Temperance. A Tract for the Times.
London: O.T.O., 1939. First Edition. Softcover. Quarto (11.25 x 8.25 inches). Not paginated. [20pp] Original cream card wrappers with red printed titling, tied with gold cord. First edition limited to 100 numbered and signed copies, this being copy number 40, SIGNED by Crowley. A collection of five poems each with individual printed dedication: comprising - "Bob Chanler. In Memoriam" (for the American Artist Robert Winthrop Chanler, 1872-1930, who befriended Crowley in New York in 1918); "Hymn to Astarte", for Deidre McAlpine (mother of Aleister Attaturk); "The Moralist", for Augustus John (British artist and long-term friend of Crowley's); "Happy Dust", for Margot (probably Margot Cripps - one of Crowley's lovers at the time "Temperance" went to press) and "The Artist", for Frieda Harris (Crowley's friend and supporter, and the one who executed the artwork for the Thoth tarot deck). The book has been famously described by Timothy d'Arch Smith as "a collection of drinking-songs dedicated to the teetotal Lady Astor. It was bound like the wine-list of a grand restaurant or transatlantic liner, its disjunct leaves caught with a knotted gold cord." Examples of "Temperance" are genuinely scarce, and while it has been speculated that part of the print-run might have gone astray, it is equally plausible that because of its ephemeral nature a number of copies might simply have been handed in for recycling during the paper drives that were a frequent occurrence during the war that followed shortly after its publication.
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. Covers and edges a little darkened and creased around the edges with a few hints of rubbing. Internally bright and clean with a splendid example of Crowley's "phallic 'A' signature." Overall a nice, clean VG+ copy of a very scarce, first edition. Item #70978
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