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ALEISTER CROWLEY — THE TAO TEH KINGLiber CLVII • A New TranslationFirst Edition, 1976The Equinox, Volume III, No. VIIIThelema Publications / Ordo Templi Orientis
CROWLEY, Aleister, writing as Ko Yuen. The Tao Teh King. Liber CLVII: A New Translation. The Equinox: The Official Organ of the A∴A∴, The Review of Scientific Illuminism, Volume III, No. VIII. Kings Beach / Dublin, California: Thelema Publications / Ordo Templi Orientis, 1976.
An attractive copy of the first published edition of Aleister Crowley’s translation and interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, issued as Volume III, No. VIII of The Equinox.
Crowley prepared his version of Lao Tzu’s classic under the name Ko Yuen, but it remained unpublished during his lifetime. Typescripts circulated among his students before Helen Parsons Smith’s Thelema Publications issued the work in book form in 1976. Specialist Crowley bibliographers and dealers identify this as the first edition of the work; a separate English edition edited by Stephen Skinner appeared at approximately the same time.
The title page identifies the work as:
THE EQUINOX
The Official Organ of the A∴A∴
The Review of Scientific Illuminism
Volume III, No. VIII
The Tao Teh King
LIBER CLVII
A New Translation
by
Ko Yuen
(Aleister Crowley)
The copyright page bears Thelema Publications 1975, 1976, ISBN 0-913576-06-9, and Library of Congress number 73-11417.
First Edition
This is the regular or trade issue of the first edition, bound in the publisher’s cream/oatmeal woven cloth with the title stamped vertically in gilt on the front board and spine.
A separate deluxe issue of only 100 copies was produced in natural raw silk on special handmade paper with different binding treatment. The present copy is the considerably more familiar but still collectible original trade issue.
Specialist descriptions record approximately 104 unnumbered pages for this edition.
Contents
Crowley’s version combines his rendering of the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching with extensive explanatory notes informed by his own philosophical, mystical, and Thelemic system.
The volume opens with a preface followed by Crowley’s introduction, in which he discusses his study of Eastern philosophy and his encounters with Taoist thought. Individual chapters are presented with descriptive headings and, where applicable, substantial explanatory footnotes.
The publication occupies an unusual position at the intersection of Taoism, Western occultism, Thelema, and the publishing history of the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Binding
Publisher’s original cream/oatmeal woven cloth, with:
- vertically arranged gilt THE TAO TEH KING title to front board
- matching gilt title to spine
- brown endpapers
- cream text stock
- original publisher’s hardcover format
No dust jacket was issued with the regular edition. Specialist copies are consistently described in this same cream woven-cloth binding.
Condition
Very good to near fine overall.
Binding is firm and square, with the original cream cloth well preserved. There is light scattered spotting / small marks to the cloth and mild age-related toning, but no significant wear or damage. Gilt lettering remains bright and legible.
Brown endpapers are clean and intact. Interior is exceptionally clean and well preserved, with only light age toning. A small penciled oldprice notation appears at the upper corner of the preliminary title leaf. No ownership inscriptions are evident in the photographed pages.
Please examine all photographs for the best indication of condition.
A handsome example of an increasingly collectible first edition of Crowley’s Tao Teh King, published as The Equinox, Volume III, No. VIII.
