Description
Ida Craddock; Vere Chappell
The Teitan Press, York Beach, Maine, 2010. Hardcover. First Edition. Limited Edition, limited to 650 numbered copies. Octavo (9 x 6 inches, approx 23.5 x 15.2cm), xviii + 318pp. Sewn, printed on acid-free paper. Heavy blue cloth binding, with gilt titling etc to the spine. Black and white frontispiece photo-portrait. Pictorial dust-jacket. Edited and with an Introduction by Vere Chappell. Brand New.
Philadelphia-born Ida Craddock (1857-1902) was a forceful public exponent of women’s rights and sexual freedom whose interest in Theosophy and Spiritualism led her into a profound involvement with the occult. Attacked by conservatives as promoting obscenity and immorality on account of her reforming activities, Craddock became the focus of an organised campaign of persecution. Facing a lengthy prison sentence that she did not expect to survive, she instead took her own life, at age forty-five.
After her death, Craddock’s work on sexuality and occultism attracted the interest of a small number of well-known figures, including Aleister Crowley, who wrote that she possessed “…initiated knowledge of extraordinary depth. She seems to have had access to certain most concealed sanctuaries…. She has put down statements in plain English which are positively staggering.”
Amongst her papers, Craddock left two manuscripts, “Lunar and Sex Worship” and “Sex Worship (Continued)” that had been commissioned by her patron, the Spiritualist W. T. Stead. They are effectively studies of sexuality in religion and mythology, as viewed through the prism of Craddock’s own experiences and beliefs.
This Teitan Press edition of Lunar and Sex Worship is the first ever publication of “Lunar and Sex Worship” and “Sex Worship (Continued).” It comprises the complete text of both works, edited and introduced by Vere Chappell, an expert on the life and work of Craddock.
