THE TRUE AND INVISIBLE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER - An Interpretation of the Rosicrucian Allegory, and an Explanation of the Ten Rosicrucian Grades. By PAUL CASE.

SIGNED and HAND NUMBERED by PAUL CASE on the front pastedown: "No. 152 / Paul Case".

Self published, second edition, 1928. Paul Case self published the first edition in 1927, limited to only 64 copies; it was NOT a signed edition. He then revised and enlarged his work and self published a second edition a year later in 1928. The second edition is a signed, numbered and limited edition. The exact limitation of the second edition is not stated, but certainly quite small. The 1927 first (unsigned) and 1928 second (signed and numbered) editions of "The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order" are the only editions that were self published by the author. Both are scarce.

Hardcovers, black cloth covered boards with red titling on the front cover and spine, ii + 101 pages, pages printed on one side only, mimeographed from an original typed copy, self published. Illustrated with a plate showing the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and one other plate; there are also a few small drawings within the text.

Laid-in the book are a group of Paul Case related materials, lecture announcements, remarks on the Tarot, a card about B.O.T.A., etc. Some of the items are covered with relevant handwritten notes by a previous owner, perhaps taken during a Paul Case lecture. There are also 8 typed pages on the Sepher Yetzirah, with hand corrections to mistyped words. Likely a typed copy made by the previous owner from a printed translation. An interesting grouping of ephemera from a dedicated occultist.

Condition: The covers' spine folds are scraped and have some tearing to the cloth, the boards have some water drop stains and finger marks, and the edges have a few scrapes, otherwise the covers are solid and doing their job well. Internally, the endpapers have light offsetting / toning, otherwise the pages are tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. The various ephemera is well used, heavily marked condition; but still cool!

RARE Early Source Material on Rosicrucion Occultism, SIGNED by THE PRIMARY SOURCE, PAUL CASE.

The Great Pyramid of Gizeh. A Symbol of Universal Truth J. Munsell Chase. Published by Chase & Rae Press, San Francisco, 1916. First edition. An uncommon San Francisco esoteric work blending early Pyramidology with the Theosophy adjacent symbolic and metaphysical interpretations circulating in West Coast spiritual circles. Chase presents the Great Pyramid as a living emblem of universal truth, moving through its history, dimensions, and chamber system while tying each aspect to ideas of fire, sacred number, the decad, the four elements, and the broader mysteries he believed began in ancient Egypt. Issued as Temple Talks Series 1 No. 1 and very difficult to locate today. Green printed paper wraps, staple-bound. Illustrated with eleven b&w plates and diagrams, including maps, sectional views of the King's Chamber, and symbolic renderings typical of early occult pyramid studies. Good + Condition: light wear to the wrappers, two bottom margin clear tape repairs to verso's of ffep and title page, corner creases, oxidizing to the staples but they're holding well, overall tight, bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce, only 3 copies in OCLC collections worldwide.

John Munsell Chase (1859-1941) was a San Francisco writer, publisher, editor, and occultist. He was Vice President of the California State Spiritualists Association and the Society of Progressive Spiritualists in San Francisco, and the director of the Mediums' Protective Association. He was editor of the "Philosophical Journal" a spiritualist weekly in 1903-1904. His publications include "The Riddle of the Sphinx" (1915), a work exploring esotericism, theosophy, and philosophy. The Great Pyramid of Gizeh: A Symbol of Universal Truth (1916), a detailed analysis of the pyramid's architecture and history. And he published maps of San Francisco. He passed away in Tamalpais Canyon, now Homestead Valley in Mill Valley after a fall.

WITCHCRAFT: CATALOGUE OF THE WITCHCRAFT COLLECTION IN THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. Edited by Martha J. Crowe; Introduction by Rossell Hope Robbins; Index by Janes Marsh Dieckmann.

Published by Kto Press / Kraus-Thomas, Millwood, New York, 1977. First edition.

Hardcovers, red cloth covered boards, gilt spine titles, 9.5x12 inches, xxcviii, 644, [8]. A comprehensive catalogue of the 3,000+ titles in the collection, no illustrations.

GOOD condition: The covers are lightly soiled; internally, "MASTER SET - Do Not Remove From Shelf" is stamped near the top of the front free endpaper, overstamped with "WITHDRAWN", otherwise the pages are tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked.

An important bibliographical reference for that Witch in your life or soul.

From the Cornell University Library website:

******Part of Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell's Witchcraft Collection contains over 3,000 titles documenting the history of the Inquisition and the persecution of witchcraft, primarily in Europe.

The majority of the Witchcraft Collection was acquired in the 1880s through the collaborative efforts of Andrew Dickson White, Cornell's first President, and his first librarian, George Lincoln Burr. The collection documents the earliest and the latest manifestations of the belief in witchcraft as well as its geographical boundaries, and elaborates this history with works on canon law, the Inquisition, torture, demonology, trial testimony, and narratives. The collection focuses on witchcraft not as folklore or anthropology, but as theology and as religious heresy.

It features many early texts from the period when the theory of the heresy of witchcraft was being formulated, including fourteen Latin editions of the Malleus maleficarum, which codified church dogma on heresy. Four of these Latin editions were printed in the fifteenth-century, most notably the scarce first edition printed before April 14, 1487. The collection also contains other defining texts of the doctrinal discussion of demonology, such as Jean Bodin's De la Demonmanie des sorciers (1580), Nicolas Remi's Daemonlatreiae (1595), Henri Boguet's Discours des sorciers(1602) and Pierre de Lancre's Tableau de I'inconstance des mauvais anges (1612).

Significant in the collection are a small and extremely rare number of works by theologians who opposed the Inquisition, such as those of Cornelius Loos, the first theologian in Germany to write against the witch hunts. The most important materials in the Witchcraft collection, however, are the court records of the trials of witches, including original manuscript depositions taken from the victims. These documents, in both original manuscript and in print, reveal the harsh outcome of the more remote doctrinal disputes. Perhaps the most significant of all manuscripts in the Witchcraft collection is the minutes of the witchcraft trial of Dietrich Flade, a sixteenth century city judge and rector who spoke out against the cruelty and injustice of the persecutions in the 1580s. These and other trial documents are listed in the collection's finding aid.

In the 21st century, curators began building on AD White's witchcraft collection by acquiring modern materials such as posters and publicity for films featuring witches or sorcery, and newsletters on the activities of contemporary Wiccan and Pagan communities.******

Handwritten Index for Basilius Valentinus' "Triumphal Chariot of Antimony". The index was created at the Paracelsus Research Society. The Index is written in two 8x10 inch spiral notebooks filled with lined paper. The pages are written on one side only. The Index has a total of approximately 100 written pages. Laid into the first notebook is a sheet that briefly describes the Index and it's significance, and commends the student from Christchurch, New Zealand, who compiled the Index for the Society. The Index is undated and place unstated, but likely Australia circa 1980 (the "Collins Spirax" notebooks were made in Australia, .

GOOD condition, clean, with writing that is clear and legible.

A unique index to one Basilius Vaentinus's important work on alchemy.

About BASILIUS VALENTINUS (from Wikipedia):

******Basilius Valentinus (English: Basil Valentine), ostensibly a 15th century alchemist, possibly Canon of the Benedictine Priory of Saint Peter in Erfurt, Germany but more likely a pseudonym used by one or several 16th century German authors. Modern scholarship suggests that one author was Thölde, but that others were involved. Thölde published the first five books under Valentinus's name.

Whoever he was, Basilius Valentinus had considerable knowledge of alchemy. The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine is a widely reproduced alchemical book attributed to Valentine, first published in 1599 by Johann Thölde. It contains two parts, the second of which houses the twelve keys. These were accompanied by woodcut engravings from later publications in the early seventeenth century.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony was first published in Germany in 1604 under the title Triumph Wagen Antimonii,******

NACHRICHT von dem VORKOMMEN des BESESSENSEYNS : EINES DÄMONISCH-MAGNETISCHEN...

Full title: Nachricht Von Dem Vorkommen Des Besessenseyns Eines Damonisch-Magnetischen Leidens und seiner schon im Alterthum bekannten Heilung durch magisch-magnetisches Einwirken, in einem Sendschreiben an den Herrn Obermedicinalrath Dr. Schelling. Von Dr. Justinus Kerner.

(NEWS of the OCCURRENCE of POSSESSION, a DEMONIC-MAGNETIC SUFFERING, and ITS HEALING through MAGICAL-MAGNETIC INFLUENCE, which was already known in antiquity, in a letter to the Chief Medical Councilor Dr. Schelling. By Dr. Justinus Kerner.)

STUTTGART und AUGSBURG: Verlag von J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1836. First edition. TEXT in GERMAN.

Marbled paper covered card covers, black cloth covered spine, handwritten paper title label on front cover, small thin book, 4.5x7 inches, [2], 70 pages.

GOOD condition, mildly ex-lib with a shelving number label on the cover and a "Bible Society / Psychology" ink stamp at the bottom of the title-page, the covers have some scrapes, the rear cover fold is substantially splitting but the cover is still holding on, there is a thin tape ghost stain along the gutter edge of two pages, offsetting to the first and last page, and a previous owner's name and brief inscription in German dated 1889 at the top of the title page, overall a tight copy with pages that are tight, bright, and clear.

An original 1836 demonic copy of which you can take possession.

Agonía del tránsito de la muerte con los avisos y consuelos que cerca de ella son provechosos, Maestro Alejo Venegas de Busto.

(Agony of the Transition to Death with Helpful Warnings and Consolations when Approaching Death, with Brief Descriptions of Obscure Sentences and Words, by Maestro Alejo Venegas de Busto.)

ALCALA DE HENARES [Spain], Andrés de Angulo, Diego de Sancta Cruz, M.D.LX.V (1565). Sixth edition.

Hardcovers (19th century Spanish binding), 3/4 red leather (spine and corners) and red textured cloth covered boards, 5 raised spine bands, gilt titling and gilt designs to the spine, marbled endpapers, small 4o, 6x8 inches (14.5x20 cm). Pagination: ff. [8] CCXVI (i.e. [8], 216 leaves numbered in Roman numerals). Illustrated with intricate woodcut crests on titles.

GOOD Condition: Covers are rubbed and have some scrapes, most noticeably on the leather corners, still the covers are solid, doing their job well, and quite attractive. Internally, the title page and the subsequent couple of leaves have a little professional conservation at top margin that affects a bit of the title page image and a couple words at the top of the following two leaves; there is the ghost of the removal of a bookplate on the front free-endpaper, the title page has some early marginalia that has been lined out and there is some relevant scholarly ink marginalia on the latter pages related to the description of obscure words in that part of the text; overall solid, tight, bright, clean and clear. A nice copy.

COLLATED page by page with a 1565 copy in the Austrian National Library (the pages of THIS copy are much whiter and brighter).

About MAESTRO ALEJO VENEGAS DE BUSTO (from Wikipedia and elsewhere on the Internet):

******Alejo Venegas de Busto, b.Toledo 1497 or 1498, d.Toledo, 1562, was a Spanish Renaissance writer, humanist, lexicographer, and considered a Spanish mystic.

His best known work is the AGONY OF THE TRANSITION TO DEATH... (Toledo, 1537), an ascetic, mystic work that he dedicated to Doña Ana de la Cerda, Countess of Melito, on the occasion of the death of the writer's great protector, her husband Count Diego de Mendoza. This work derives specifically from the Praeparatio ad Mortem (1534) by Erasmus. The second edition appears in Toledo in 1540, the third in Toledo, 1543, the fourth in Zaragoza, 1544, the fifth in Toledo, 1547, the sixth in Toledo, 1553 and the seventh in Alcalá, 1565. Beginning in the third edition Venegas added his Brief Declaration of the Sentences and Obscure Words. The book has continued to be reprinted and was edited in the 19th century by Eugenio de Ochoa (Paris, Beaudry, 1847) and in 2001 by Marc Zuili (Paris, L'Harmattan, 2001). Various parts of this work have appeared in numerous other publications, including works on Spanish and Christian Mysticism.******

CAGLIOSTRO (Joseph BALSAMO) : La Franc-Maçonnerie et l'Occultisme au XVIIIe siècle (Freemasonry and Occultism of the 18th century). D'Apres des Documents Inedits (From Unpublished Documents). By Henri d'ALMERAS.

PARIS : Société Française d'Imprimerie et de Librairie, 1904. First Edition. TEXT IN FRENCH.

Hardcovers (front cover disbound but present),

leather covered spine and paper covered boards, top page edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Pagination: [2] blank prelim leaf, [1] first title page with small engraving of Cagliostro, [1] blank verso, [1] half title page, [1] Du Meme Auteur / List of Author's Previous Works, [1] Frontispiece leaf with tissue guard, [1] title page, [1] blank verso, 386 pages.

Condition: The front cover is disbound but present, the rear cover's spine fold is worn and tender but holding, the spine covering is chipped and peeling, the boards are worn at their edges and have some scratches and rubs. Internally, the pages are toned along their edges, there is a previous owner's signature on the first blank page, otherwise the pages are tight, bright, clean and unmarked.

A complete copy of this SCARCE 1904 work on the Freemason and Occultist, Cagliostro, by the noted historian Henri d'Almeras.

About CAGLIOSTRO (from Wikipedia):

******Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, b.1743 d.1795, was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (Joseph Balsamo).

Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled magician. He became a glamorous figure associated with the royal courts of Europe where he pursued various occult arts, including psychic healing, alchemy and scrying. His reputation lingered for many decades after his death, but continued to deteriorate, as he came to be regarded as a charlatan and impostor, this view fortified by the savage attack of Thomas Carlyle in 1833, who pronounced him the Quack of Quacks. W.R.H. Trowbridge in his Cagliostro: the Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic (1910), attempted a rehabilitation.

Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco credits to Balsamo the creation of the Egyptian Rite of the Freemasons and intensive work in the diffusion of Freemasonry, by opening lodges all over Europe and by introducing the acceptance of women into the community. Occult historian Lewis Spence comments in his entry on Cagliostro that the swindler put his finagled wealth to good use by starting and funding a chain of maternity hospitals and orphanages around the continent. Occultist Aleister Crowley believed Cagliostro was one of his previous incarnations.******