first edition Hardcover
1888 · London
by Waite, Arthur Edward; [Barrett, Francis]
London: George Redway, 1888. First edition thus. Hardcover. Very Good. 315pp. Octavo [23 cm] Brown cloth over boards with a gilt stamped title on the spine. Bevelled edges. "Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co." stamped in gilt at foot of spine. Spine mildly rolled; gentle bumped at the spine ends and corners; front pastedown has a name and date in pen (name crossed out) and the partial remains of a previous owner's bookplate; name in pen on the verso of the front free endpaper; free endpapers darkened; bookseller's ticket on rear pastedown; text block cracked at p. 209, but still extremely sturdy. An early work by Arthur Edward Waite. This book describes the lives of prominent figures in the field of alchemy, including Roger Bacon, Nicholas Flamel, Denis Zachaire, Michael Sendivogius, Lascaris, and others. Originally issued anonymously in 1815. The original publication is generally attributed to Francis Barrett, but that attribution has been viewed with skepticism.
Brooklyn-born Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942), a self taught scholar of the occult and major mystic, was one of the major figures of the 'Occult Revival.' Waite's mother brought him and his sister to suburban London at the age of two, after the death of his father. He grew up with little means and not much formal education, and with a strange enthusiasm for the Roman Catholic Church to which his mother had been converted. After the death of his sister in 1874, Waite began to struggle with his faith, to write verse, and to cultivate an interest in occultism. In 1888, this interest flourished further after his failed marriage, and he eventually stumbled upon the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. His later career was consumed with a growing concern for his own secret order, the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross (a Christian mystical Order), with elements combining Masonic, kabbalistic, alchemical, and Tarotic tradition in its rituals.
Citation: Gilbert, R.A. (1985). “The One Deep Student”: Yeats and A. E. Waite. In: Gould, W. (eds) Yeats Annual No. 3. Yeats Annual. Palgrave Macmillan, London. (Inventory #: 68960)
Brooklyn-born Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942), a self taught scholar of the occult and major mystic, was one of the major figures of the 'Occult Revival.' Waite's mother brought him and his sister to suburban London at the age of two, after the death of his father. He grew up with little means and not much formal education, and with a strange enthusiasm for the Roman Catholic Church to which his mother had been converted. After the death of his sister in 1874, Waite began to struggle with his faith, to write verse, and to cultivate an interest in occultism. In 1888, this interest flourished further after his failed marriage, and he eventually stumbled upon the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. His later career was consumed with a growing concern for his own secret order, the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross (a Christian mystical Order), with elements combining Masonic, kabbalistic, alchemical, and Tarotic tradition in its rituals.
Citation: Gilbert, R.A. (1985). “The One Deep Student”: Yeats and A. E. Waite. In: Gould, W. (eds) Yeats Annual No. 3. Yeats Annual. Palgrave Macmillan, London. (Inventory #: 68960)
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