October 21, 2008
Poetry
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We made all possible preparations,
Drew up a list of firms,
Constantly revised our calculations
And allotted the farms,
Issued all the orders expedient
In this kind of case:
Most, as was expected, were obedient,
Though there were murmurs, of course;
Chiefly against our exercising
Our old right to abuse:
Even some sort of attempt at rising,
But these were mere boys.
For never serious misgiving
Occurred to anyone,
Since there could be no question of living
If we did not win.
The generally accepted view teaches
That there was no excuse,
Though in the light of recent researches
Many would find the cause
In a not uncommon form of terror;
Others, still more astute,
Point to possibilities of error
At the very start.
As for ourselves there is left remaining
Our honor at least,
And a reasonable chance of retaining
Our faculties to the last.
W.H. Auden
FAIRFIELDSBOOKS.COM
October 13, 2008
Antiquarian
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ON AUCTION
A Sister’s Love
A Novel
By
W. Heimburg
Translated By Margaret P. Waterman
A Complete English Text
Illustrated With Headpieces,Tailpieces And Full Page Plates Blank On The Reverse
1890 First Edition Thus Published By Worthington Co. For Heimburg’s Works
Same Date/No Others
A Beautiful Hardcover Book Bound In Red And Ivory Silk Covers With Elaborate Gilt Stampings, A Gilt Top Edge And Deckled Edges, Floral Pastedowns And Endpages,Illustrated Beautifully,Tall 12mo,Complete Tight Contents In 319 Pages,Secure At The Hinges
Very Good/None
In Lightly Rubbed Some Darkening,Some Faint Blended-In Soiling At The Silk Covers,A Darkened Spine,Some Bleeding At The Upper Rear Cover, And Mildly Frayed At The Extremities
A Mildly Agetoned Contents,Tanned Edges At The Pastedowns And Endpapers, Faint Cracking At The Internal Hinges Otherwise A Solid Edition
No Previous Owner Markings,No Writing In Book And Not Ex-Library
The Book Is Beautiful, It’s In Very Good Condition And Just Fine For Presentation
ON AUCTION FAIRFIELDSBOOKS
October 3, 2008
Collectible
No Comments
Occultism-Lewis Spence-2500 Entries And Articles
ON AUCTION
An Encyclopaedia Of Occultism
A Compendium Of Information On The Occult Sciences, Occult Personalities, Psychic Science, Magic, Demonology, Spiritism, Mysticism And Metaphysics
The Comprehensive Illustrated Treasury Of Occult Knowledge From All Times And Places
More Than 2500 Entries And Articles
By
Lewis Spence
A 1960 Reprint Hardcover Edition Slipcased
Verbatim Of The 1920 First Edition
Published By University Books
Read A Short Biography About The Author:
James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence (November 25, 1874 – March 3, 1955) was a Scottish journalist, whose efforts as a compiler of Scottish folklore have proved more durable than his efforts as a poet and occult scholar.
After graduating from Edinburgh University he pursued a career in journalism. In 1899 he married Helen Bruce. He was an editor at The Scotsman 1899-1906, editor of The Edinburgh Magazine for a year, 1904-05, then an editor at The British Weekly, 1906-09. In this time his interest was sparked in the myth and folklore of Mexico and Central America, resulting in his popularization of the Mayan Popul Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiché Mayas (1908). He compiled A Dictionary of Mythology (1910 and numerous additional volumes).
Turning his interest closer to home, he investigated Scottish folklore. An ardent Scottish Nationalist, he unsuccessfully contested a parliamentary seat for North Midlothian in 1929. He also wrote poetry, collected in 1953. He wrote about Brythonic rites and traditions in The Mysteries of Britain (1905). In this book, Spence theorized that the original Britons were descendants of a people that migrated from Northwest Africa and were probably related to the Berbers and the Basques-this claim is being supported by recent DNA studies.
Spence’s researches into the mythology and culture of the New World, together with his examination of the cultures of western Europe and north-west Africa, led him almost inevitably to the question of Atlantis. During the 1920s he published a series of books which sought to rescue the topic from the occultists who had more or less brought it into disrepute. These works, amongst which were The Problem of Atlantis (1924) and History of Atlantis (1927), continued the line of research inaugurated by Ignatius Donnelly and looked at the lost island as a Bronze Age civilization, that formed a cultural link with the New World, which he invoked through examples he found of striking parallels between the early civilizations of the Old and New Worlds: the historian of science George Sarton remarked, in reviewing Spence’s Introduction to Mythology in 1921, “Prof. Smith, it may be recalled, is the chief supporter of the pan-Egyptian theory; he finds traces of Egyptian influence everywhere, even in America”. Spence’s erudition and the width of his reading, his industry and imagination were all impressive; yet the conclusions he reached, avoiding peer-reviewed journals, have been almost universally rejected by mainstream scholarship. His popularizations met stiff criticism in professional journals, but his continued appeal among theory hobbyists is summed up by a reviewer of The Problem of Atlantis (1924) in The Geographical Journal: “Mr. Spence is an industrious writer, and, even if he fails to convince, has done service in marshalling the evidence and has produced an entertaining volume which is well worth reading.” Nevertheless, he seems to have had some influence upon the ideas of controversial author Immanuel Velikovsky, and as his books have come into the public domain, they have been successfully reprinted and some have been scanned for the Internet, for the enjoyment of new generations willing to suspend critical disbelief.
Spence’s 1940 book Occult Causes of the Present War (ISBN 0766100510) seems to have been the first book in the field of Nazi occultism.
Over his long career, he published more than forty books, many of which remain in print to this day. Spence was also the founder of the Scottish National Movement which later merged to form the National Party of Scotland and which in turn merged to form the Scottish National Party.
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