Ghost Stories of Mr James by Tartarus Press: Illustrated by Keith A. Pettit

Antiquarian / Second Hand

First US edition hardcover, limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. Quality red cloth with gilt Sri Yantra design on upper board, and gilt titling to spine.

Condition: Fine, unread copy. Dustwrapper protected with plastic sleeve which itself has some minor marks, but both dustwrapper as well as interior pristine condition. 

The Secrets of the Kaula Circle was not only one of the first books to introduce the secret Indian rituals associated with the Kaula or "Tantric" family to a Western audience, but it was also almost certainly the first book of its kind to be written by a woman. Elizabeth Sharpe was already well known for her studies and translations on Indian history and religions, but chose to write of the Kaula path as a novel, perhaps as it allowed her more dramatic effect, and in part at least she wanted it to serve as a warning, particularly to women, not to be drawn into the web of practice that she described. Her misgivings had been heightened by the apparent adoption of some of the practices by Western occultists, notably Aleister Crowley, whose person and activities she described in most unflattering terms. Although The Secrets of the Kaula Circle did not achieve a wide circulation, a copy did find its way into the hands of "the Beast, " who professed outrage at the thinly-veiled and unflattering portrait of himself, and considered suing the author. This Teitan Press edition of The Secrets of the Kaula Circle includes the complete text of the original 1936 edition, along with a new index, and an Introduction by Dr. David Templeman.

Antiquarian / Second Hand

First edition limited to 400 copies. Published by Von Zos, 2017.
Deep blue cloth, custom endpapers designed by the author, sewn binding, dustjacket. 

Condition: Fine, unread copy. Dustwrapper has some minor marks, but interior is completely unmarked.

Scales of the Serpent draws its primary inspiration from Kenneth Grant’s Nightside of Eden and the exploration of those realms analogous to what Michael Bertiaux refers to as Universe B.

book comprises the sigils of the cells of the qliphoth from Liber CCXXXI (with commentary) presented in a form intended to facilitate meditation and visionary work in accessing the back of the Tree of Life, the nightside, which prior to Grant’s work had been ignored or denied.

A separate and substantial text explores threads leading towards the void which is the gateway to the reverse of the Tree, that noumenal nothing of which the phenomenal something is but the illusory reversed reflection, and gives some indications as to the methods employed and routes taken by earlier explorers, intentionally or otherwise.

These particular threads have been picked up and followed as a result of the author’s workings within the Ordo Typhonis and, more specifically, within the Lamal Lodge.