Moonchild. A Prologue.
London: Mandrake, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 336pp. Original dark green cloth with gilt titles to spine. The first edition of Crowley's famous second novel which tells the tale of a young woman caught up in a battle between two magicians, one of whom seeks to use her body as the vessel for the 'birth' in human form of a non-human entity: "the Moonchild" of the title. From the collection of Clive Harper with his discreet 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 shelf wear, spine ends and corners lightly bruised with a touch of fraying at lower corners, page edges darkened with a bit of foxing, endpapers unevenly browned. Pages toned but clean and unmarked. Light abrasion to the front endpaper, where it the inner flap of the dust jacket evidently stuck to it at some stage. Overall a tight, clean VG copy in a Fair example of the original dust jacket. PLEASE NOTE: the dust jacket had some light wear & chipping at which point a misguided former owner has "laminated" it , covering it with thick adhesive *permanent* clear plastic - and not terribly skillfully. Thus while present and largely complete we must give it the low rating in terms of condition. Still, the dust jacket has done its intended job, and the binding is much cleaner than normally encountered. Item #66702
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