CROWLEY, Aleister.

The Works of Aleister Crowley. Volumes I, II, & III [ The Collected Works ] (3 Volumes).

Boleskine, Foyers, Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth, 1905, 1906, 1907. First Edition. Three Volumes. Small octavos (7 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches). x + 270pp, viii (+ 2) + 282pp, viii + 248pp. Original gilt stamped white vellum wrappers. Printed on India paper. Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Each volume with frontispiece portrait of Crowley, Vol. I & II with Crowley's signature in facsimile underneath. An interesting association set, with the ownership details of two well known British astrologers, Arthur Gauntlett and Gabriel Dee, in the front of each volume (see further below). The best edition of Aleister Crowley's "Collected Works" (that is the one with the volumes individually bound in vellum, with the portraits). Although the word "Collected" only appears on the upper wrapper of each volume, and not on the title page, the books are commonly referred to as "the Collected Works." According to bibliographer Duncombe-Jewell the entire printing consisted of 1001 copies. It is not known how many copies appeared in which binding, but the vellum-bound issues were clearly the "edition- deluxe" and were favoured by Crowley for presentation to special friends and were produced in much smaller number than the black-wrappered single volume editions or the various three volumes in one sets. Each volume has the ownership and address stamps of Arthur Gauntlett on the front free-endpaper, and the bookplate of Gabriel Dee on the front pastedown. Both were professional astrologers. Gabriel Dee (pseud. of Dorothy Getrude Symmons: 1888-1968), was a well-known London astrologer in the 1930s. She advertised regularly in "The Occult Review", primarily offering astrological readings, although she also gave lessons in astrology and other esoteric disciplines, and apparently acted as some sort of "occult supplier" selling talismans, incense and other "magical requisites." She was acquainted with Crowley - her name appears several times in his diaries for 1929 - and he mentioned her in a letter to Karl Germer that same year as helping him to form a publishing syndicate to rival or take over from Mandrake Press. Through Crowley she met Israel Regardie, who went on to become a good friend of hers. Curiously some short clips of her have been posted on-line: they can be found by entering "Gabriel Dee British Pathe" (without the quotation marks) into a search-engine. Arthur Gauntlett was another London astrologer with Crowley connections: he was a close friend of Edward ("Ted") Noel FitzGerald (1908-1958), whom he apparently met at a public lecture around 1950. FitzGerald, also known as Frater Agape, had been initiated into the A.'. A.'. by Crowley, and was a IX degree member of the O.T.O. and a friend and follower of Crowley's from the mid-1930s onwards. An avid bibliophile, he wrote the bibliography of Crowley's works that appeared in Cammell's "Aleister Crowley, The Man, The Mage, The Poet," and was part of the small circle in Britain in the 1950s - including Frieda Lady Harris, Gerald Yorke, and Kenneth and Steffi Grant - who continued to take an interest in Crowley's work after his death. In the mid-1950s Karl Germer had actively considered appointing FitzGerald head of the O.T.O. in the UK, but the latter fell ill and died, at the age of only 50, before the plans could be finalised. FitzGerald kept up an active correspondence with Gauntlett (which fortunately survives) which reveals that the main topic of discussion between the two was Crowley, his works and life, and in later letters FitzGerald had sought to enlist Gauntlett's assistance to re-establish the O.T.O. in Britain, with a charter supplied by Germer. Arthur Gauntlett maintained his interest in Crowley: in June 1965 he published a study of Aleister Crowley drawn from his horoscope: "Aleister Crowley. A Study of an Enigma", in "Astrology. The Astrologer's Quarterly, June 1965" which was later published approvingly by John Symonds in his Introduction to "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley" (Cape, 1969). More recently from the collection of Clive Harper with his discreet book-label neatly tipped in at the rear of each Volume. 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. Housed in a recent custom-made maroon buckram portfolio, with gilt stamped leather title-label, lined with archival paper. As always, the silk ties that once secured the vellum wrappers have perished and only fragments remain, and the vellum wrappers somewhat grubby, warped, and curling. This is of course typical of vellum wrappers, and is why the set was originally issued with ties - that is to stop the vellum curling - and why a previous owner had the box made for them. Some spotting to covers of Vol. III. Internally a tight and clean. Overall an attractive, clean VG+ set, with a most interesting provenance. Item #67600

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