CROWLEY, Aleister Edited, with Annotations by John Symonds & Kenneth Grant SIGNED by.

The Magical Record of the Beast 666 [NOTE CONDITION PLEASE] The Diaries of Aleister Crowley 1914-1920.

Montreal, Canada: Next Step Publications, 1972. Limited Edition - Signed. Hardcover. Large octavo in slipcase, xvi + 326 pp. Original green buckram with gilt title, etc. to black panel on spine, gilt facsimile of Crowley's signature on front cover. Marbled endpapers. Index. Matching cloth slipcase (replacement). The scarce edition deluxe of this significant first publication of this group of Crowley's diaries. Limited to numbered 250 copies, of which this is copy 96, SIGNED by both Symonds and Grant, the latter having signed "Kenneth Grant, X° O.T.O." followed by an inverted pyramid of "fire dots." Beneath this a device with a Thelemic lamen has been pasted by the publisher. In addition to the signatures, lamen, different binding, and slip-case, this deluxe edition varied from the standard issue in that it also included photographic facsimiles of three of the original pages of Crowley's diaries as a frontispiece. The diaries cover virtually the whole of Crowley's American sojourn, from shortly after his arrival in 1914 to his departure in 1919, his subsequent travels, and early days at Cefalu in 1920. They record not only day-to-day events, but his magical workings, experiments with sex magick and drugs (hence he termed them his "Magical Record"). The book was jointly published by Next Step Publications, in Canada, and Duckworth in the UK, with the former apparently being the main movers in the project. Next Step was founded by Peter Macfarlane (best known for his role in 93 Publishing) and business partner Pierre Robert. When the partnership dissolved, some copies were sold and distributed via Weiser (then in New York) - these had generally had the lamen pasted on the limitation page. For some reason those that were distributed from Canada usually had the slip with the Thelemic lamen pasted over the Next Step imprint and date on the title page. As noted this copy has the lamen on the limitation page. PLEASE NOTE CONDITION: This copy has obviously suffered a significant damp exposure - the rear cover is significantly discolored, the spine shows some flecking and discoloration, and there is some moderate discoloration to the front board. Rather remarkably the damp did not penetrate the boards, and internally the book is bright, tight and fresh. The plain green cloth-covered slip-case was evidently to damaged to be saved and a custom made facsimile replaces it. This facsimile is almost identical to the original, it is only detectable if stood next to an original, when a slight difference in cloth becomes apparent. Thus to reiterate - the boards are stained and soiled, the text bright and unmarked, and the volume housed in an Fine replacement slipcase. An opportunity to buy a copy of this scarce signed edition at a price considerably lower then a very nice copy would command. Item #70925

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