Yeats's Golden Dawn.
London: The MacMillan Press Ltd, 1974. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. x + 322pp. Black cloth with gilt title etc to spine, notes, appendicies and index. An important study of Yeats's involvement in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its effect on his life and writings. Drawn from - and reproducing - much then unpublished material; includes a list of the contents of Westcott's Hermetic Library. Yeats famously clashed with Aleister Crowley over the direction in which the Order should go, culminating in the "battle of Blythe Road" and a significant fracture in the group. This copy has obviously been kept in a damp house, so it has a somewhat musty smell which would probably leave if aired out in a dry place. Cloth has some light surface abrasions, a litte bumping to the edges of the boards. Small erasure on half-title page, edges of text-block quite heavily foxed and darkened, particularly the fore-edge. A tight, otherwise clean VG copy in VG dust jacket (jacket lightly rubbed overall, a little chafed and with a few small chips and rears at the edges. Price clipped, now in removable mylar sleeve). Item #69957
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