Help to identify unknown book

Francis A. Miniter wrote:

Curiously, my first reaction to the description was that it was a book
associated with a secret society or lodge of some kind. Think of the
well-known symbolism of freemasonry, for instance.

So I decided to check out the symbols. Googling on "star sea circle"
and at least one of "symbol signify" I first found this:


http://www.egyptianmyths.net/star.htm
"It was believed that the stars did not just inhabit this world, but in
the Duat (land of the afterlife) as well. The Egyptians believed that
the ba might ascend to the sky to live as a star in heaven. Many tombs
also featured deep blue ceilings dotted with bright yellow stars in the
exact image of the hieroglyph in hopes to make the ba feel at home in
its new dwelling place. The stars were called the "Followers of Osiris
and represented the souls in the underworld. The five-pointed star
within a circle was the Egyptian symbol of the Duat."

Then another site - http://www.angelfire.com/nt/dragon9/PENTAGRAM.html -
(which dealt with the Pentagram and showed a very interesting star setup
within concentric circles) mentioned The Mermetic Order of The Golden
Dawn, and I went straightway to their web site,
http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/index.shtml ,
which yielded (about 2/3 the way down the page) an interesting circle
containing a six-pointed star and within that a sun rising [dawn
remember] over the sea.

I hope that this helps. I will try later after I get some more work done.


Francis A. Miniter

By way of follow-up, I found this image associated with the Stella Matinuta, an
organization that continued after the demise of the original Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn: http://www.geocities.com/academie23_stella/front.html
Notice the sort of bar under the star that is within the circle of light.

Looking through all this made me feel like Casaubon in "Foucault's Pendulum",
plowing through the computer files of his friend, Belbo, with all the references
I found to the Aleister Crowley, the Templars, the Rosicrucians and the Kabbalah.

Finally, I found this site
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/symbolism/pentagrams.html
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/pentagram.html
associated with the Masons, which toward the bottom features an image with two
concentric circles enclosing a five-pointed star with writing about it.

Apparently, even the badge of the Texas Rangers is a double circle - star
configuration and Stephen Austin (who established the Texas Rangers) was
apparently a freemason.

Still more finally (??), mention should be made to the concept of the "star of
the sea", research on which led to the following find:

http://www.discoverthepath.com/gds-june.htm
"As for the Roman Goddess Juno who ruled well before Christianity, Walker also
notes that the star shaped sceptre, which was her symbol, identified her as Star
of the Sea, or Stella Maris, a name that is often heard today."

At this point, (clearly, post-finally) it occurred to me that Aleister Crowley
kept popping up a lot here. He was an Englishman reputed to be "the wickedest
man on Earth", and perhaps by his own attempts to spread that reputation. And
he wrote in the relevant time period. For instance, his book, "The Star and the
Garter" (77 pages) was published in 1904, leaving plenty of time for a 10th
edition by 1917. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find detailed
descriptions of the book. Could the "perhaps a sea" actually be the depiction
of a garter?

Then there was the Ordo Templi Orientis, founded in 1902, in part by Aleister
Crowley, which had a constitution that was regularly published since 1906, and,
in fact, there was a 1917 revised edition of the constitution.
http://www.hermetic.com/heidrick/oto_history.html
1917 was the year in which Lugano, Switzerland became its principal
headquarters, if that helps at all. They also published regular membership lists.

As an aside, L. Ron Hubbard became involved with the Agape Lodge (in Los
Angeles) of the Ordo Templi Orientis, where he became sexually involved with
Jack Parsons, a student of Crowley, and with Parsons' girlfirend. Now I really
feel that I am writing like Belbo.

Another Crowley possibility is "The Book of the Law", first published in 1904
and a critical text of the O.T.O. Crowley claimed it was dictated to him from a
supernatural source while he was in Cairo in April 1904, between the hours of
noon and 1 pm on three successive days. It is a fairly short book.


Franics A. Miniter

"Curiously, my first reaction to the description was that it was a book

associated with a secret society or lodge of some kind. Think of the
well-known
symbolism of freemasonry, for instance. "

My thoughts exactly. Freemasonry, Rosicrusians, magick. The description
of the book does not seem to be enough to identify a book, only enough
to confirm the books identity to an insider.

Then you come across a book such as:

Abraham ben Simeon, of Worms, 15th cent.
The book of the sacred magic of Abra-Melin the Mage, as delivered
by
Abraham the Jew unto his son Lamech, A.D. 1458 / Abraham the Jew ;
translated by S. L. MacGregor-Mathers,. 2d ed. London : J. M.
Watkins,
1900.

This is probably written by a relative of Edward Powys Mathers. And is
often described in terms such as "the most dangerous book ever
written".

More info on S. L. MacGregor-Mathers he
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/S.L.+Mathers

S. L. MacGregor-Mathers apparently wrote or translated many books on
occult work. Most books of this type are not on the market, but are
locked in collections. Incidentally, these works are filled with
double-circle and star symbolism, and anachrostic word combinations.
Interestingly, S. L. MacGregor-Mathers died in 1918, so his last
literary work would probably be 1917! My guess is that it is one of his
works.

Neal

The "Book of Abramelin" was translated into English from a French
manuscript Mathers came across in the Bibliotheque Arsenal. The
attribution to Abraham the Jew is spurious, as is the supposed date.

Mathers didn't really write any books. The closest he came to
composing a book of his own was his little pamphlet on the Tarot.
He translated and edited less than half a dozen occult
manuscripts, and did a partial translation from the Latin of Knorr
von Rosenroth's "Kabbalah Denudata," which Mathers published under
the title "The Kabbalah Unveiled." This work was financed by his
friend, the Master Mason Dr. Wynn Westcott, as a way of helping
Mathers out at a time when he couldn't afford to buy food for
himself. It was a charity commission.

Mathers went on to found the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,
along with Westcott and Woodman, two fellow Freemasons. Most of
the important writings of Mathers are the working papers of that
secret Rosicrucian society, but it may be incorrect to attribute
them to Mathers since he claimed that he received them psychically
from the "secret chiefs" of the Golden Dawn.

(igs) wrote:
Can anyone help me identify the book described in the following
paragraph:

"I drew a volume from my pocket; blind-tooled on the green in a double
circle was a single star above what was perhaps a sea. It was the tenth
edition, of 1917."

The paragraph above was written in the 1930s, and the description is
believed to be factual. It is believed that it refers to a British book
which would have been quite well-known at the time.
I have placed an my own "artist's impressions" of what I think the logo
might look like at the following address:
http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.g.sim...maps/motif.jpg although
other interpretations might be equally valid.
I believe this to be either a publisher's logo or perhaps a school
crest, but so far my enquiries have drawn a blank. Any suggestions which
might assist with the identification of the book would be most welcome.
Thanks for any help.

A very interesting thread!

Francis A. Miniter brought up the possiblity that the book was a work by
Aleister Crowley:

"......At this point, (clearly, post-finally) it occurred to me that
Aleister Crowley kept popping up a lot here. He was an Englishman
reputed to be "the wickedest man on Earth", and perhaps by his own
attempts to spread that reputation. And he wrote in the relevant time
period. For instance, his book, "The Star and the Garter" (77 pages) was
published in 1904, leaving plenty of time for a 10th edition by 1917.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find detailed descriptions of the
book. Could the "perhaps a sea" actually be the depiction of a garter?"

I queried Clive Harper, the Osman Spare bibliographer. Clive was the
Aleister Crowley collector who bid against me in December 2003:
http://www.tinyurl.com/3yblp

According to Clive Harper, Crowley's Star and the Garter never made it
to a tenth edition. The only Crowley book published in 1917 was Volume
II of his Book of Laws, sometimes referred to as the Holy Books. They
were published in velum-covered boards, however.

Time to put the thinking cap on....The mystery book was mentioned in a
book of puzzles. Perhaps there is more to the description than meets
the eye. For a book to go into its tenth edition, it must have been
published by a popular publisher. If it is a publisher's device in
blind, maybe there is more to the device than is mentioned in the
description.

I went through my library, concentrating on the popular series
publishers, and struck paydirt with the publisher's device of Henry G.
Bohn: http://www.tinyurl.com/7q6uh

This device was used for Henry Bohn's Standard Library, his Classical
LIbrary. Philosophical Library, and Popular Library to name a few.
There is a star within the double circled border which identifies the
Bohn's Library series.

There's only one problem. Henry G. Bohn was long dead by 1917. George
Bell & Sons, however, continued to publish reprints of the Bohn
libraries up to at least the 1930s. A check at abebooks reveals that
some of these books published by George Bell & Sons contained the Bohn
Library device in blind on their covers.

I'm betting the book was published by George Bell & Sons, and that it is
from one of the Bohn Libraries.

Jerry Morris


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