The Magical Record of the Beast 666: The Diaries of Aleister Crowley 1914-1920.
Montreal, Canada: Next Step Publications, 1972. First North American Edition. Hardcover. Large octavo. xvi + 326pp. Red cloth, gilt-lettered on spine. Index. The significant first publication of this group of Crowley's diaries, which cover virtually the whole of Crowley's American sojourn, from shortly after his arrival in 1914 to his departure in 1919, his subsequent travels, and early days at Cefalu in 1920. They record not only day to day events, but his magical workings, experiments with sex magick and drugs (hence he termed them his "Magical Record"). The book was jointly published by Next Step Publications, in Canada, and Duckworth in the UK, with the former apparently being the main movers in the project. Next Step was founded by Peter Macfarlane (best known for his role in 93 Publishing) and Pierre Robert. Cloth of covers a bit rubbed and darkened with light damp marks to both upper edges (about an inch) and lower edges (2 inches) and to lower spine, some dust jacket offset to lower front board (also from damp), spine ends and corners bruised, to edge unevenly darkened, pages toned and very slightly damp rippled at lower edges - but unmarked. The great majority of the flaws are of course hidden by the dust jacket, so apart from the light ripple to the pages and some very mild, even toning, it appears quite a nice copy until the jacket comes off! Thus a G+ copy in VG dust jacket. (Dust jacket edges chafed, a couple of small chips and tears, damp offset to reverse side, but clean on visible side and not clipped. Now in protective mylar cover.) Priced accordingly. Item #67598
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