Jezebel, And other Tragic Poems
London: Privately Printed at the Chiswick Press, 1898.
First edition, one a limited 52 copies, 40 of which were, as this copy, printed on handmade paper printed in Caxton antique type, 10 on Japanese vellum, and 2 on vellum. [viii], 23, [1] pp. Bound in publisher's Japanese vellum wraps over plain thin card boards, title enclosed in ornamental border stamped in gilt on upper wrap, housed in a custom cloth case. Near Fine with light toning and soiling. Small abrasion to inner flap. A very well-preserved copy of this otherwise fragile production. A small arrangement of poems immortalizing Crowley's dying love affair with eccentric and female impersonator Herbert Charles Pollitt, with whom, as Crowley later wrote, he had "lived .... as his wife for some six months." Penned by the burgeoning mystic at The Bear Hotel whilst staying in Maidenhead; an increasingly scarce title, especially uncommon in nice condition.
Price: $4,500