Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
ALEISTER CROWLEY. THE STRATAGEM AND OTHER STORIES. THE MANDRAKE PRESS, LONDON, 1929.
Price: US$173.17 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Author of book is the well known ALEISTER CROWLEY, Contains three stories , Crowley is well known for his interest in the occult . 16mo, Pp, 139, [1] Spine worn with title on label at head , Original cloth boards which have shelf wear , interior of volume is good , but has some spotting. Face down front and rear are marked also half title page.
Seller: Highstreet Books ABA ILAB, Honiton, United Kingdom
Price: US$256.55 + shipping
Description: 1st edition, hardback, small 8vo, 139pp, pages slightly browned throughout, otherwise clean and sound, no inscriptions or ownership marks, binding and hinges tight, snakeskin-patterned boards and black quarter-cloth, board edges rubbed, paper spine title label browned; Good condition / no dustwrapper
Seller: BRIMSTONES, Lewes, United Kingdom
CROWLEY, Aleister. THE STRATAGEM AND OTHER STORIES. London: The Mandrake Press. [], 1929.
Price: US$256.55 + shipping
Description: First edition, first printing. Publisher's original gold and black snakeskin effect boards with titles in black on a white paper label to the spine. No dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the boards slightly bowed, with some rubbing at the extremities. The contents, with a small stain to the text block fore-edge and some offsetting to the endpapers, are otherwise clean throughout. A collection of three short stories: The Stratagem; The Testament of Magdalen Blair; His Secret Sin. The middle story "a description of after death experiences as the brain decays" is noted in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural as "one of the most horrible stories ever written" and in The Guide to Supernatural Fiction (Bleiler) "a remarkable achievement, as one of the most unpleasant stories in the genre". Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
Seller: LUCIUS BOOKS (ABA, ILAB, PBFA), York, United Kingdom
Aleister Crowley - RARE COLLECTION. The Stratagem. The Mandrake Press London, 1929.
Price: US$282.21 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: The Mandrake Press, London, England, 1929. No Dust Jacket. First Edition: First Printing. 4.5 x 6 in.: 139 pages. Book is undated, but believed published in 1929. Boards are original Gold & Black snake skin pattern. Very striking. The black cloth spine has a white paper title label mounted upon it, and this is near perfect, unlike most copies. Scarce book, long out of print. Includes three novellas by Crowley: "The Stratagem","The Testament of Magdalen Blair", and "His Secret Sin". Book is dedicated "To the Memories of Three Dead Friends: Josef Conrad, who applauded the first story; Allan Bennett, Bhikkhu Ananda Metteya, who suggested the second, and Eugene John Weiland, who bowled me out over the third." Very desirable and rare. Language: eng
Seller: THE BOOKSNIFFER, Lewes, East Sussex, United Kingdom
CROWLEY, Aleister. The Stratagem and Other Stories. The Mandrake Press, 1929.
Price: US$448.97 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: CROWLEY, Aleister. The Stratagem and Other Stories London, The Mandrake Press, [1929].FIRST EDITION. Small 8vo, pp. (i-viii) 9-139 (cxl: imprint), original boards decorated with gold and black scales in a snake skin pattern, black cloth spine with white paper label. Binding very slightly bowed; book and dust jacket in near-to-perfect condition. A fine copy. This is Crowley s only collection of short fiction, which includes The Testament of Magdalen Blair : a description of after death experiences as the brain decays one of the most horrible stories ever written. Sullivan (ed.), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 106-07; a remarkable achievement, as one of the most unpleasant stories in the genre. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, p. 457.
Seller: Symonds Rare Books Ltd, London, United Kingdom
CROWLEY, Aleister. The Stratagem and Other Stories. Mandrake Press [1929], London, 1929.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: A collection of three stories, issued in the series "Mandrake Booklets." Owner name, address, and 1930 date on the front flyleaf. Near fine in a very good, spine-darkened dust jacket. Rare: we find only one copy listed in OCLC WorldCat. Unless otherwise noted, our first editions are first printings.
Seller: Ken Lopez Bookseller, ABAA (Lopezbooks), Hadley, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Description: Small octavo, pp. [1-8] 9-139 [140: printer's imprint], original decorated gold and black boards with black cloth spine panel, printed paper label affixed to spine panel. Crowley's only collection of short fiction. Includes "The Testament of Magdalen Blair," "a description of after death experiences as the brain decays . one of the most horrible stories ever written." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 106-07. ". a remarkable achievement, as one of the most unpleasant stories in the genre." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 457. ". spectacularly nasty-minded ." - Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-56. Bleiler (1978), p. 53. Reginald 03666. Some darkening to end papers, some foxing to fore edges, a nearly fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket with a small closed tear to the lower rear panel, slight darkening to the spine panel. (28554)
Seller: John W. Knott, Jr, Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB, Laurel, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$3025.00 + shipping
Description: First editions, including 9 presentation copies, most inscribed by the publisher; 14 vols (complete), small 8vo (15.8 x 11.6 cm); slight age-toning, minor spotting and offsetting to endpapers, else unmarked internally; publisher's cloth-backed gold and black snakeskin-patterned boards, paper title labels to spine lettered in black, light shelf-wear, with the pictorial dustjackets, spines darkened, some soiling to panels, slight edge-wear, closed tear to front panel of Love One Another, else a very good set housed in a black cloth slipcase. The complete set of The Mandrake Booklets in the original dustjackets, published by the short-lived but notable Mandrake Press. The Mandrake Press was a small British press founded by Edward Goldston and P.R. Stephensen in 1929. In 1930 the company faced financial problems and a consortium led by Aleister Crowley formed Mandrake Press Ltd to take it over. The consortium was likewise unsuccessful, and the company was dissolved in 1930. During their short publishing run the press published over thirty items, including works by D.H. Lawrence, Giovanni Boccaccio, Cecil Roth, and more. Included in the fourteen-volume set are seven publisher's presentation copies inscribed in the hand of P.R. Stephensen: 'Sadie Carp with compliments from the publishers', and an advance copy of Thomas Burke's The Bloomsbury Wonder with a typed letter from the publisher loosely inserted. Additionally, The Smiling faces is inscribed by the author: 'To Sadie Carp from Brinsley Macnamara with very kind regards 17th Oct. 1929'. Further, there is an author's presentation copy of Love One Another inscribed thus: 'Sadie Carp. From Edgell Rickwood 29/10/29. Take his advice'.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom