Book: World Tragedy by Aleister Crowley
This is one of the rarest of Crowley's published works. The book was privately printed in Paris in 1910 in an edition of 100 copies, but it seems certain that either the rather enthusiastic discussion of sodomy in British schools in the Preface or the books rather virulently anti-Christian sentiments attracted some censor's wrath, and it is generally believed That Most copies were destroyed in the course of customs seizures. The fact that it was originally bound in exceedingly flimsy wrappers probably did not help the books longevity, and the few copies that have survived have, like this one, almost always been rebound.Crowley possibly also played a part in the destruction - or at least mutilation - of some copies of the work. Timothy D'Arch Smith quotes a letter From Crowley to John Quinn in which the Beast wrote "100 printed. All mutilated of pp xxvii and xxviii [ie the homosexual references] except in a few copies in the hands of the author's friends." This copy has not been thus mutilated, perhaps for the very reason that it was from the Collection of one of Crowley's friends: that is Wilfred T. Smith (1885-1957). Smith was an English-born disciple of Crowley's, who joined Achad in the first North American Lodge of the O.T.O., (British Columbia, No. 1), and later went on to found Agape Lodge in California. He was a lifetime follower of Crowley's, although the Beast treated him abysmally, and shunned him in his latter days.
Books in PDF format to read:
Aleister Crowley - Control Of The Astral BodyAleister Crowley - Household Gods Comedy
Aleister Crowley - The World Of Tarot
Aleister Crowley - World Tragedy