The Book of Pleasure (Self Love). The Psychology of Ecstasy.

London: Printed by the Co-operative Printing Society Limited. 1913.

What is there to believe, but in Self?

First edition. Folio. 390x260mm. pp. [4], 59 [1]. Illustrated with 18 full plate prints and with numerous images in the text. Black cloth lettered in white on upper cover. Some marking and rubbing to boards and joints. Extremities bumped and rubbed. Internally very good with only the occasional spotting and toning. A nice copy of Spare's extraordinary work of art, magic, the occult, sexuality, religion and the use of sigils. The Book of Pleasure is regarded as Spare's most concise and important expression of his philosophy. Originally intended as a collection of illustrations Spare came to realise that his ideas could not be expressed in images alone but would require text. Spare was a devotee of automatic drawing and his art and writing inhabits the space between the conscious and the unconscious. Spare defines Self Love as "a mental state, mood or condition caused by the emotion of laughter becoming the principle that allows the Ego appreciation or universal association in permitting inclusion before conception". Whether Spare's text illuminates the brilliantly and wildly imaginative drawings is unclear but what emerges from The Book of Pleasure is a mind and spirit of limitless richness.

Ref. 5239