The Giant's Thumb; First Impressions Series No. 1
Great Britain: First Impressions, 1992. First Edition. Softcover. Octavo, xx + 328pp. Printed wrappers. The softcover edition of Volume # 1 of the First Impressions series of facsimiles of Crowley's work. This copy SIGNED by publisher Anthony Naylor on title page. "The Giant's Thumb" is an anthology of Crowley's poetry, compiled between 1904 and 1914 and dedicated to Theodore Reuss. It was to have been published in London in 1914 but this fell through and Crowley, who had by then traveled to America, arranged for it to be published by Mitchell Kinnerly in New York, in 1915. The volume reached proof stage, and one copy was printed, which Crowley duly corrected, but his poor finances stalled the process and it remained unpublished during his lifetime. Crowley retained the corrected Mitchell Kinnerly proofs, which survived various vicissitudes until they found sanctuary in the collection of Gerald Yorke. This facsimile edition was reproduced from Crowley's original printed proof copy, and thus includes all of Crowley's handwritten corrections, annotations and marginalia. As the book was not previously published, this is also the true First Edition (a hardcover edition was released at the same time). 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. Very light rubbing to covers and chafing to points otherwise a lovely clean near Fine copy. Item #65363
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