Weiser Antiquarian Catalogue: Collection of David Tibet

Thanks for the feedback regarding the opportunity to view photographs and details of Weiser Antiquarian’s sale of the original holograph manuscript of Crowley’s ‘The Book Of Lies’. That item has now sold but members of this site will, I’m sure, be interested to read:

The second part of the catalogue comprises a small group of books from the library of our dear friend David Tibet (artist, writer, musician and founder of the music group Current 93) who has been thinning his shelves. Most of the books in the section are quality hardcovers from the 1970s, usually in lovely condition, but there are some more unusual pieces. Chief amongst these would have to be a copy of the First U.S. Edition of The Book of the Law that circulated within the NEW ISIS LODGE of what was then the Typhonian O.T.O., with the Lodge’s initials and the words “Loan Copy” in the handwriting of Kenneth Grant on the front free endpaper. There is also a nice First Edition of The Equinox, Volume III, No. 1 – The Blue Equinox (1919), and a copy of the Subscriber’s Edition of Magick In Theory and Practice (1930) that includes the leaflet “Your Interest In Magick should be the Dawn of a New Life” that was distributed with some copies in England in the 1930s. All of David’s books have his unique bookplate on the front pastedown, and his pencilled ownership signature on one of the blanks.

The third part of the catalogue: a miscellany of books and ephemera by or relating to Aleister Crowley, includes quite a number of rare and unusual items – too many to list in such a short space. Some of the more significant items are a scarce ‘review issue’ – one of probably only handful of copies thus – of the S.P.R.T. edition of Crowley’s Alice: An Adultery (1905), a Handwritten And Drawn Astrological Natal Chart prepared by Aleister Crowley for David Curwen (1944), a rare First Edition of The Message of the Master Therion [1916], and an original typescript of Liber VII: Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli that would have been made to circulate amongst Crowley’s students in the late 1930s or early 1940s. An earlier generation of Crowley’s students are represented by a nice, hardbound copy of George Raffalovich’s On the Loose. Planetary Jouneys and Earthly Sketches (1910) and an unusual group of books by J. F. C. Fuller, namely: The Star In the West (1907), Atlantis. America and the Future (1926), . The Secret Wisdom of the Qabalah (circa 1940), and Yoga. A Study of the Mystical Philosophy of the Brahmins and Buddhists (1925). Other unusual works include a copy of L. Ron Hubbard’s Final Blackout (1948) that was given to Wilfred T. Smith and his wife, Helen ( Helen Parsons Smith) by Ron & “Betty” Hubbard ( Helen’s half-sister), an 11 page typewritten transcription of an audio recording of an interview with Grady Louis McMurtry (circa 1978), a printed card announcing the death of Karl Germer (1962), and the quarter-leather Hell Fire Club edition of The Goetia (2004). In addition to a number of rare prospectuses from Crowley’s lifetime, there are also more recent curiosities, including a printed “mini-poster” asking “Do You Know Who Aleister Crowley Is?” and advertising the “Homunculus Club” of the Brocken Mountain Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis (circa early 1980s), a signed copy of R. T. Cole’s controversial A Postcard From Hell, Revised Materials Towards a Cartoon History of the Life, Loves & Legacy of Aleister Crowley (2009), and a signed First Edition of Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste (2013) – the first full recounting of the life of Aleister Crowley in “graphic novel” form.