Item #70231 The Book Of The Law [technically called Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI]. Aleister CROWLEY.
The Book Of The Law [technically called Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI].
The Book Of The Law [technically called Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI].

The Book Of The Law [technically called Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI].

Pasadena: Privately issued: The O.T.O. / Church of Thelema, 1938 [1942]. First U.S. Edition. Softcover, small octavo (5 x 6 1/2 inches) 50pp. (+ 6pp adverts at rear) Booklet stapled in original blue wrappers, with title and A.'. A.'. sigil gilt stamped on upper wrapper. The First U.S. Edition of "The Book of the Law." This edition was prepared by Wilfred Talbot Smith ("Frater Omnia Velle Nihil" = "Frater V.O.V.N." = "Frater Voven" / "Frater 132", 1885-1957), a pioneer of Thelema in North America: an early member of British Columbia Lodge No 1 of the O.T.O., then head of Agape Lodge of the O.T.O. in California, founder of "The Church of Thelema," a long term associate of Aleister Crowley, and subject of Martin Starr's biography "The Unknown God." The text of this edition was directly from the British edition of 1938, although it omits the final three leaves of notices and advertisements, and instead adds a two page notice headed simply "O.T.O." comprising material about the Order extracted from "The Equinox." According to Smith's biographer, Martin P. Starr, the reset text was carefully checked, but in a typical case of overlooking the obvious, they forgot to replace the original publication date on the title page (1938) with the intended publication date October 31, 1942. In a perhaps deliberate acknowledgement of wartime sensitivities, the words "Democracy Dodders" which had been the very first sentence of the fifth chapter the Introduction were omitted. The book was published under the imprint of The Church of Thelema, 1003 S. Orange Grove Avenue, Pasadena California. It is a handsome production, and is one of the few Thelemic publications prepared by a follower of which Crowley himselfis known to have approved. General light signs of age and use, but still a VG+ copy. There is a small rubbed spot in the upper right corner of the rear wrapper. The staples are rusty rubbed. The book has obviously had a mild damp exposure, with the blue of the wrappers offsetting lightly onto the first and last pages, and there are the odd spots of discoloration to the extreme margins of some pages. Otherwise a solid, clean, about VG copy of an increasingly difficult-to-find edition. Item #70231

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