Eight Lectures on Yoga. The Equinox Volume III., Number Four.
London: The O.T.O., 1939. First Edition. Hardcover, Large Quarto (11 ¾ x 9") 84pp (+ 4pp. adverts.) Original brown buckram with "Eight Lectures / On Yoga" (all in caps) gilt stamped across the front cover, above a large (approx. two and a quarter inches in diameter) gilt stamped A .'. A .'. seal. Edges untrimmed. Erratum tipped in following advertisements at rear. Portrait frontispiece with original tissue guard. 1 diagram (Tree of Life). The book is widely regarded as one of Crowley's best works, and as one of the wittiest and most insightful studies of the subject ever written by a Westerner. Although Crowley gave the work a number in his Equinox series (Volume III., Number Four) it was effectively an independent monograph, and is complete in itself. 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 corners are lightly bumped and there are a few small bumps to the edges of the boards. Internally it is a bright and clean copy: there is a small erasure on the front free endpaper and there are a few light marks of handling, the portrait, which is sometimes heavily browned, is barely toned and has left only a small, light patch of offset onto the title-page (as common), the volume is free of the usual foxing, etc. Overall a tight, bright and clean VG+ copy in an about VG example of the scarce dust jacket. The dust jacket has some small chips and tears around the edges and is missing a large (thumb-print sized) chip from the head of the spine. As the spine was originally blank someone has lettered "Yoga by Aleister Crowley" in caps. vertically down it, although the "Y" of "Yoga" has been lost to the aforementioned chip. The largely white panels are typically grubby, with the spine darkened. Still the jacket is 98 % intact, and genuinely uncommon (now protected by a removable mylar sleeve). Item #65269
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