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Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalog # 55.
Foundation Works of the Occult Revival. A Selection of Rare Books
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Weiser Antiquarian Books is pleased to announce the release of the Fifty-fifth of our on-line catalogs. This catalog features a small selection of rare and significant occult books (and a manuscript) dating from the late Eighteenth Century through to the mid-Nineteenth Century: that is the period leading up to the "Occult Revival." Amongst the earliest publications listed are two works by the writer and medical doctor Ebenezer Sibly (c. 1749- c. 1800): his A New And Complete Illustration Of The Celestial Science of Astrology(first published 1784-1788), and his A Key to Physic, and the Occult Sciences (1795). At first Sibly's attempts to publish were thwarted by Government intervention - ostensibly on account of their occult content, but more probably for political reasons - but he soon prevailed. Sibly's success emboldened other publishers, and in 1791 Henry Lemoine began to issue The Conjuror's Magazine, or, Magical and Physiognomical Mirror …. - here presented in a bound volume - a journal that was as much about Faustian magic and astrology, as it was about sleight-of-hand. More specifically astrological works began to appear as well: one of the examples listed is the pseudonymous Astrology: The Wisdom of Solomon in Miniature ....(1792), a work that is particularly interesting on account of its forthright discussion of the astrological influence on sexuality (particularly homosexuality). Meanwhile across the channel, at the height France's revolutionary fervour, Charles-François Dupuis produced his Origine de tous les cultes ou Religion Universelle (4 Volumes - 1795), a monumental exploration of myth and religion (particularly astronomical and astrological) for survivals of a Universal Religion from which he felt all others had grown. Fortunately for Dupuis his work was considered heretical enough to win the approval of the Revolutionary Committees - and thus ensure that its author kept his head at a time when many around were literally losing theirs - although conversely it also meant that the book ended up being listed in the Papal Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
The start of the Nineteenth Century witnessed the publication of Barrett's landmark work, The Magus Or Celestial Intelligencer; Being a Complete System of Occult Philosophy a book largely compiled from rare early texts, many of which had been in Ebenezer Sibly's library, and had been loaned to Barrett by the bookseller John Denley, who had acquired them following Sibly's death. Three editions of The Magus were produced in the nineteenth century: the First (1801), a near-identical reprint (1875) and a US edition (1896). Copies of all three - the first two with magnificent color plates - are offered in the catalog. Barrett was also commonly - but probably erroneously - identified as the author of the anonymously-published The Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers. Copies of the first issue (1814) are so rare as to be almost unknown, but this collection includes a copy of the still-very-scarce second issue(1815), as well as A. E. Waite's revised printing (1888). As it happens, Mary Anne Atwood, the author of the rarest book in the catalog A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery (1850) is known to have made use of The Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers when compiling writing her work. This is one of only fifteen copies of the First Edition of her book that are known to survive as shortly after publication all copies was recalled and burned by Atwood's father, a fellow alchemist, who feared she had revealed too much in the book. Despite this initial tiny circulation - and the fact that it was not reprinted until 1918 - Atwood's book is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential alchemical works of the Nineteenth Century.
Goetic or "Faustian" Magic also underwent a resurgence during the period, although publishers remained wary, and many were issued in semi-clandestine fashion. Thus the title page of the beautiful, small edition of the notorious Grimoire du Pape Honorius avec un Recueil des plus Rares Secretssuggested that is was published in Rome in 1760, whereas it was almost certainly published in Lille in 1810. Similarly the title of Robert Cross Smith's The Astrologer Of The Nineteenth Century (1825) underplayed the fact that although it contained much on astrology, it also held enough information on "Faustian" Magic to be considered a working text book on the subject. In fact, The Astrologer Of The Nineteenth Century, was amongst the works referred to by bookseller John Denley's employee, Frederick Hockley, when compiling his collection of Occult Spells (recently published for the first time by the Teitan Press). The original manuscript, started in 1829 and elegantly written and with several charts and tables, is included in the collection. A critical examination of the lives of many of those who wrote the texts from which Hockley worked, can be found in Lives of the Necromancers (1834) by William Godwin, a respected writer and philosopher, and father of the authoress of "Frankenstein."
Other works in the catalog give historical background to the occult quest. These include Godfrey Higgins' researches into the origins of religion in Anacalypsis(2 Volumes - 1836), J.C.L. Simonde De Sismondi exploration of the "Albigensian heresy" and it's persecution History of the Crusades against the Albigenses, in the Thirteenth Century (1826), and Charles G. Addison's The History of the Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and the Temple(1842). Christian Bunsen's massive Egypt's Place in Universal History (5 volumes - 1848-1867) was instrumental in shaping contemporary perceptions about ancient Egypt, and included the first true Hieroglyphic - English dictionary, and the first authoritative translation of "The Book of the Dead." The catalogue ends with First Editions of two works by Éliphas Lévi, that with hindsight, could be said to be in the cusp between "foundation works" and those of the "Occult Revival" itself: his Histoire de la Magie (1860) and La Clef des Grands Mystéres (1861).
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As usual we have a variety of other catalogs in preparation. Future catalogs will be devoted to Astrology, Mythology, Theosophy, Kabbalah, Grimoires,The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Witchcraft, and other of our specialties, with a few suprises along the way. Of course we will also continue to regularly issue our Aleister Crowley catalogs.
The books in these catalogs represent just a minute fraction of our overall holdings. We currently list nearly 10,000 other other mostly esoteric-related titles on our main website: www.weiserantiquarian.com with new stock added weekly.
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