OCCULT

Lutoslawski's letter is in fair condition, lightly-aged with vertical crease. Addressed to Lynd at 5 Keat's Grove, Highgate, from Poland, with Polish stamp and postmark. He writes that he has 'exceedingly enjoyed [her novels] the Gold Finches and the Mulberry Bush', and would like her 'opinion and experience on the following inquiry', i.e. a printed circular regarding his book 'Preexistence and Reincarnation', which attempts to rove that 'each of us has lived in human shape many times and that we reap now what we have sown ages ago'.

All four items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE (8 October 1908): 'Although I am only asking what I am offered elsewhere I am willing to meet you, & to accept Twenty five Guineas for the second serial use of the two stories, - on the understanding that the transaction is for prompt cash.' TWO (16 February 1909): His terms are fifteen guineas, cash.

312pp., large 8vo. In publisher's green cloth binding, gilt. Internally good, sound and tight on lightly-aged paper; in worn binding. Each volume carries two pages of advertisements, with more in text. The earliest issue is typical, with articles on such subjects as reincarnation; prophecy; occult timepieces; occult uses of colours (by Professor G. R. Nile). An advertisement on p.2 of the earliest issue gives the magazine's view of itself: 'THE STAR OF THE MAGI IS THE LEADING OCCULT JOURNAL OF THE WORLD. A year's trial will convince you of this.

Both letter and pamphlet in very good condition. Letter: 8pp., 4to. Written a few days before Russell's death on 12 March 1956. On the first page he describes how the London esoteric bookseller J. M.

1p., 12mo. On piece of aged and lightly-creased laid paper. The engraving, at the head of the page, is 7 x 9.5 cm., is a stylised full-length depiction of a young man in eighteenth-century dress, wearing a cravat, with hands on hips, standing between two trees. The poem reads 'Dear He - / Or She - / This from me, / Victor B. / Neuburg, to thee.' Second stanza: 'Not me: we, / I forgot, you see.' In bottom left-hand corner, in italics, 'Christmas, 1921.' And in italics in bottom-right: 'The Vine Press, / Steyning, / Sussex.' No other copy found listed.

12mo, 53 + [iii] pp. Text clear and complete. Aged and worn, with loose original front cover, printed in green, remaining from the binding. Stamp of 'The Community of the Resurrection' on title-page. A few manuscript notes in light pencil. Scarce: five copies on COPAC, at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, the National Library of Scotland, and University of London, variously dated to 1909 and 1910.

4to, vii + 21 pp. Stapled pamphlet, on two different paper stocks (white and grey), front cover detached Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with crease to one corner of title-leaf. Title leaf printed, the rest mimeographed. Pp. v-vii consist of an appendix at the rear of the volume. Occult pseudo-science (the Society's logo is a pentacle), presaging the hippie 'retreat from reason' in the face of Cold War realities. Begins 'For ten years the Society of Metaphysicians has worked in the interests of human unity at all levels.

4to, 2 pp. Twenty-seven lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and slightly creased paper. He cannot help Raffin find an American publisher for his book 'Mystery, Mirage and Miracle' (privately printed for the author in London in 1921), although he finds its style 'delightful', and its subject matter 'one which deeply interests me'. 'The book-market is in a very strained condition - a sort of transition period with all the publishers "sitting on the fence", and the public refusing to by any books except a few which have the luck to become fashionable'.

On one side of a piece of wove paper, cut into a rectangle approximately 4.5 x 9 cm. Good, on lightly-creased paper with one vertical fold. Cut from an envelope, with traces of the postmark over the autograph, and a section of the gummed strip on the reverse. Reads 'From | John Cowper Powys | Waterloo | Blaenau - F Festiniog | Merionethshire | North Wales | I enjoyed thinking of you in Italy'.

8vo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Very good on lightly aged paper. Written in Powys's distinctive, sprawling hand. Concerns William Blake and the monograph on him (1954) by Denis Saurat, who 'must indeed be a wonder considering the scope of his interests.' 'Yes I was brought up by my mother on the Poems of Blake; so I am always interested by any reference to them or any reproduction of them. Indeed and indeed I can fully understand your being so hypnotized by the pictures of Blake that you find yourself going to see them when you had decided to go somewhere else'. Powys is 'in excellent health'.

One page, 12mo. On ruckled paper with damage on reverse due to removal from mount. Text clear and entire. The autograph wasn't sent because Kelly was away. 'Why you want it I can't understand but since you ask for it: - here it is: -'.

Dimensions of paper roughly ten inches by seven and a half wide. Clear impression on aged paper. Shows a standing magician waving a wand with a skull behind him and a kneeling servant hiding behind the hem of his gown, reciting a spell from a book on a table in front of him. The two demons he has conjured up stand to his left, looking rather pleased with themselves. Snakes, smoking cauldron, pin cushion, hourglass, knife, etc. Extracted from Barclay's Dictionary, where it was used to illustrate the word 'conjurer'.

8 pp., 4to, self-wrappers., edges sunned, mainly very good, illustrated with woodcuts. Limited Edition SIGNED by Arthur Machen, limited to 250 copies of which this is number 179.

Hand (1907-86), an authority on American folklore, was Professor of Germanic Languages and Folklore at the University of California, Los Angeles. 9 pages (paginated as stated), octavo. In very good condition in light-blue printed card wraps. Minor spotting and discoloration. A 'survey, essentially, of the physical harm wrought by conjurers, [...] a discussion of sickness and disease, and other categories of physical impairment, and [...] a consideration of the nature of the magic employed, and the various circumstances and conditions under which it is carried out'.