Strange Cults and Secret Societies of Modern London.
London: Philip Allan, 1934. First Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. 280pp (ii adverts). Original orange cloth with black titling to spine. A delightfully lurid and breathless romp through the secret societies and cults of 1920s and 1930s London, by Eliot O'Donnell (1872 - 1965), the Irish author who became famous for his books on ghosts and the supernatural. Curiously O'Donnell passed swiftly over "Alistair Crowley" (sic) as he "never saw anything in his demonstrations that struck me as being in the least degree serious or genuinely mystical. What I saw in his studio, in Chelsea, was a trifle spectacular and dramatic, but quite harmless ..." and instead goes into somewhat more detail on the surely blameless William Wynn Westcott and Societas Rosicruciana, whom he rather unkindly includes in a chapter which the Rosicrucians share with the practitioners of Thuggee. The chapter headings give the contents as: The Thirteen Society and Cult and the Hell Fire Clubs; The Grey Sisters; The Black Brothers; Chinese Secret Societies and Black Magic, Black Magic (continued); The Mafia, Camorra and Carbonari Societies; Leopard and Panther People; The Cult of the Horrible; Tree Cults; Get Rid of the Old Cult and The Suicide Society; The Cult of Cruelty; The "S" Society; The Rosicrucians and Thugs;The Ghost Circle, and Duckdom and Devildom; The Gorgons and Mummy Worshippers; The Goats and Sophienism. Spine very faded, and rubbed at head and tail. Cloth lightly rubbed overall, spine darkened, spine ends and corners lightly bruised and chafed, page edges browned and have a few light marks, , Item #63993
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