Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden by Aleister Crowley

Published 2013. 208 pages, 148 x 210 mm, hardbound with dustjacket. Limited to 418 hand-numbered copies (Standard Edition). The first 43 copies are hardbound in a Half French binding and come in a slipcase together with a signed silkscreen print by Fredrik Söderberg, on 300g Arches paper, size 210 x 150 mm.

Condition: Fine, unread copy.

Edited with an introduction by Vere Chappell. Illustrated by Fredrik Söderberg. While at his Scottish retreat Boleskine in 1903, Aleister Crowley decided to amuse his wife Rose and their friends by writing pornography – one new section each day. He concocted a tale that managed to be marvelously creative and utterly repugnant at the same time. The protagonist is no less than an Archbishop, incorporating the grand tradition of anti-clericalism which had been a feature of popular pornography for centuries. Many contemporary figures were also made objects of satire, although they were also rendered “nameless” by the use of elision, or omitted letters. The overall result is more absurd than obscene, owing more to Cervantes, Rabelais, Sade and Apollinaire than to the run-of-the-mill pornography of the time. Writing a chapter a day, in the evenings Crowley read it aloud to the audience assembled in the household, with the exception of his Aunt Annie. Reportedly this had the intended effect of amusing Rose, and doubtless the rest of the party, especially since some of them and their old friends from Paris were featured characters. Poor old Aunt Annie even ended up having a role in the tale. Lavishly illustrated in 38 images by Fredrik Söderberg. The book also contains an in-depth introduction by its editor, American sexologist Vere Chappell.