THE ELEUSINIAN AND BACCHIC MYSTERIES: A DISSERTATION
Book Details + Condition: J.W. Bouton (New York, NY). Fourth edition, 1891. Hardcover with three-quarters leather binding and cloth. Gilt decoration to front and gilt to spine. Top edge gilt. 258 pages. Very scarce copy, with inscription by the illustrator to "Mr. Aldrich", with "Rajah Lodg/ye" underneath. English Neoplatonist Thomas Taylor's essay on the initiation rites at Eleusis, Greece for the cults of Demeter and Persephone, and the rituals surrounding the ancient Greek god Dionysus, adapted in ancient Rome as Bacchus. This volume also includes an introduction, notes, emendations, and a glossary by Theosophist doctor Alexander Wilder, and is illustrated by American artist Albert Leighton Rawson, who has also inscribed the first page in pencil to the previous owner. Tight binding; light shelf wear to boards, with some smudging; interior is clean and free of markings save illustrator's inscription.
