The Book of Pleasure
(self-love)
The Psychology of Ecstasy
by Austin Osman Spare
introduction by Alan Moore
afterword by Dr William Wallace
This newly revised 2023 edition featuring Automatic Drawing and Unpublished Art marks 110 years since first publication of Spare’s magical book.
Resplendent with full-page symbolist illustrations representing some of the artist’s most beautiful draughtsmanship, it is also festooned with Austin Osman Spare’s automatic drawings and sigils. This seminal work has established Spare as a unique and formidable figure in twentieth century western magic.
This edition includes previously unpublished drawings and ink works that may well have been part of the artist’s wider conception of the Book.
The original 1913 introduction by Ernest H.R. Collings and the 1975 introduction by Kenneth Grant are also reprinted. This edition reprints all the sigils and half-tone illustrations from a particularly fresh and well printed copy of the first edition. Illustrated endpapers and divider pages are overprinted with designs by Spare in silk varnish. Includes a limited, hand-numbered 8x8 art print by Ben Thompson.
Spare’s re-worked version of one of the original illustrations is featured, alongside Michael Staley’s eulogy to Kenneth Grant, which examines his relationship with The Book of Pleasure.
New Afterword
Dr William Wallace offers new research on the development of the Sacred Alphabet. He also analyses the constructive geometry underpinning the many sigils found in The Book of Pleasure.
Contextual Material
Featuring an evocative introduction by Alan Moore and an illustrated magical essay by Michael Staley. This new edition also includes ‘Automatic Drawing’ (1916) co-authored with Frederick Carter, and Carter’s review article of the same name from a little-known art journal (1914).
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Alan Moore (2011)
Michael Staley (2011)
Kenneth Grant (1975)
THE BOOK OF PLEASURE
Appendices
Automatic Drawing
Austin O. Spare & Frederick Carter
Supplemental Drawings
A Theory of Automatic Drawing
Frederick Carter
Afterword
A Grimoire for the Present Age (Kali Yuga)
The Geometry of Nomenclature
Dr William Wallace (2022)
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Hardcover Edition - Limited to 700 hand-numbered copies
Includes 8x8 art print by Ben Thompson - Limited to 700 hand-numbered copies
128 pages. Black cloth-bound hardcover with illustrated dust-jacket, silver foil blocking to front cover and spine. Custom illustrated endpapers and divider pages, overprinted with designs by Spare in silk varnish. Printed in silk and uncoated paper-stocks. Black & white head and tail bands, and white silk ribbon bookmark.
ISBN: 978-0-9567004-8-3
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Press, reviews, endorsements
“Was looking for a book about wanking, but got an occult masterpiece instead. Hallucinogenic, vivid and feverish. If you try to understand it, it will change your life.”
Gemmed Azure on Goodreads
Alan Moore on Austin Osman Spare’s art and legacy - watch on YouTube here
Profile of Austin Osman Spare on the Art & The Esoteric channel - watch on YouTube here
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About the Artist
The late Austin Osman Spare (1886 – 1956) is one of the most influential and innovative figures in twentieth century occultism. A natural artist and psychic, Spare’s explorations of the creative focus gave rise to an ontology and body of work that departs radically from conventional occultism, both then and now. Influenced by symbolism and Art Nouveau, his art was known for its clear use of line and its depiction of monstrous and sexual imagery. In an occult capacity, he developed magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilisation based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self.
From his early years, Spare developed his own magico-religious philosophy which has come to be known as the Zos Kia Cultus, a term coined by his friend and fellow occultist Kenneth Grant. Raised in the Anglican denomination of Christianity, Spare had come to denounce this monotheistic faith when he was seventeen, telling a reporter that "I am devising a religion of my own which embodies my conception of what; we are, we were, and shall be in the future”.
