Title: The Old Book of Magic: A Precise
History of Magic; Its Procedure, Rites and Mysteries; As Contained in Ancient
Manuscripts, Embellished With Engravings of Wonderful Charms and Talismans
Author: L.W. de Laurence (Lauron William de
Laurence)
Publisher: De Laurence, Scott & Co.
City: ChicagoYear: 1918 (First Edition)Binding Style: Hardcover
Pagination: 458 (plates not paginated)Illustrated: Yes
Book Details + Condition: One of the scarcest de Laurence works. Original royal blue decorated cloth with gilt title and design to front cover and spine.
B&W frontispiece and plates and numerous illustrations in text. An
extraordinary collection of magical and astrological lore, assembled
largely by "cutting and pasting" from earlier volumes. De Laurence's
sources in this volume are vast, but they appear to include Eliphas Levi (the
cover design is copied from the 1913 Rider edition of Levi's "The History
of Magic"), Ebenezer Sibley; Raphael; etc. The volume has the year 1918 on
the copyright page, and while de Laurence publications are notoriously
difficult to date, all indications are that this is its year of
publication and that this was the first edition. The volume has been exposed to
damp at some stage, and the cloth of the front cover is somewhat bubbled and
discolored, the rear much less so. Corners bruised. The front endpapers have a
pale brown "tide-mark" and there is some light wrinkling to the first
few leaves. Paper of front endpaper hinge cracked but holding firm, a dozen or
two leaves towards the center of the book a little creased at the top corner. Pages are free of markings. A
sturdy, good+ copy of a truly rare occult volume.
