Second Hand / Antiquarian
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
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Published: Robert Banks & Son, London 1910 (Suggested). This is a revised enlarged edition of a book originally published in 1875 which included only thirty proofs.
Condition: Good. No dust jacket, but boards in very good condition, original gold lettering on front and spine is clear and unfaded. Some mild foxing of pages, otherwise clean and unmarked. Binding is firm.
£550.00
Collector’s edition, limited to 60 hand-numbered copies.
The second and latest instalment to the Alchemy Rising series by the contemporary English alchemist Heliophilus is dedicated to the Art of Water and the mystery of the alchemical menstruums. Within its lavishly illustrated pages, Heliophilus takes us on an alchemical quest that follows the Sacred Fountain of the alchemists, through the great monarchical tributaries of Nature nurtured and nourished by the very streams and rivers that flow through the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. From these kingdoms the alchemists drew their liquors, menstruums, spirits and lixiviums, and by doing so were able to calcine, precipitate, dissolve and sublime their subjects; reduce them to their first matter; and separate their philosophical principles.
£450.00
Artisanal Edition with Slipcase, limited to 15 copies only.
• Half-bound in Dark Green Venetian Goat Skin Leather.
• Momigami Mulberry Milano hand-made Marbled Endpapers.
• Gold foil blocking on rounded spine and slipcase.
• Coloured Headbands. Dark green cloth-covered slipcase.
• Printed on Munken Pure Cream 120gsm paper.
• Including 18 classic herbarium illustrations in color.
• Fine Typography and Layout
Few plants in the history of botany have inspired as much fascination, fear, and supernatural speculation as the mandrake. In The Mystic Mandrake, C. J. S. Thompson guides the reader through one of the most comprehensive interdisciplinary explorations of this enigmatic plant, at the crossroads of plant lore, medicine, folklore, and occult traditions.
From the earliest civilizations of the Near East to the botanical knowledge of ancient Greece and the folklore of medieval Europe, the mandrake remains one of the most emblematic and enduring witch plants. Revered as a love charm, root fetish, magical talisman, and the Devil’s ally, its human-shaped root and potent psychoactive properties gave rise to some of the most enduring legends in the history of natural magic. The belief that the plant screamed when uprooted, that it could confer fertility or wealth, or that it harboured a spirit within its roots reveals a deep relationship between nature, animistic belief and mythopoetic expressions of the natural world.
Drawing on ancient texts, medieval herbals, spiritual traditions, and early scientific observations, C. J. S. Thompson reconstructs more than three millennia of mandrake lore. At once scholarly and evocative, The Mystic Mandrake is an essential work for anyone interested in the practice of magic, the symbolic language of plants, and the enduring human quest to uncover the secret powers of nature.
The book is introduced with a foreword by Corinne Boyer, folk herbalist, teacher, and author of several books on plant lore and history.
£120.00
Hardbound edition, published by Starfire in 2010. Bound in red cloth, with a design stamped to the front board (see image), it is slip-cased. It comes with decorated endpapers, a full colour illustrated dust-jacket, and with top and tail bands to the binding. Limited to 111 copies, signed by the editor and publisher, Michael Staley, This copy is dedicated to the previous owner, Stephen Pochin (Jerusalem Press). Ex-series.
Condition: Fine, unmarked copy.
Ecpyrosis is an alluring, informative and voluminous publication consisting of sixteen articles drawn from the first five issues of Starfire, together with the best of the artwork.The cover reproduced here to the left incorporates beautiful artwork by Kyle Fite. Also included are two new colour plates: a frontispiece consisting of detail from the cover artwork by Kyle Fite, and an endispiece of the covers of the constituent issues of Starfire. Printed on a substantial coated paper in order to take the heavy blacks in much of the artwork, Ecpyrosis is a heavyweight volume is every sense of the word.
Includes articles by Michael Staley, Andrew Chumbley, Gavin Semple and more.
The first issue of Starfire was published in 1986, and the fifth issue appeared in 1994. These years encompass Volume One, the constituent issues of which have long been out of print and appear but rarely on the second-hand market. This selection of articles and artwork from these first five issues is newly typeset, the articles have been lightly edited where necessary, and the artwork has wherever possible been freshly scanned and cleaned to give sharper and clearer reproduction. The result is an enthralling and substantial collection of articles and artwork that embody the best of Starfire.