CROWLEY, Aleister.

The God-Eater. A Tragedy of Satire [ The God Eater ].

London: Watts & Co., 1903. First Edition. Softcover. Small Quarto. 10 x 7 1/2 inches, 32 pp. Dark green 'camel hair' wrappers with red lettering on upper wrapper. Housed in a modern, custom-made matching dark green portfolio, with gilt stamped leather title-label, lined with archival paper. The first edition of Crowley's "The God-Eater" - one of 300 copies printed thus (there were also two copies on vellum). Given the fragile binding it is likely that many copies have not survived and thus the work is genuinely scarce. "The God-Eater" is a play that Crowley wrote in July 1903 whilst on a trip to Edinburgh to secure wine and a "companion-housekeeper" to take back with him to his residence at Boleskine on the remote shores of Loch Ness. In his "Confessions" Crowley wrote of the work thus: "The idea of this obscure and fantastic play is a follows: By a glorious act human misery is secured (history of Christianity). Hence, appreciation of the personality of Jesus is no excuse for being a Christian. Inversely, by a vile and irrational series of acts human happiness is secured (story of the play). Hence, attacks on the mystics of history need not cause us to condemn mysticism." A contemporary reviewer for the "Sheffield Daily Telegraph" saw it somewhat differently, writing: "So far as we can understand the story, which is almost unintelligible, it is about a brother who seeks to found a new religion, of which his younger sister shall be the goddess, and, in order to achieve that end, stabs her and eats her heart. It is simply loathsome and horrible." 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. Porfolio in Fine condition. The titling on the upper wrapper of the book is almost indistinguishable from the cover itself - as it was from new. Clearly there was a design problem as the colours of type and paper simpy merged. Soft-paper wrappers have a couple of small chips to the spine and corners, there is some splitting to the paper down the middle of the spine, but the wrappers are still firmly attached. Remains of a small, old bookseller's (?) label at bottom of inside front wrapper. A couple of minor scrapes to the edges, half title-page a little dusty. Overall a bright and clean VG+ copy of a rare work. Item #67602

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