Forth, Beast!
London: Faber and Faber, 1946. First Edition. Hardcover. Small Octavo. 200pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine. This copy INSCRIBED and SIGNED by Crowley to Frederick Mellinger: "To my beloved son / Frédéric / this with the blessing of / his father / A. C. [signed with initials with large phallic A". Mellinger (1890-1970) was a German Jewish actor, writer and occultist, who had moved first to London and then to the United States after Hitler rose to power. In the US Mellinger met W. T. Smith and joined the A.'. A.'. and became involved with Agape Lodge of the O.T.O. Shortly after the end of the war he returned for a time to Germany, and then England, and where he made several trips to see Crowley at his final residence, Netherwood, including one in November 1947, as the Beast lay dying. Crowley thought very highly of Mellinger, and there is some evidence that he seriously considered him as a possible successor.
The author, of "Forth Beast!" Louis Umfreville Wilkinson (1881-1966), was an English literary figure who wrote a number of satirical autobiographical and fictional works, mostly under the pseudonym "Louis Marlow." Wilkinson was also perhaps Crowley's closest friend. Crowley made him one of his executors, and it was 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. Wilkinson published "Forth Beast!" - a work which is a mixture of autobiography and opinion thinly veiled as fiction - in the year before Crowley died. Although the title is from a Chaucer poem, and not - it seems - a direct reference to Crowley, the book contains a Crowley-based character and nearly twenty references to Crowley by name, including a number of quotes from him. Crowley was obviously delighted with the book, as he acquired a number of copies - perhaps as a gift from Wilkinson - which he in turn gave to friends.
From the collection of Clive Harper with his discrete 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.
Being published just after the end of the Second World War, when paper rationing in Britain was still very severe, the dust jacket with which the book was issued was made of very poor quality, thin, brittle paper, which quickly fell apart, and thus most copies, like this, are without the dust jacket. The book itself reflects war time economies, and the cloth binding and paper on which it is printed aren't of the highest quality. The spine is a little faded and there is a hint of bruising and rubbing to the points, some spot fading to the cloth. Endpapers unevenly shadowed, a few small pale spots, possibly a quickly mopped up minor tea splash, to pages 11-14. Still overall a bright, better than VG copy with a wonderful inscription and association (lacks dust jacket). Item #69810
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