BACSTROM, [Sigismund] Edited and transcribed by Frederick Hockley.

A Journal of a Rosicrucian Philos. from April 30th to June 15, 1797, Containing the Process of the Philosophers Stone, and Some Valuable Experiments, Inventions, Astrological ingredients, &c. Transcribed from the Original Manuscript. (facsimile edition) [ A Journal of a Rosicrucian Philosopher ].

United Kingdom: Hell Fire Club, ND. Second Edition, Limited. Hardcover. Quarto. (11 1/4 x 8 3/4) [iv + 16pp. + 6pp.+ 6 (blank pages)] Bound in quarter navy goatskin, with burgundy cloth boards. Printed paper title label on front board, marbled endpapers, b&w illustrations. The (unstated) second Hell Fire Club Edition - limited to 120 copies. The Hell Fire Club earlier published an edition, limited to 50 copies, bound in full leather, in large octavo format. The "Journal of a Rosicrucian Philosopher" comprises 18 pages; "The Admission of Dr. Bacstrom," 6 pages; plus blanks. The compiler of the manuscript, Frederick Hockley (1809-1885), was an occultist and Freemason with an interest in Spiritualism who in later life was associated with the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Hockley's peers considered him to be one of the great occult scholars of his time in fact he was held in such high regard by one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, W. Wynn Westcott, that he posthumously claimed Hockley as one of the Order's most outstanding Adepts. The enigmatic Sigismund Bacstrom is one of the most renowned scholars of alchemy of his time. He is thought to have been of Scandinavian origin, and travelled widely before settling in London where he prepared and translated alchemical and other hermetic texts, which he circulated amonust a small group of like-minded individuals, including Ebenezer Sibly. Hockley is known to have made several versions of this particular Bacstrom manuscript (one of which is in the Andover-Harvard Library at Harvard University). The Hell Fire Club edition appears to have been reproduced from an anonymously produced edition that circulated in the UK in the 1980s. Being a copy of a copy, the first edition could be difficult to read in places, but the new edition is quite legible as the pages have been enlarged from their original large octavo size to folio, and the contrast increased. Basically a New, unread copy, thus Fine. Out of print. Item #64161

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