A Typed Letter, Signed, addressed to A. Starr, December 12th, 1929, from Knockholt, Kent.
NP: (1929). Typed on the recto of a thin quarto (10 1/8 x 8 inches) typing paper watermarked "Exelsior Extra Superfine. British made." A letter from Aleister Crowley to R. A. Starr, dated 12th Dec. 1929. 65 words. with Crowley's Ivy Cottage, Knockholt, Kent, address typed at the head of the page. The letter begins and ends with the full Thelemic greetings followed by "Yours Fraternally" and Crowley's full "Aleister Crowley" signature, with phallic "A." It is a brief note in which Crowley mentions that he will be in London on the following Sunday, and suggests that Starr meets him in the afternoon at Oddenino's Hotel (a hotel and restaurant at the Picadilly Circus end of Regent Street that became well-known for the abandon of its late evening dances in the during the war years). The letter is signed by Crowley with his full name, commencing with the phallic 'A'. A secretarial reference in bottom left hand corner margin "666/anl" reveals that the letter was actually typed for Crowley by Israel Regardie, who was working as his secretary at the time. The letter is from the collection of the original recipient: Robert Aloysius Starr (or Stott), which was dispersed in England in 2002. Starr had been a conscientious objector during the First World War and was jailed for his beliefs. He became a member of the O.T.O. in the UK in the 1920s taking the magical name Frater Maha Linga (he was also informally called "Ra"), and rose to the IXth degree. He was a friend and chess-partner of Crowley's, and is referred to by Israel Regardie in his biography as Aloysius Comet. Starr was also a one-time member of the off shoot of the Golden Dawn operated by Moina Mathers, the Alpha and Omega Lodge, and as such is mentioned by Ithell Colquhoun in her biography of S. L. McGregor Mathers, 'The Sword of Wisdom.' A little darkened, and with a few light creases from having been folded into an envelope, overall VG+ condition. Item #68331
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