Occult & Esoterica
[SPARE, Austin Osman] From the Inferno to Zos (Deluxe Edition of 3 Volumes Bound in Quarter Leather, with Original Prospectus)
[SPARE, Austin Osman] From the Inferno to Zos (Deluxe Edition of 3 Volumes Bound in Quarter Leather, with Original Prospectus)
1. The Writings and Images of Austin Osman Spare, edited by Anthony Naylor; 2. The Artist's Books (1905-1927) by Dr. William Wallace; 3. Michelangelo in a Teacup: Austin Osman Spare by Frank Letchford
Edited by A. R. Naylor, foreword by William Wallace
London/Seattle: First Impressions (Mandrake Press/Holmes Publishing Group), 1993-1995. First Edition. Small folios. Deluxe Edition. 3 volumes, complete. Each volume limited to 100 hand-numbered copies (all three volumes are No. 7 of 100). Each volume issued separately. Uniformly bound in quarter black leather over black cloth boards. Gilt titles and image to spine. All edges gilt. Marbled end papers. The original prospectus for this 3 volume work is laid in. Due to the size and weight of this deluxe set, copies are often seen with bumped corners. This set has no bumped corners. It is in fine condition. A magnificent production. Details of each volume below.
Volume 1: The Writings and Images of Austin Osman Spare. Edited by Anthony Naylor. Original publisher's prospectus laid in. 368pp. Illustrated throughout. Includes all of Spare’s works published during his lifetime: Earth Inferno; A Book of Satyrs; The Book of Pleasure (Self-Love); The Focus of Life: The Mutterings of Aaos; and The Anathema of Zos: A Sermon to the Hypocrites. It also includes the short essay Automatic Drawing by Spare and Frederick Carter, originally published in Form - A Quarterly of the Arts (1916). These are followed by 60 pages of illustrations by Spare. These include many of Spare's commissioned bookplates, plus images from Form, The Golden Hind, The Starlit Mire, Songs From the Classics, The Gold Tree, On the Oxford Circuit, The Equinox, Twelve Poems, and more. In addition there is a poem to A.O.S. by Aleister Crowley, and introductory essays by Vera Wainwright, Hannen Swaffer, and Clifford Bax. Clive Harper's Notes Towards a Bibliography of Austin Osman Spare appears here for the first time. Exhibition Catalogues are reproduced with catalogue notes by Austin Spare, Dennis Bardens, Kenneth Grant, and others.
Volume 2: The Artist’s Books: (1905 - 1927) by Dr. W.(William) Wallace. 446pp., plus glossary and bibliography. Inscribed to Clive Harper by William Wallace. Foreword: The Art of Darkness by Roger Cardinal. With the following introductory essays: [i]: A.O.S.: Personality, Context and Tradition. [ii]: Spare and Romantic Tradition. [iii]: Spare and the Decadents. [iv]: Spare: Occult and Magical Predecessors. [v]: Austin Osman Spare: The Five Books. Wallace then provides an incredible amount of detailed commentary on each of Spare's five major works. There is no way to truly describe the amount of research that Wallace has done for this volume. It boggles the mind. It does not seem possible that there could be a more thorough analysis of Spare's books and their accompanying illustrations. For a similar treatment of the rest of Spare's art, see Wallace's The Catalpa Monographs (Jerusalem Press, 2015).
Volume 3: Michelangelo in a Teacup: Austin Osman Spare by Frank Letchford (edited by A. R. Naylor, foreword by William Wallace). 360pp. Black and white photographs and drawings. Frank Letchford first met Austin Spare in 1937 and later described him as "my mentor, teacher and great friend for twenty years; that wonderful democrat, friend to tramps, the down-and-outs, the defeated through the spectrum of human life, Austin Osman Spare, whose mien, attitude, behaviour differed not a jot in the company of great intellects…" and characterizing him as "the great humanist." This volume serves as a detailed biography of Spare with a heavy emphasis on his life as an artist. It includes numerous black and white photographs (many published for the first time) and sketches by Spare. A miscellaneous section at the end of the volume includes essays by Grace Rogers and Ralph Straus, a section on Spare's 'new theory of camouflage', newspaper articles, a series of images from Spare's sketchbooks, a copy of Spare's Lat Will and Testament, and an obituary by Haydn Mackey.












































