The name Austin Osman Spare has been coupled with that of his contemporary, Aleister Crowley; both have been described as English satanic occultists. Spare’s contact with the Witch Cult at a very early age, through his meeting with a descendent of a Salem witch, certainly led him into the more obscure byways of occultism. This first major book ever to appear on Spare is written by his literary executor who has drawn on private conversations, unpublished letters, and the unfinished ‘Grimoire of Zos’ which Spare was in the process of writing at the time of his death in 1956. Spare was a graphic artist whose work has been compared with that of Aubrey Beardsley and Sidney Sime. His predilection for fantastic themes was the result of a life-long absorption in the mysteries of occultism. Such was his knowledge and ability that Aleister Crowley claimed him as a disciple. But Spare was not born to follow anyone. He turned his back on worldly ambition - the “inferno of the normal” as he called it - and devoted his remarkable gifts to trafficking with denizens of the other worlds. Here is a selection of Spare’s finest work. Many of the drawings, hitherto unpublished, were to have formed part of the grimoire which he planned along the lines followed in the design of this book.