Occult, Paranormal, etc.

2423. Ash, Russell and Katherine Briggs et al: Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain

Published by The Reader's Digest Association, London. 1973

1st edition hardback. The book is in very good condition although the dust wrapper is not present. Black cloth covered boards with gilt titles and decoration to the upper board and faux leather spine. There are no previous owner names. This is an endlessly fascinating book that is perfect for dipping in and out of. It's a bit like a massive folklore magazine, rather than a book you'd sit down and read from cover to cover. The book is split into three parts - the first covers ancient superstitions, creatures, plants and festivals. The second (largest) section covers regional stories from across Great Britain and the Isle of Man, such as alleged hauntings, origins of place names and local festivals. The final section describes key figures in British folklore. It's a huge book but very easy to read and illustrated with drawings and black and white photos throughout. The book summarises stories and describes myths and folklore in a highly readable, matter-of-fact way. There are lots of interesting explanations about how current day festivals, phrases and superstitions may have developed.

 

177. Baxter, John: The Fire Came By

Published by Macdonald and Jane's, London. 1976.

1st edition hardback in very good condition. There are no previous owner names or marks. The dust wrapper is not clipped but shows no price.
The 1908 cataclysmic explosion in Central Siberia, at first thought to be a meteor, and now new evidence supports a theory that the explosion was caused by an extraterrestrial spacecraft that destructed while attempting to land on Earth.
With an introduction by Isaac Asimov, illustrated with photographs.

 
1472. Bergier, Jacques: Extra-terrestrial Visitations from Prehistoric Times to the Present

Published by Henry Regnery, 1973

Hardback reprint. Very good, slightly edge worn, un-clipped d/w. Very good book. If you've read "Morning of the Magicians" by the author you can expect more of the same here. Deals with possible ancient alien contact, ancient technology, the Illuminati, and alchemy.

 
  1473. Bessy, Maurice: A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural

Published by Spring Books, 1972

8th impression, hardback in very good in a good edge worn and price clipped dust wrapper. "The Manifestations Of Thousands Of Years Of Occult Experience Are Presented Here In All Their Fascination And Their Horror".

 

1479. Campbell, Elizabeth Montgomery: The Search for Morag

Published by Tom Stacey, London. 1972

1st edition hardback in fine condition, there are no previous owner names or other marks. The dust wrapper is also fine having only a couple of minor surface marks and not clipped, retaining the original £1.90 net price at the front flap. Not an ex-library copy like many in circulation but a very tidy, scarce UK 1st edition. Popular interest in the sighting of Scottish aquatic monsters has for generations focused exclusively on Loch Ness. This book establishes that the Loch Ness monster is not a unique phenomenon. Campbell traces the emergence of the ancient Highland legend of Morag, the Water Horse of Loch Morar & goes on to describe & analyse more than 30 carefully assessed eyewitness accounts.

 
1474. Fiore, Edith: Abduction-Encounters with Extraterrestrials

Published by Sidgewick & Jackson, 1989

Hardback 1st UK edition. Page edges slightly browned otherwise fine in a fine unclipped dust wrapper. Contains a short history of ufo sightings, ten of Dr Fiore's actual case histories, instruction in the art of hypnoregression. Have you had a close encounter?

 
  1475. Frazer, James George: The Golden Bough: A study in magic and religion in 1 volume

Published by Macmillan, 1932

Hardback reprint, no d/w. Abridged edition. Brown cloth boards with blue print to slightly discoloured spine and mistletoe decoration to upper. Previous owner name and address to front endpaper. Very slight wear to corners otherwise very good. A study in magic and religion. 1 volume. Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941) is rightly regarded as one of the founders of modern anthropology. The Golden Bough, his masterpiece, appeared in twelve volumes between 1890 and 1915. This volume is the author's own abridgement of his great work, and was first published in 1922. Remarkable for its vast assembly of facts and its charm of presentation, it offers the thesis that man progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought. It discusses fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat and many other symbols and practices which have influenced a whole generation of 20th century writers, including D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.

 
1476. Good, Timothy: The UFO Report 1990

Published by Sidgwick & Jackson, 1990

Hardback reprint. Fine book a fine wrapper. By the bestselling author of "Above Top Secret", this is a handbook for UFO watchers all over the world. There are cases involving the actual recovery of UFOs and their alien occupants, the latest sightings from the USSR, China and Africa, sightings by airline crews, the latest information on Britain's mystery circles and a fresh look at the Rendlesham Forest case of 1980. A former Minister of Defence official comes to some startling conclusions about the astonishing official report that a UFO landed outside RAF/USAF Woodbridge.

 
1478. Hole, Christina: Haunted England: A Survey of English Ghost-Lore

Published by Fitzhouse, 1990

Hardback, new edition. Fine book & dust wrapper. A survey of English ghost-lore illustrated by John Farleigh 1st published in 1940.

 
1477. Lore, Gordon I. R. & Harold H. Deneault: Mysteries of the Skies: U.F.O's in Perspective

Published by Scientific Book Club, 1969

Hardback, slightly edge worn d/w. Generally very good. Book club edition originally published by Robert Hale. Tracing the history of sightings from the earliest in 1745 to the more recent, including "The Foo-Fighters" which followed hundreds of allied and German pilots during World War II.

 
1480. Muck, Otto: The Secret of Atlantis

Published by Collins, 1978

1st edition hardback, near fine in a very good dust wrapper. With an introduction by Peter Tompkins. Contains conclusion, notes on Muck's tradition of Atlantis & index. Possibly the best pro-Atlantis book written so far. Extrapolating from the scientific data, Muck concludes that Atlantis was destroyed at 10 am, June 5, 8498 BC.

 
1481. Oldridge, Darren: The Devil: In Early Modern England

Published by Sutton Publishing, Stroud. 2000

1st edition hardback in very good condition, the book has been bumped at the top corners but is otherwise fine. The jacket is not clipped and retains the original £20.00 price at the front flap. There are no previous owner names or other marks. Tracing the affects of the protestant reformation on the mythology of Satan, the author looks comprehensively and authoritatively on the religious and societal factors at play in early modern England (read: 1600ce-1700ce). A fascinating look at the anti-catholic doctrine that the Reform theologians succeeded in resonating with the general public, but failing in most ways to put across a new, more powerful version of a popular Satan figure that was, and mostly remained, a weak, comic character within Christianity. The result was a Satan that was a mix of folk belief and what we now accept as standard Christian mythology of the devil. The author traces some of the strange discrepancies of this illogical mix of beliefs, and traces their affect on the populace and protestant clergy.

 

1482. Parker, Adrian: States of Mind: ESP and Altered States of Consciousness

Published by Malaby Press, 1975

1st edition hardback, very good in a very good dust wrapper. This is the first general survey of altered states of consciousness and ESP to be published in book form, and it is by a clinical psychologist who has engaged in parapsychological research. The range of topics covered is reflected in the chapter headings: "ESP and Consciousness"; "Hypnosis and ESP"; "Trance Mediumship"; "Dream States and ESP"; "Out-of-the-Body Experiences and Lucid Dreams"; "Pathological States"; "Psychedelic States"; "Meditation, Mysticism, and Alpha States"; and "Is there a Post-Mortem ASC?" The emphasis throughout is on empirical research. Parker shows how various interpersonal factors are related to both ESP and ASCs and offers suggestions for further research.

 

112. Psychos: The Complete Guide to Palmistry

Published by W. Foulsham, London.

Hardback book and dustwrapper in very good condition. Pages slightly browned and a 1/2 inch tear at the top of the rear jacket fold otherwise fine. The book is undated but the unclipped dustwrapper price suggests late 60's, early 70's.
The mystery of your palm. How it affects your life, your career and your marriage.
The standard work.

 
3. Ramsland, Katherine: Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with vampires in America today.

Published by Harper Prism, New York. 1998. U

S 1st edition, stated first printing October 1998. Both book and unclipped dust wrapper in fine condition. There is only the slightest wear at the jacket edges, so slight it's hardly noticable. The true story of a reporter's investigation into the strange phenomenon of alleged vampires across America and a reporter, Susan Walsh, having strangely disappeared while undertaking a similar project, the cultists who practice vampirism, their rituals and habits, whether these creatures are actually real or not, whether they actually drink blood, etc., as well as the search for answers re Walsh's disappearance.

 
1483. Sagan, Carl: The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 1978

1st edition hardback, d/w spine sunned, otherwise near fine. The well-known astronomer and astrobiologist surveys current knowledge of the development of intelligence on Earth in various forms of life and explains his persuasion that intelligence must have developed along similar paths throughout the universe.

 
1484. Strieber, Whitley: Transformation: The Breakthrough

Published by Century, 1989

Hardback reprint. Book leaning slightly, otherwise fine, book and fine dust wrapper. This book is the chronicle of the author's efforts to form a relationship with the unknown reality he has come to call 'the visitors'. After writing Communion, the author firmly expected that his encounters with the 'visitors' would end. They did not. This book is a journey from the secret depths of the mind to the secret depths of the universe, a story of fear and courage and the final, triumphant breakthrough that may lead at last to real understanding. Communion was only the beginning.

 

2175. Symonds, John & Kenneth Grant (Editors): The Magical Record of the Beast 666: The Diaries of Aleister Crowley 1914-1920

Published by Duckworth, London. 1983

Large trade size paperback, second impression. Previous owners ink notes to half title page and inside rear cover and underlining throughout. Covers rubbed at the edges and slight fading at the spine otherwise very good. A scarce title and a fascinating glimpse into the magical activities of Aleister Crowley during the years of the Great War. They can be read as a continuation of the experiments he made with fellow magician and poet Victor Neuburg, during 1914 in The Paris Working - a series of homosexual 'operations' which were a transition between the ceremonial rituals as taught in the Golden Dawn and the sex rites of the Ordo Templi Orientis. The sexual force replaced the lengthy conjurations of the past and the records aim to show to what extent the sexual 'current' can determine or influence events. The 'Magical Record' comprises of 'Rex de Arte Regia' (The King on the Royal Art), a magical diary beginning in Sept 1914 - March 1915 and continuing Feb 1916 - Sept 1918. There is also 'The Magical Record of the Beast' from Dec 1919 - Dec 1920, followed by Liber Al Vel Legis (The Book of the Law). This is an invaluable book to the collector of 'Crowleyana' and it documents an important period in the history of his life.

 
1485. Underhill, Evelyn: Mysticism: The Development of Humankind's Spiritual Consciousness

Published by Bracken Books, 1995

Hardback reprint of the 14th edition first published 1942. Fine in fine dust wrapper. Whilst the second and longest part contains a somewhat detailed study of the nature and development of mans spiritual or mystical consciousness, the first is intended rather to provide an introduction to the general subject of mysticism. Exhibiting it by turns from the point of view of metaphysics, psychology, and symbolism, it is an attempt to gather between the covers of one volume information at present scattered amongst many monographs and text-books written in diverse tongues, and to give the student in a compact form at least the elementary facts in regard to each of those subjects which are most closely connected with the study of the mystics. Those mystics, properly speaking, can only be studied in their works: works which are for the most part left unread by those who now talk much about mysticism. Certainly the general reader has this excuse that the masterpieces of mystical literature, full of strange beauties though they are, offer considerable difficulties to those who come to them unprepared. In the first seven chapters of this book I have tried to remove a few of these difficulties; to provide the necessary preparation; and to exhibit the relation in which mysticism stands to other forms of life. If, then, the readers of this section are enabled by it to come to the encounter of mystical literature with a greater power of sympathetic comprehension than they previously possessed, it will have served the purpose for which it has been composed.

 

132. Wheatley, Dennis: The Devil and All His Works

Published by Hutchinson, London. 1971.

1st edition hardback in very good condition. The dust wrapper is also very good, unclipped and without any fading. There are no previous owner names or inscriptions.
A large and quite heavy non fiction book, covering Mesmerism, Hypnotism, Faith Healing, Telephathy, Premonitions, Astrology, Numerology, Cheirognomy, Cartomancy, Clairvoyance, Psychometry, Clairaudience, Oracles, Necromancy, Haruspicy and other methods of Divination. Part 3 Beliefs in Early Ages Prehistoric Man, The Sumerians, etc, Part 4 Beliefs in the Past 2,500 years, Part 5 Witches and Warlocks. with colour plates and maps. - a lifetime of reading and research, Dennis Wheatley describes and sums up his findings and conclusions.

 
1486. Zaehner, R.C.: Drugs, Mysticism & Makebelieve

Published by Collins, 1972

1st edition hardback. Faded spine panel to an otherwise very good dust wrapper. Inscribed & signed by the author. A very good copy of a scarce title. An inquiry into the nature of mystical and drug states: their nature, whether they can be distinguished or classified, and their religious significance. By the then Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University.