My thanks to Stephen King for this exciting announcement…
Helios Books and Ordo Templi Orientis (Australia) are pleased to announce a new publication of P.R. Stephensen’s The Legend of Aleister Crowley. Originally published by the Mandrake Press in 1930, this is the first modern edition authorized by the Stephensen estate and makes substantial use of surviving Stephensen papers from the period.
Percy Reginald Stephensen was a young Australian who went to Britain as a Rhodes Scholar to study at Oxford. He became manager of the Mandrake Press of London in the 1920s. The much younger Stephensen eagerly signed up the middle aged Magus Aleister Crowley. According to Stephensen, he made what he called his own style of “magical oath” to get Crowley’s writings into print, and defend the ‘Great Beast’ against the allegations and accusations levied at him by a hostile British press. Stephensen would describe The Legend of Aleister Crowley as both a “short literary biography” and “a study of the documentary evidence relating to a campaign of personal vilification unparalleled in literary history.” Crowley dedicated his Confessions to Stephensen: To PRS who saw the point.
Our edition, titled The Legend of Aleister Crowley by P.R. Stephensen and Aleister Crowley, includes for the first time the opening “Epistle” that was suppressed from the first edition as being too risky. It also comes with a comprehensive introductory narrative by Stephen J. King, a senior member and archivist of the Australian O.T.O., that provides the background to The Legend, and examines the press campaigns against Crowley, the history of the Mandrake Press, the Stephensen/Crowley collaboration, and Stephensen’s ongoing association with Crowley’s colleagues Karl Germer, Gerald Yorke and Israel Regardie after Crowley’s death. Also included is a substantial collection of Aleister Crowley’s autobiographical newspaper articles, 1933-35, the vast majority of which have never appeared in print since their original publication. A number of Crowley and Stephensen collections were consulted in preparing this edition, including access to the O.T.O. International Headquarters central archives, providing the reader with new research and information about this important period in Crowley’s life.
The Legend of Aleister Crowley has long been out of print. This new edition makes available an important if often overlooked book — the only biography written during Crowley’s life that addressed his character and the press campaigns against him.
The Legend of Aleister Crowley will be available from Nov 17 2007
The first print run is limited to 500 copies. The book is a high quality softcover, 174mm X 240 mm, 200 pages, printed on matt art paper and perfect bound.
Copies will be available for purchase from Nov 17 from our distributors:
USA distribution by Weiser Antiquarian: http://www.weiserantiquarian.com
UK distribution by Atlantis Bookshop: http://www.theatlantisbookshop.com/
Asian distribution by Black Sun Publishing: blacksunpublish@gmail.com
Australian distribution by house418: house418@otoaustralia.org.au
South African distribution by O.T.O. South Africa: oto.southafrica@gmail.com
Copies will also be available later in the year from our Scandinavian distributor: Heimdall Lodge, O.T.O.: heimdall@oto.no
Trade enquiries welcome – please contact your closest (or preferred) distributor from the list above. Alternatively interested retailers or distributors are welcome to contact us at: house418@otoaustralia.org.au
Recommended retail price:
USA: $37.50 USD
UK: £18.50
Europe: EUR 27.50
Australia: $39.50 AUD including GST