LIVES OF ALCHEMYSTICAL PHILOSOPHERS: BASED ON MATERIALS COLLECTED IN 1815 AND SUPPLEMENTED BY RECENT RESEARCHES WITH A PHILOSOPHICAL DEMONSTRATION OF THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF THE MAGNUM OPUS, OR GREAT WORK OF ALCHEMICAL RE-CONSTRUCTION, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SPIRITUAL CHEMISTRY
Book Details + Condition: George Redway (London). Very scarce First Edition, 1888. Publishers original brown cloth, with gilt title to spine. 315 pages, followed by a “Catalogue of Remarkable Books” (39 pp) from George Redway. The original edition of LIVES OF ALCHEMYSTICAL PHILOSOPHERS was published anonymously [Francis Barrett attrib] in 1815, and its author remains unknown. Waite claims in his Preface that his edition is “practically a new work under an old title.” A.E. Waite (1857-1942) was an American-born writer on occult subjects, member of the Theosophical Society, Rosicruciana in Anglia and longtime member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, before leaving to form his own Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. In very good condition: interior hinge cracked but binding remains firm; rubbed corners; light shelf wear to boards, with some darkening and discoloration; interior is clean and free of markings save small vintage Weiser bookseller sticker on inside front board.
