THE HISTORY OF MAGIC: INCLUDING A CLEAR AND PRECISE EXPOSITION OF ITS PROCEDURE, ITS RITES AND ITS MYSTERIES
Book Details + Condition: Borden Publishing Company (Los Angeles), 1963 (ND). An uncommon vintage copy from another publisher other than Rider. Hardcover with publisher's black cloth, with gilt titling (etc) to front and spine. 384 pages. Translated with a Preface and Notes by Arthur Edward Waite. Frontispiece photo portrait of the author, with b&w illustrations from diagrams and drawings by the author. Eliphas Lévi Zahed, born Alphonse Louis Constant, was a French occult author, socialist, and ceremonial magician. His "Histoire de la Magie" was first published in 1860. (Please see our available copy of this original First Edition.) Lévi exerted a profound influence on those occultists who would follow, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Helen Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley, among others. The work is divided into 7 "Books":
- The Derivations of Magic
- Formation and Development of Dogmas
- Divine Synthesis and Realisation of Magia by the Christian Revelation
- Magic and Civilisation
- The Adepts and the Priesthood
- Magic and the Revolution
- Magic in the Nineteenth Century
Levi's work offers a thorough and broad examination of magic and the occult from ancient times to the occult revival of the 19th century, with topics including:
- Magic of the Magi
- Hermetic Magic
- The Holy Kabbalah
- Mysticism
- Superstitions
- Magical Monuments
- The Devil
- The Last Pagans
- Influence of Women
- Magicians
- On Certain Alchemists
- Magical Origin of Freemasonry
- The Illuminati
- Hallucinations
- Mesmerists and Somnabulists
- Magical Literature
- The Occult Sciences
- And so much more.
A firm and clean copy of an increasingly scarce work, from an uncommon publisher, with solid binding; lightly bumped corners; chafed spine ends (more so at the top), with a bit of fading; name to ffep; one small area of one b&w image has been colored in; approximately 8 pp with lightly inked underlining (mainly in the Introduction). All books are carefully packed and shipped in boxes.
