The Great Beast. The Life and Magick of Aleister Crowley; Unabridged, revised and updated and incorporating "The Magick of Aleister Crowley"
London: Mayflower, 1973. First Edition Thus [ Revised ]. Softcover. Small octavo. Thick Pocket-sized paperback, 464pp. Index. A revised and greatly expanded new edition of John Symond's biography of Crowley. Just as the first edition of 1951 and its reprints introduced the children of the Fifties and Sixties to the Great Beast, this paperback edition introduced the punk generation and its successors to him - indeed no self respecting London squat in the late 1970s was without a copy. This revised edition includes additional chapters on Crowley reprinted from Symonds' second book on the Beast, "The Magic of Aleister Crowley". From the library of Oliver Marlow Wilkinson (1915-1999) dramatist, author, educator and raconteur. Oliver was 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 prepare a popular edition of Crowley 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 Oliver's godfather. Oliver Wilkinson inherited many of the Crowley books and papers that had belonged to his father Louis, including a number of signed and inscribed items, etc. etc. In the 1980s Oliver refreshed his interest in Crowley, meeting with a number of contemporary Crowley afficiandos including Hymenaeus Beta, Clive Harper, Tony Naylor, Keith Richmond, Martin P. Starr, et al. At Tony Naylor's urging he also wrote an Introduction to a new edition of his father's book "Seven Friends" (which included a chapter-long reminiscense of Crowley) which Naylor published under his Mandrake Press Ltd. imprint in 1992. Oliver Marlow died in 1999, and 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. The book is obviously well read with considerable shelfwear and rubbing to covers; page edges and pages browned (as common). As a nearly 50 year old paperback it needs to be handled with some care, but- overall a still a tight, clean, about VG copy. Item #69738
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