The History of Magic Including a Clear and Precise Exposition of Its Procedure, Its Rites and Its Mysteries

London: William Rider & Son, Limited, 1913. First edition in English. Hardcover. Good. 535pp. Thick octavo [23 cm] Blue cloth with gilt stamped titles on the backstrip and front board, and an ornately decorative border on the front board. Top edge gilt. Frontispiece portrait from a photograph of Éliphas Lévi. Ex-libris James D. Wardle with his usual markings and labels, and ink stamps on the spine and front pastedown. Wardle amassed an impressive library and was often called the "Socrates of State Street" [Salt Lake City, Utah]. Free endpapers darkened. Spine stained, but gilt still bright. Front endpaper cracked along the hinge, and hinge a bit soft. Text block cracked at p. 209, however the book is still very sturdy. Discreet ink stamp on title page. All plates present. Lévi's pivotal discourse on the history of Magick and the occult, translated, with a preface and notes, by Arthur Edward Waite. Arthur Edward Waite was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric subjects and was co-creator of the widely popular Rider-Waite Tarot deck.

French occultist and magician Éliphas Lévi Zahed (1810-1875), sometimes referred to as the "founder of occultism," is the author of several seminal works including "Le Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie," "Histoire de la Magie," "La Clef des Grands Mystères," "La Philosophie Occulte," and "La Science des Esprits." His writings heavily influenced The Golden Dawn and Madame Blavatsky. He is also known for creating a version of Baphomet which has become a recognized occult icon. His representation of Baphomet appeared as an androgynous "Sabbatic Goat" on the frontispiece of "Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie" (The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic; 1854–1856). It is also largely because of Lévi that the Tarot is commonly used today as a method of divination.