Lemegeton; Clavicula Salomonis: or The Complete Lesser Key Of Solomon The King - The Five Books: The Goetia; The Theurgia Goetia; The Pauline Art; The Almadel of Solomon; The Artem Novem (The Notary Art). Exact photocopy of the 17th. Century Manuscript from the British Museum. Transcribed, with Notes and Comments.
Fremont, CA: The Technology Group, 1979. Revised & enlarged edition. Softcover. Oblong folio (8 1/2 x 14 inches). vi + (125pp) + (+ xipp adverts). The pagination is eccentric and the pages are printed on the rectos only - in the page count given we are only counting the pages with printing on them (a total of about 142), not their blank versos. Printed pale green paper covers, black plastic strip binding. B/w illustrations. A landmark publication of an important group of texts, with facsimiles, typescript transcriptions, corrections and commentaries. According to the publishers this is the first ever publication of the significant books of the Legemeton (The Goetia; The Theurgia Goetia; The Pauline Art; The Almadel of Solomon) published together, from the same source. The facsimile text is taken from the seventeenth century Sloane MS 2731 kept in the British Museum. Interspersed with the approximately 40 leaves of xeroxed facsimiles of the manuscript are some 70 leaves of typed transcription, which includes notes and corrections by the editors. There is also a three page Introduction, and some alternative pages. It should be noted that the editors, Nelson and Anne White, were ritual magicians, rather than textual scholars, and critics have pointed out that it is their practice, rather than conventional scholarship, that informs their commentary. Although the title pages mention "The Artem Novem" this work is not present, and it seems that a part of the "Pauline Art" was omitted from the first edition - we do not know if it has been restored in this "revised and enlarged edition." The editors, Nelson H. White (Frater Zarathustra: 1938 - 2003) and his wife Anne White (Soror Veritas) were active in the Southern California Occult scene for over 20 years, and were instrumental in the formation and operation of several Esoteric Churches and Magickal Orders. For a time they were associated with Poke Runyon's Ordo Templi Astarte and in 1973 founded their own magical Order, the 'Temple of Truth' (T.'. O.'. T.'.) based in Pasadena, where they also ran the Magick Circle bookstore. In 1974 they began publishing the "White Light" - the Order's journal focused on ceremonial magic, which ran quarterly for some 15 years. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s they edited, wrote and published dozens of different books on ritual magick, the Kabbalah, and the occult in general. They were innovative in the use of technology: copying, word-processing, computing etc. and its application to the occult, preparing indexes to previously unindexed works like Barrett's "The Magus", Waite's "Book of Ceremonial Magic" etc. as well as in the production of facsimiles of grimoires, which probably explains the choice of the name of the imprint under which they published: "The Technology Group." The various editions or "printings" of the White's publications were tiny, and like almost all their publications, this volume is most uncommon. The production values are quite basic, with simple typography and layout, and reproduction by xerox, so in terms of presentation it is only a little better than a modern "fanzine." Minor darkening and discoloration to covers, otherwise a solid, clean VG+ copy. Item #64475
ISBN: 0939856069
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