The History of Magic Including A Clear and Precise Exposition of its Procedure, its Rites and its Mysteries.

LEVI, Eliphas.

Item Number: 110723

Philadelphia: David MacKay, 1914.

First edition of this important work on the history of magic. Octavo, original publisher’s blue cloth ruled with ornamental gilt borders, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt. Frontispiece portrait from a photograph of the author with illustrated plates from diagrams and drawings by the author. Translated with a preface and notes by Arthur Edward Waite. In near fine condition.

Éliphas Lévi Zahed, born Alphonse Louis Constant, was a French occult author, socialist, and ceremonial magician. "Éliphas Lévi", the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into the Hebrew language. Having survived the various repressions against the socialists after 1848, Constant looked to an insular circle of initiates to lead the people to freedom. Histoire de la Magie was first published in 1860. Éliphas Lévi exerted a profound influence on those who would follow: the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Helen Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley.