Item #70713 Occult Spells, A Nineteenth Century Grimoire. Frederick HOCKLEY, Compiler, Edited, Silens Manus.
Occult Spells, A Nineteenth Century Grimoire.
Occult Spells, A Nineteenth Century Grimoire.
Occult Spells, A Nineteenth Century Grimoire.

Occult Spells, A Nineteenth Century Grimoire.

York Beach, Maine, USA: Teitan Press, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Small Quarto. 208pp. Black cloth, with a gilt sigil stamped on the front cover, blind rules, and gilt title etc. on the spine. Printed on library-quality paper, sewn, Color frontispiece. Edition limited to 500 hand numbered copies, this being copy no. 6. This copy one of a small number of "launch copies" with a bookplate SIGNED by the editor Silens Manus affixed to the front free endpaper. The first section comprises a 9 page Introduction, which is followed by a 72 page typeset transcription of the text of the grimoire, with explanatory footnotes, translations of the passages in Latin, etc. etc. The final section is a 120 page facsimile of the original manuscript of the grimoire, printed on special coated paper that gives a photograph like quality to the reproduction. Frederick Hockley (1809-1885), was an occultist and Freemason with an interest in Spiritualism who in later life was associated with the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Hockley's peers considered him to be one of the great occult scholars of his time in fact he was held in such high regard by one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, W. Wynn Westcott, that he posthumously claimed Hockley as one of the Order's most outstanding Adepts. Occult Spells is a sort of esoteric commonplace book in which Hockley recorded material on different spells, talismans, charms and such-like that he came across in rare books and manuscripts in the course of his researches. Hockley started compiling the book at about the age of twenty, and added to it throughout his life he still had it in his possession when he died at the age of seventy-six. The sources that he used ranged from occult classics such as Richard Saunders' Physiognomie, and Chiromancie, Metoposcopie (1671), John Heydon's Theomagia, or the Temple of Wisdome (1663); and Henry Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1651), to relatively obscure works like Joseph Pettigrew's Bibliotheca Sussexiana (1827), and notorious grimoires like the Petit Albert. The spells and talismans vary as much as his sources: from sublime Enochian invocations, through folk magic, and on into the darker realms of necromancy. Thus it includes charms to determine the name of the person you will marry (useful only to virgins!), a quite poisonous-sounding love powder, talismans for all sorts of purposes, and even a recipe for the creation of a homunculus. This is the first ever publication of Occult Spells and includes an Introduction and transcription of the text by Silens Manus, a scholar of Hockley's works who has studied literally dozens of his manuscripts. In addition to checking and restoring illegible words or phrases from the original sources that Hockley used, Manus has also added footnotes explaining many obscure terms, plant and deity names and such-like, as well as providing translations of most of the less common non-English phrases and passages that appear in the text. Hockley had also left a number of blank spaces in the text of the manuscript in which he planned to eventually reproduce some of the tables and diagrams in the works from which he quoted. Where possible Manus has included these in the transcription. For those who prefer to consult the manuscript exactly as Hockley wrote it, an exact photographic facsimile, on special coated paper, completes the book. Occult Spells offers a rare insight into the occult preoccupations of this interesting figure, whose work arguably had a profound effect on the late nineteenth century Occult Revival. 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. Fine condition. No dust jacket issued. Item #70713
ISBN: 9780933429178

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