THE HISTORY OF MAGIC: INCLUDING A CLEAR AND PRECISE EXPOSITION OF ITS PROCEDURE, ITS RITES AND ITS MYSTERIES

$498.72

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Description

Levi, Eliphas (Alphone Louis Constant)

E.P.Dutton & Co. Inc., Fourth Avenue, New York City, circa 1930. Hardcover. Third Edition, undated. Translated with a preface and notes, by Arthur Edward Waite. The original illustrations are included and portraits of the author. Pencil price on first blank. Some shelf-wear and minor soiling, corners bumped and edges a little rubbed, with gilt lettering faded. Binding tight. Rare and highly collectable edition! Very Good.

This text presents a classic history of magic and occultism, and is a book of which A.E. Waite said “there is nothing in the occult literature to compare with it…”The History of Magic” is the most arresting, entertaining and brilliant of all studies on the subject”

Levi wrote Historie de la Magie in 1860. The introduction, although famous, was not written until 1861 after the initial success of the first edition.

“Eliphas Levi, born Alphonse Louis Constant (February 8, 1810 – May 31, 1875), was a French occult author and ceremonial magician. Levi was the son of a shoemaker in Paris; he attended the seminary of Saint Sulpice and began to study to enter the Roman Catholic priesthood. However, while at the seminary he fell in love, and left without being ordained. In 1853, Levi visited England, where he met the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was interested in Rosicrucianism as a literary theme and was the president of a minor Rosicrucian order. Levi’s first treatise on magic appeared in 1854 under the title “Dogme de la Haute Magie”, followed in 1856 by the companion “Ritual de la Haute Magie”. The two books were later combined into one book titled Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, which was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite as Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual. He had a deep impact on the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and later on Aleister Crowley.” – Wikipedia.

Additional information

Weight 0.83 kg