The Unknown God: W. T. Smith and the Thelemites.
Bolingbrook, IL: Teitan Press, Inc., 2003. First Edition. Hardcover. Large octavo. xii + 416pp. Blue cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, gilt sigil on front cover, frontis, photographs. SIGNED by Martin P. Starr at the close of his Prologue. The first documentary study of Aleister Crowley's contemporary followers in North America, told through the life of their de facto leader, Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885-1957). Introduced to Crowley's works by Charles Stansfeld Jones in Canada, Smith met Crowley only once, but their twenty year correspondence povided a major link between the Beast and his followers in the United States and Canada. Smith's spiritual life centered first on the initiatic structure of the Order of the A.'. A.'., complimented by the emerging fraternal and social schemes of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Smith followed Jones into a few all but-forgotten movements like the Universal Brotherhood and the Psychomagian Society. Obviously it includes much on Jack Parsons and Smith's other associates in Agape Lodge. From the collection of Clive Harper with his discrete book-label neatly tipped in at the rear. Harper is well-known as the bibliographer of Austin Osman Spare, for updating the Aleister Crowley bibliography in the 2011 Teitan Press collection of Gerald Yorke's writings, and as someone who has lent his expertise to numerous other publications. The label can easily be removed without affecting the page, although it would be a shame not to preserve this record of the book's provenance. A lovely and bright Fine copy in lightly rubbed near-Fine dust jacket (please note: what looks like discoloration in the accompanying photograph is simply reflection). Item #64760
ISBN: 093342907X
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