THE BOOK OF PLEASURE: The Psychology of Ecstasy. DeLuxe Edition, Quarter Bound in Black Morocco.

Spare, Austin Osman. (With Michael Staley)

London: Jerusalem Press, 2023. Limited to 100 Hand Numbered Copies of which this 47, signed by Michael Staley, Alan Moore, William Wallace, and Stephen Pochin. Item #J-BP2d

Bound in full black Morocco, and placed in a matching silk slipcase, and features illustrated endpapers, silk marker, and divider pages, which are overprinted with designs by Spare in silk varnish. The pages are in silk, and uncoated paper-stocks. A special limited print by Ben Thompson, with number keyed to the volume [47/100], is laid in the rear of the deLuxe copy. Resplendent with full-page symbolist illustrations representing some of the artist’s most beautiful draughtsmanship. It is also festooned with Spare’s automatic drawings and sigils. This seminal work has established Spare as a unique and formidable figure in twentieth century western magic. This edition includes as yet unpublished drawings and ink works that may well have been part of the artist’s wider conception of the Book. Features: Michael Staley's illustrated magical essay, and his eulogy of Kenneth Grant, citing his relationship with "The Book of Pleasure"; a new introduction by Alan Moore; the original 1913 introduction by Ernest H.R. Collings, and the 1975 introduction by Kenneth Grant; Dr. William Wallace offers new research on the development of the Sacred Alphabet, and an analysis of the constructive geometry underpinning the many sigils found in the volume; Spare’s re-worked version of one of the original illustrations; and a specially-commissioned limited edition numbered ex-libris, produced by ‘Master of the Vectors’ Ben Thompson (as featured in Jerusalem's last title, "Materia Oscura"). 128 pages. Tall 4to.

Price: $322.00