Occult & Esoteric Book Arts
[SEABROOK, William] Leaves From an Explorer's Notebook (Rare Promotional Booklet)
[SEABROOK, William] Leaves From an Explorer's Notebook (Rare Promotional Booklet)
No Publisher, No Date [1943]. Spiral bound with burlap covers, spiral binding is with rope. Unpaginated [11 one-sided leaves on card stock], color illustrations to 9 leaves, title and one page note to the other two leaves. Some foxing and rubbing from burlap covers on the first and last leaves (sheets). Light edge wear. A very good copy of this scarce poece of ephemera. OCLC has no record of this item.
An interesting little item with color illustrations and short quotes to 9 of the 11 sheets (leaves). Topics are being initiated into blood voodoo rites in Haiti, eating human flesh in Ivory Coast, a man hanged in Damascus, the wife of an Emir in Baghdad with hands tied behind her back, and more. A rare volume.
William Buehler Seabrook (February 22, 1884 – September 20, 1945) was an American occultist, explorer, world traveler, journalist and author, born in Westminster, Maryland. He began his career as a reporter and city editor of the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia and later worked for the New York Times. He is well-known for his writing on, and engaging in, cannabalism.
Seabrook's 1929 book The Magic Island, which documents his experiences with Haitian Vodou, is considered the first popular English-language work to describe the concept of zombies.
In autumn 1919, English occultist Aleister Crowley spent a week with Seabrook at Seabrook's farm. Seabrook wrote a story based on the experience in the book: Witchcraft: It’s Power in the World Today.