as scrap paper (one page has had the bottom half torn off - presumably for the same purpose.) Housed in a modern custom-made portfolio: antique midnight blue buckram with hand marbled paper boards, gilt-stamped leather spine label, lined with archival paper.
The word 'APPOINTMENTS' is written boldly in Crowley's hand across the front wrapper, and this was obviously a desk-top or briefcase appointment book in which Crowley kept track of meetings, telephone calls etc. Most of the entries are telegraphic, and are simply names (Frieda Harris, Edward Noel FitzGerald, and Gerald Yorke are amongst the better-known of the individuals mentioned), times, telephone numbers, addresses and such-like.
A large number of his contacts were women including one Sally Pace, a married woman from Kilburn, who Crowley met regularly for sex - probably on a commercial basis - over a period of a few weeks. Pace is immortalized in a truly vulgar poem, reminiscent of Leah Sublime, which he penned in this Appointment Book. The poem is in four verses, each of about five lines. The first verse reads:
Sally is a darling little bitch / Slim and tall and wonderful a Witch
Her cXXX is hot and slimy / She is ready to defy me
To satisfy her everlasting itch....
It would be no overstatement to suggest that the poem descends yet deeper into the metaphorical gutter in the verses that follow.
Crowley was obviously much taken with the poem (and Sally) and noted on the front of the book "(contains M.S. poem on Sally Pace)", presumably as reminder to himself that it was there, so that he would not discard the notebook without first making a clean copy of it.
Almost every page bar one has notes in Crowley's handwriting on it, both in pen and pencil.
Custom-made portfolio in Fine condition. Overall the notebook is quite grubby - it has obviously been well used. Although undated the entries align with those that can be found in his Royal Court diary for the same April - May, 1938. Obviously unique. Not only is this an interesting, and very personal memento of the Beast, but original manuscript examples of his erotic or pornographic writings virtually never appear for sale, and this is written in a pre-production copy of the most important of Crowley's works, "The Book of the Law." Item #62528
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