Item #71009 John St. John. The Record of the Magical Retirement of G. H. Frater, O.'. M.'. College of Thelema, Aleister CROWLEY.

John St. John. The Record of the Magical Retirement of G. H. Frater, O.'. M.'.

Los Angeles CA: The College of Thelema, 1998. First Edition Thus. Softcover. Quarto. (11.5 x 8.5 inches) (138pp). Orange card covers, with black lettering and design on upper cover, with protective transparent acetate coversheet and black vinyl backing sheet, secured by black comb binding. B&w illustrations, diagrams etc. Crowley's "John St. John" (Liber DCCCLX) in which he recorded his magical retirement of October 1st - 13th, 1908. Crowley originally published the text - which he described as "A model of what a magical record should be, so far as accurate analysis and fullness of description are concerned" - in "The Equinox" Vol. I: No. 1 (1909). This version is a very carefully photocopied and laid-out reprint of the text from "The Equinox". It has the ownership stamp (twice) on the first page of the well-known OTO figures Ebony Anpu and Lotte Lieb (Sr Iahan), founders of the Stellar Visions imprint. The address on the stamp, 588 - 63rd Street, Oakland California, was that of Thelema Lodge, where they both lived in the mid 1980s. Stellar Visions are known to have published an edition of "John St. John" circa 1984, which we have not seen. It is probably that this is that edition, or a trial pre-publication version of it. It is certainly not "just" a photocopy, the pages are double sided and the layout has obviously been carefully adjusted. Although not marked as such, the book was previously in the library of Thelemic firebrand J. Edward ("Jerry") Cornelius who disposed of it when he downsized some years ago. A near-fine copy. Most unusual - if not unique. Item #71009

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