Item #69786 Castles in the Air. A Memoir. Charles Richard - INSCRIBED CAMMELL, Aleister Crowley: related works.
Castles in the Air. A Memoir.
Castles in the Air. A Memoir.

Castles in the Air. A Memoir.

London: The Richards Press, 1952. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 256pp. Publisher's bright red cloth with gilt titling to spine, b&w frontis and illustrations, index. This copy SIGNED and INSCRIBED by Cammell on the front pastedown: "To Alison Bernard / Lest auld acquaintance / be forgot. / And never brought to mind' / in friendship / C.R. Cammell." Memoirs, largely set in Edinburgh, by Cammell (1890 - 1968), a well-known Scottish poet and writer. Cammell was a friend, although not a follower, of Aleister Crowley, and the author of: 'Aleister Crowley, The Man: The Mage: The Poet.' Cammell had a long term interest in the occult and psychical research, and for a time was editor of "Light" (Magazine). Not surprisingly seven or eight pages of "Castles in the Air" refer to Crowley (the relevant page numbers neatly listed in pencil on the front free endpaper). Loosely inserted is a photocopy of one of the pages of John Symond's own copy, with his extremely ascerbic comments about Cammell and Crowley in the margins (Cammell and Symonds were of course rival biographers of Crowley's, their books appearing almost simulatenously).
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.
Spine slightly leaned and boards a little bowed, a few faint marks to the cloth, page edges a little dusty, but overall a tight, bright, clean VG+ copy (lacking dust jacket) of a surprisingly scarce book. Item #69786

Sold