Item #68263 The Stratagem and Other Stories. Aleister - CROWLEY, Signed and Inscribed.
The Stratagem and Other Stories.
The Stratagem and Other Stories.

The Stratagem and Other Stories.

London: The Mandrake Press, 1930. First Edition, Inscribed. Hardcover. Small Octavo. 140pp. Original gold & black limitation-snake skin patterned boards with black cloth spine with white paper title label. This copy INSCRIBED & SIGNED by Crowley on the front free endpaper in a bold, flourishing hand: "To Miss Carp / From / [signed] Aleister Crowley." Sadie Carp is said to have been the office manager of The Mandrake Press, who published the work. "The Stratagem" comprises three novellas by Crowley: "The Stratagem," "His Secret Sin," and "The Testament of Magdalen Blair". "The Testament of Magdalen Blair " paints a particularly nasty picture of what happens to human beings after they die, which is indeed so nasty that it has been described in the Penguin Encyclopaedia of Horror & Supernatural as "one of the most horrible stories ever written." 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. Just a hint of shelf wear, spine label 100% intact which is almost never the case, endpapers unevenly browned with shadow of bookseller's label on front pastedown. Still, a tight, clean VG+ copy in VG dust jacket (Dust jacket unevenly darkened - as almost always, spine ends and edges are lightly chipped & creased with a few tiny closed tears, half inch ragged tear at lower rear fold, not clipped. Now protected with mylar cover.) For some reason inscribed copies of "The Stratagem" are particularly uncommon - this is the only one that we can recall handling. Item #68263

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