The Progradior Correspondence, Letters by Aleister Crowley, C. S. Jones, & Others [first edition]

Hardcover. Large 8vo. (9 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches) xii + 148pp. Blue cloth with gilt titling to spine. Dustjacket. b&w frontispiece. Index. Edition limited to 666 numbered copies. The Progradior Correspondence comprises the text of ninety letters and other documents that were exchanged between Frater Progradior, Aleister Crowleys Lancashire-born follower, Frank Bennett, and members of the Beasts inner circle, including Crowley himself, Charles Stansfeld Jones, Leilah Waddell, Leah Hirsig and others. The correspondence began in 1910 when Bennett wrote to Crowley seeking his advice on the performance of The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage. It continued through the years of The Equinox, through Crowleys residence in the United States during the First World War, and on past the heydays of the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu in the early 1920s. The exchange finally drew to a close in 1926, by which time Crowley had dropped or otherwise lost contact with most of his associates of the preceding decade and a half. A third of the letters were written by Aleister Crowley. Like the rest of the correspondence, these focus largely on the efforts that he and his followers were making to promote his occult fraternities, the A.'. A.'. and the O.T.O. As such they offer valuable first-hand accounts of the development of Crowleys creed of Thelema during this important period. The letters are highly revealing on a personal level as well, and provide considerable insight into Crowleys character and the influence that he had on the people around him. In broader terms they give a fascinating impression of the lives and activities of all those involved. The Progradior Correspondence is edited by Frank Bennetts biographer, Keith Richmond, who has also contributed a short Introduction and added footnotes to elucidate some of the more obscure names, words and passages in the letters.