The Equinox of the Gods (being The Equinox Vol. III, No. III).
London: The O.T.O. / Samuel Weiser, 1937 / 1956. Second Printing, Second Issue. Hardcover. Quarto (10.5 x 7.75 inches), vi + 138pp, Red cloth with gilt A.'. A.'. seal on front board and gilt titling, and "The Equinox of the Gods" [between two sets of two rules] lettered down spine. Colour plates of the Stele of Revealing, diagrams. This is a 1956 reissue of the Second (1937) edition of Crowley's "The Equinox of the Gods." Crowley first released the book in 1936, bound in white buckram, and with a specially-made pocket at the rear of the volume which held an envelope containing a facsimile of the original manuscript (Liber XXXI) of "The Book of the Law." In 1937 Crowley had the book reprinted, though the printers retained the 1936 publication date on the title page etc. A small number of the copies were printed on machine-made paper and were used for a 'Subscriber's Edition' bound in cloth-backed boards. A larger number were printed on 'Japanese paper' and were again bound in white buckram. A significant number of the sheets of this latter issue remained unbound, and after Crowley's death were sent to his American disciple Karl Germer, who in 1955 passed approx. 500 sets of sheets to Samuel Weiser, bookseller and publisher in New York. Weiser had the generous margins cropped, and the sheets bound in maroon cloth, creating this hybrid issue. This issue did not have a pocket for the loose sheets of Liber AL, although a small number of copies were sold with the envelope containing them placed in a larger printed buff folder that was included as a separate item. This copy, like most, does not have the folder and facsimile. Some rubbing to the points of the boards, some pale foxing / shadowing to the endpapers, small, vintage Samuel Weiser bookseller's label to front pastedown. A little shaken. Still a nice, clean VG+ copy (no dust jacket issued). Item #70454
Price: $395.00