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[LEVI, Eliphas (Alphonse Louis Constant) The History of Magic: Including a Clear and Precise Exposition of its Procedure, Its Rites and Its Mysteries
[LEVI, Eliphas (Alphonse Louis Constant) The History of Magic: Including a Clear and Precise Exposition of its Procedure, Its Rites and Its Mysteries
Translated with a preface and notes by A. E. Waite
London: William Rider & Son, 1922. Second Edition. Hardcover. Thick octavo. 536pp. Bound in blue cloth with stylish gilt border and titles to front, gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt. Other edges untrimmed. Black and white frontispiece. Black and white illustrations. Some very faint corner wear with light bumps, light rubbing to lower spine, spine a bit darkened, otherwise a very good to near fine copy.
First published in English in 1913, this classic text is an invaluable source book on the history and practice of magic and occultism. The contents include: Magic of the Magi, Magic in Ancient Greece, the Kabalah, Primitive Symbolism, Mysticism, Oracles, Magical Monuments, Magic and Christianity, Pagan Magic, Kabalistic Paintings and Sacred Emblems, Sorcerers, Magic and Freemasonry, the Illuminati, and more. Alphonse Louis Constant, better know by his pen name Eliphas Levi, was a master of the traditional Rosicrucian interpretation of the Kabbalah. He was born in France in 1810, and through the offices of the parish priest, was educated for the church at Saint-Sulpice. He was later expelled from seminary for teaching doctrines contrary to those of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1824 Levi began studying the occult sciences, and wrote about magic and the Kabbalah for the next several decades. His other books include Transcendental Magic, Mysteries of the Qabalah, The Book of Splendours, and others.