H.E.R..E.S.' Antiquarian

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A catalogue of extreamly rare books

related to the western magical tradition

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Manly P. Hall

AN ENCYCLOPEDIC OUTLINE OF MASONIC, HERMETIC, QABBALISTIC AND ROSICRUCIAN SYMBOLICAL PHILOSOPHY: BEING AN INTERPRETATION OF THE SECRET TEACHINGS CONCEALED WITHIN THE RITUALS, ALLEGORIES AND MYSTERIES OF ALL AGES

 

Printed for Manly P. Hall by H. S. Crocker, San Francisco, 1928. J. Augustus Knapp (illustrator). Limited/Numbered edition. Elephant Folio. The book is HUGE (about 12.5" x 19" inches) with 49 full colour plates, hand painted, (blue) roman page numbers and orange rubrics (large initial leters), watermarked paper that reads "Alexandra Japan Made in U.S.A." and a lovely elephant hide like paper hardcover and slipcase.

This was Dr. E. Clarence Salter's copy. He was in the same Masonic Lodge as Mr. Hall in
Glendale, California.

Some were signed by Manly Palmer Hall and this is one of them!

It has Number 190.

Condition: The binding has some rubbing wear. The title plate on the spine is cracked with some pices missing (which is common to all the early editions - see pictures). The binding is otherwise sound, tight and impressive.

The text inside is clean and bright except for some slight water damage which affects about 10cm of the paper - center bottom. it does not affect the text and it is not stricking in any way.

A good copy of this rare first edition!

There were five printings in 1928 of this Manly Hall Palmers Secret Teachings of all Ages.

Here's a snippet from the introduction written by Hall.

' The pre-publication sale of this book has been without known precedent in book history. The subscription list for the first edition of 550 copies was entirely closed a year before the manuscript was placed in the printer's hands. The second, or King Solomon, edition, consisting of 550 copies, and the third, or Theosophical, edition, consisting of 200 copies, were sold before the finished volume was received from the printer. For so ambitious a production, this constitutes a unique achievement. The credit for this extraordinary sales program belongs to Mrs. Maud F. Galigher, who had as her ideal not to sell the book in the commercial sense of the word but to place it in the hands of those particularly interested in the subject matter it contains. Valuable assistance in this respect was also rendered by numerous friends who had attended my lectures and who without compensation undertook and successfully accomplished the distribution of the book.'

Two later editions "The Rosicrucian Edition" (100 copies) and the " Fifth Edition" (800 copies) were published in 1928.

This gives us a total of

First (Subscriber's) Edition 550
King Solomon Edition 550
Theosophical Rdition 200
Rosicrucian Edition 100
Fifth Edition 800
Total 2200 Copies

The next printing (Sixth edition) was in 1936 with black and white plates instead of the marvellous coloured illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp.

The first edition is by fare the most rare because it was pre ordered by many libraries and organizations around the world including the Vatican! The first edition therefore seldom appear for sale as it still is held in old libraries.

The book is probaly the most beautiful occult production ever with many rare illustrations. It covers all the central occult doctrines and has a significant section on cermonial magic and the elemental spirits.

 

Price: - SOLD

 

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