WAITE, ARTHUR EDWARD. - The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts. Including the Rites and Mysteries of Goetic Theurgy, Sorcery, and Infernal Necromancy. Prepared for Publication Under the Editorship of L.W. De Laurence. Text and Illustrations of the London Edition of 1898 Faithfully Reproduced.

Chicago, The de Laurence Company, Inc. 1940. Hardcover, Sewn Binding, Black Cloth. Reprint of the pirated Occult Publishing House edition of 1910 (Gilbert A14b), which was itself a reprint of the 1898 London edition published by Redway (Gilbert A14). Hardcover. Octavo, original black cloth with gilt titles on spine and gilt emblem on front panel. xv, [1], 296, [1] pp. Illustrated throughout with full page plates, plus magical seals, circles, and sigils. Waite’s classic work was originally published in London by George Redway in 1898 in an edition of 500 copies, and reissued in 1911 under the title ‘The Book of Ceremonial Magic.’ The First American Edition was issued by "The Occult Publishing House" in Chicago, an imprint used by L.W. deLaurence in his early days. This '1940' deLaurence edition is a book which was reprinted endlessly (with no notice of reprinting, and retaining the 1940 date) for many decades. The frontispiece illustration "EDWD. KELLEY - A Magician - In the act of Invoking the Spirit of a Deceased Person" is not present here - the book was issued thus - as were most (but not all!) of the so-called 1940 editions. Light wear, bubbling to cloth at foot of front cover; about near fine. Near Fine ¶ . Arthur Edward Waite was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck. As his biographer R. A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion." Waite was a sporadic member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Contents: The Literature of Ceremonial Magic; The Antiquity Of Magical Rituals; The Rituals Of Transcendental Magic; Composite Rituals; The Rituals Of Black Magic; The Preparation Of The Operator; The Initial Rites And Ceremonies; Concerning The Descending Hierarchy; The Mysteries Of Goetic Theurgy According To The Lesser Key Of Solomon The King; Concerning The Mystery Of The Sanctum Regnum, Or The Government Of Evil Spirits; Being The Rite Of Conjuration According To The Grimorium Verum; The Mysteries Of Infernal Evocation According To The Grand Grimoire; The Method Of Honorius; Miscellaneous And Minor Processes; Concerning Infernal Necromancy; Conclusion.