ART MAGIC, SPIRITISM - Britten, 1898 - MAGICK, MAGICAL ARTS, SPIRITS, OCCULT

Title: Art Magic, or the Mundane, Sub-mundane and Super-Mundane Spiritism; A Treatise in Three Parts and Twenty - Three Sections, Descriptive of Art Magic, Spiritism, The Different Orders of Spirits in the Universe Known to be Related to, or in Communication with Man; Together with Directions for Invoking, Controlling, and Discharging Spirits, and the Uses Abuses, Dangers and Possibilities of Magical Art

Author: Emma Hardinge Britten 

Book Details + Condition: Publisher's original cloth boards with silver title and price to spine, printed endpapers, black-and-white illustrations. A reprint of the first edition published in 1876. One of the best known works associated with Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899). The book is an interesting overview of occult and religious practices, from ancient Egypt to the (then) contemporary Spiritualist literature of Andrew Jackson Davis, although with a particular focus on mediaeval texts, the Cabala, and magic in general. Many suspect that Britten wrote the work herself, although she claimed only to have edited it, and seemed to imply that it had actually been written by one 'Chevalier Louis de B------,' a (possibly fictional) Adept who she also suggested had introduced her to a highly select and secretive occult fraternity called the Orphic Society. Corners lightly bumped, some mild discoloration to the cloth. Endpaper hinges cracked but firm, pages browned — both flaws almost invariably encountered with this edition, which used cheap paper stock. Text is unmarked.