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Specializing in Vintage Fetish Publications, Erotica & Curiosa, Occult & Esoteric Studies, and more.

Occult & Esoterica

[SPARE, Austin Osman] Two Tracts on Cartomancy (with Deck of Surrealist Racing Cards)

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[SPARE, Austin Osman] Two Tracts on Cartomancy (with Deck of Surrealist Racing Cards)

$125.00

Introductory Essay by Gavin W. Semple

London: Fulgur Limited, 1997. First Edition. Black wrappers with red pictorial dust jacket. 8vo. Frontispiece portrait of Spare. 38pp, b&w images. With a facsimile deck of Surrealist Racing Forecast Cards in small envelope. A very faint vertical crease to back of dust jacket. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Cards and envelope in fine condition.

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These two short tracts by Spare are published here for the first time. The first tract, simply titled Surrealist Racing Forecast Cards includes instructions on how to properly use the special deck that Spare created in order to pick winners at the horse track, or for any type of race. Spare began offering the deck for sale in 1936. In his original advertisement for the cards he indicates that he did have success in picking the winners in more than one race. He warns, however, that there are no guarantees because the cards react differently to each person. To top it off, he offered a full refund to anybody who bought the pack of cards and found them to be of no use. The second tract is called Mind to Mind and How by a Sorcerer. This includes Spare’s instructions on how to assemble and use a personal deck of fortune telling cards, using a standard deck of playing cards. This is followed by Spare’s personal approach to reading the cards and the non-scientific methods he used. He states: “Education has little to do with this faculty. The Witch who taught me was illiterate, with limited vocabulary, and the usual Fortune Teller’s argot, yet she was able to define and explain the most complex and abstract things, much clearer than I could with an almost complete vocabulary.” Spare is referring to the infamous Mrs. Patterson whose true identity has never been determined. Gavin Semple’s introductory essay traces the influence of cartomancy throughout Spare’s life and discusses the cultivation of his system as a process of working with familiars.