The Heart of the Master.
NP [ Thame, Oxon, England ]: NP [ Mandrake Press Ltd ], ND [ 1991 ]. Facsimile edition. Softcover. Small octavo (6 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches). 40pp (+ 8pp advertisements). Glossy printed yellow wrappers with black titling and A.'. A.'. seal to front wrapper. A facsimile edition of Crowley's visionary text about the dawning of the new Aeon, written by him in Tunisia in 1925. This edition was produced anonymously by Tony Naylor of the Mandrake Press Ltd in England in 1991 - the lack of any modern publication details has caused some unwise sellers to describe it as a first edition. It is not. This copy is INSCRIBED by Naylor on the half-title page "To Oliver Wilkinson / a new friend / Tony Naylor."
From the library of Oliver Marlow Wilkinson (1915-1999) dramatist, author educator and raconteur, the son of Louis Umfreville Wilkinson (1881-1966) an English man-of-letters who wrote a number of satirical autobiographical and fictional works, mostly under the pseudonym "Louis Marlow." Louis Umfreville Wilkinson was a good friend of Aleister Crowley's, the two had an extensive correspondence, and Crowley respected Louis's literary skills to the extent that he engaged him to edit and prepare a popular edition of his commentaries on "Liber AL." Crowley also made Louis one of his executors, and it was Louis Wilkinson who caused some uproar amongst the more excitable members of the press by reading from Crowley's "Hymn to Pan" and other of his works at the Beast's funeral. Louis's son, Oliver, also knew Crowley well, indeed he was the one that found Crowley the rooms at Netherwood that became his final home and Crowley, along with John Cowper Powys, is said to have jointly shared the honour of being his godfather. Following his father's death in 1966 Oliver Wilkinson inherited many of the Crowley books and papers that had belonged to Louis, including a large number of letters, signed, and inscribed items. In the 1980s, following an approach by publisher Tony Naylor, Oliver refreshed his interest in Crowley, meeting with a number of contemporary Crowley afficiandos, and writing an Introduction to a new edition of his father's book "Seven Friends" which included a chapter-long reminiscense of Crowley. The new edition of "Seven Friends" was published by Tony Naylor of the Mandrake Press Ltd in 1992, who had published a number of other Crowley works, including this facsimile of "The Heart of the Master." In 2021 Weiser Antiquarian books acquired the remains of Oliver's Crowley collection, which comprised some of the books and pieces of ephemera that had belonged to his father, as well as books, such as this, that he himself had bought or was given in the 1980s and 1990s. A small posthumous book-label, tipped in at the rear, identifies it as having come from his collection. An unusual association copy. Front cover quite creased and darkened in a few spots. A little discoloration to rear wrapper. Internally bright and fresh. Item #69717
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