CROWLEY, ALEISTER. - Moonchild. A Prologue.

London, The Mandrake Press, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. First Edition. Crown octavo, publisher's original dark green cloth, spine titled and ruled in gilt. 335 pp. Printed by the Crypt House Press. Bookplate on the front pastedown with a previous owner's signature on it, very mild browning to endpapers, as is common with this title. The spine ends and corners are lightly rolled, page edges browned, still an uncommonly clean, bright and fresh copy, very good or better, in a nice example (albeit restored) of the original Beresford Egan dust jacket. The dust jacket has had skillful restoration; there is a largish ( 1.5 inch high x 4 inch) repair to the bottom of the spine and inner edge of the front panel where the artwork has been carefully reapplied and retouched. A similar but much smaller repair has been made to the top of the spine, as well as some minor reinforcements. The repairs have been very well done and are virtually invisible when the jacket is viewed on the book; outwardly the jacket appears near-fine, but the restoration is apparent when the jacket is removed and viewed from the rear. A pretty nice copy of an Iconic book. Very Good in Dust Jacket ¶ Crowley's major occult novel about a war between a group of white magicians and a group of black magicians over the soul of an unborn child, the "Moonchild". Numerous acquaintances of Crowley appear as thinly disguised fictional characters. Crowley portrays MacGregor Mathers as the primary villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of Mathers' magical name. Arthur Edward Waite appears as a villain named Arthwaite, and the unseen head of the Inner Circle of which SRMD was a member, "A.B." is theosophist Annie Besant. Among Crowley's friends and allies Allen Bennett appears as Mahatera Phang, the dancer Isadora Duncan appears as Lavinia King, and her companion Mary D'Este (who helped Crowley write his magnum opus "Magick: Book 4" under her magical name 'Soror Virakam') appears as Lisa la Giuffria. Cyril Grey is Crowley himself. We have been told that the previous owner of this copy, whose signature appears on the bookplate was English pianist and composer John Andrew Howard Ogdon (1937 - 1989).