Comprising a revised and much expanded republication of the long out of print books ‘The Early Work…’ and ‘The Later Work of Austin Osman Spare’, this volume features 93 color images and includes 50 unpublished artworks by Spare. In addition, it features 20 very early ink drawings from a recently discovered private collection. An extensive new introduction analyzes the themes and obsessions in Spare’s art; palimpsests and Realism. By immersing himself in Spare’s creative impetus Wallace has explored not only occult texts and alchemical art, but has also found a rich vein of reference and allusion to the biblical texts, and the art of Blake, Hogarth and Shakespeare. There is an in-depth examination of the Mrs Paterson myth, ‘Black Eagle’, the first convincing decoding of the ‘L.C.O’C.S’ dedication of The Focus of Life and more.