[MANDRAKE PRESS]; STEPHENSEN, P.R.; Crowley, Aleister [et al.].. The Mandrake Booklets: The Bushwhackers; The Stratagem; The Cenci; Love One Another; The Smiling Faces; New Dostoevsky Letters; The Old Tribute; A Trip to New York; The Ladder; Hobohemians; A Diver Went Down; A Bed of Feathers; The Bloomsbury Wonder; A Tourist's Guide to Ireland.. London The Mandrake Press, 1929.

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