John St. John.
San Francisco, CA: [ OTO ] Stellar Visions, 1986. First Edition Thus. Softcover. Quarto (11 x 8.5 inches). 142pp. Flexible clear plastic front cover over printed paper cover sheet, dark blue plastic rear cover, secured together with a blue 2 part plastic back strip. Hand-colored endsheets. Stellar Visions was run by Lotte Lieb along with well-known OTO figure Ebony Anpu. "John St. John" (Liber DCCCLX) is Crowley's record of the magical retirement which he undertook between October 1st - 13th, 1908. Crowley originally published the text - which he described as "A model of what a magical record should be, so far as accurate analysis and fullness of description are concerned" - in "The Equinox" Vol. I: No. 1 (1909). This is the first separate US publication of the work (an undated edition was published in the UK in the 1980s by the Morton Press - it is not known if it predated or postdated the Stellar Visions printing). Obviously the print-run was small as copies are seldom seen. This copy has the "trademark" Stellar Visions hand coloured endsheets. 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. A little browning to extreme edges of covers, edges darkened and chafed, pages toned but unmarked, but overall a tight, unmarked better than VG copy. Scarce. Item #68257
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