Anon, Grimoire of the Spirit of the Place, Society of Esoteric Endeavour 2007 1st
Edition, large format (10˝ ins x 7 ins)
20pp. Numbered limited edition of 80 copies. Large format 13ins x 9ins, padded
boards, pigskin leather label, linen cover secured with pigskin leather ties.
The original manuscript was penned in French in the late 18th
Century. Only one copy is known of and this is preserved in the Bibliotheque
Arsenal in Paris, the title page being reproduced on the last page of this
publication. It is embellished with stencilled designs and these decorations
(and no others) are reproduced in the book. The typeface chosen, Caslon, was
that most widely used on the Continent at that period and is sympathetic to the
stencilled title of the manuscript. The text is remarkable. It seems to describe
a ritual that the writer carried out. Protection is sought from a demonic
Trinity before Christian powers are used to evoke an infernal spirit, specially
associated with the place of the working, into a piglet that is led into a
magic circle where it is slain. This releases the spirit but it he is
constrained within the circle until he signs the Grimoire of the title, which
has been prepared according to certain specifications. The book is then treated like a child, being
baptised with a godparent present and so forth. The text states that if you are
in possession of the original Grimoire “..or one like it” then you do
not have to perform the complete ritual but just read out the conjurations. The
original spirit will then send one of his minions to assist you. For this
reason this the physical manifestation of this, the first ever edition, is
guided by the specifications given in the text. It is stated that it should be
written on ten leaves of parchment and the here it is printed on that number of
leaves of goatskin parchment paper, giving 20pp of text plus generous endpapers. The text states that the Grimoire
should be bound in taffeta. This edition is bound in pure silk shrubbed taffeta
of the kind that would have been available at the period. Then, as now, it is a
luxury material, woven with two different colours of thread, one colour going
in one direction the other colour perpendicular to that. Given that the text
requires use of such an opulent material a cloth which combines purple and gold
threads has been chosen. Some of the 80 sets of sheets are not yet bound and a
different coloured taffeta may be used for these to give future bibliographers
food for thought. This means that the material appears to be different colours
depending upon how the book is held and it shimmers when it moves. The boards
are padded to best present the cloth binding. The label which is sunk into the
padded boards is of natural coloured pigskin leather gilt stamped with pure
gold, giving the title set within the magic circle given in the book. The gold
too shimmers as the book is moved. Pigskin leather was used in book binding up
until the end of the 18th Century but many book collectors would now
be unlikely to have encountered an example. Here it has been chosen to reference
the use of a pig in the ritual. Instructions are given that the book be held in
incense smoke, the incense recipe being given. This has been done so that the
book will smell as it should when read. Then the instructions state that the
book be wrapped in a cross shaped piece of pure white linen.. This too has been
done using 100% pure linen (most modern “linens” include cotton fibre whilst
this linen is entirely made of flax fibre)
and is supplied secured by pigskin leather ties. Thus the reader has to
touch and feel the pigskin leather. The leather ties pass through metal eyelets
which, future boibliographers may note,
gives rise to three variants. Some have brass eyelets, others tin then
some have copper. The endpapers are of
a dusty pink Fabrio Ingres mould made paper. Each books number and limitation
by a tipped in bookplate showing the All Seeing Eye that is the symbol of the
Society of Esoteric Endeavour printed on Griffin Mill handmade paper.
The writer states that he was given the ritual by a sea captain. Whilst
the generation glamours of grimoires always owe more to imagination than
reality this text is an interesting halfway house between the scholarly magic
of intellectuals working under the patronage of princes (such as Dee) and the
folk magic of those who must, at all costs, protect their crops and livestock.
Examples of the latter can be found in some of the spells in the appendices of
the Society of Esoteric Endeavour edition of the Gimoire of Pope Honorius. The
Grimoire of the Spirit of the Place does have cosmopolitan, Mediterranean
references. There is mention of the Ass Headed God which occurred in Italian
and Egyptian traditions. The conjurations were written in Latin by someone who
was able, but no scholar. They made
mistakes that proved an interesting test for a modern academic translator to
unravel so as to accurately capture the writer’s intent. Both the original
Latin and the translation are given, printed in different colours for sake of
clarity. The conjurations have curious Biblical references that owe more to
folk traditions than a reading of the actual Testaments. The writer clearly
realises he is describing a dangerous path that would be seen as profoundly
delinquent and there are great admonitions to secrecy. Also, it is stated, no
one should attempt the ritual unless they are terrified of making a mistake,
however minor. Clearly it is intended that the operator should be in an extreme
state of mind when performing the ritual. The Grimoire uses the assumed
superiority of Christian powers over Infernal spirits to compel one to appear
and to assist operator. One wonders if this might be considered a Gnostic
impulse. Swimming in a world that is shades of grey it feels natural to use the
forces of light to control the forces of darkness to ease ones way. The actual
structure of the ritual, the way the spirit is conjured into the pig and
released into the circle and so forth, is sophisticated and not present in
other Grimoire texts. The baptism of the Grimoire as a child in particular
seems very modern, reminiscent of post-Crowley notions of the Magickal Child.
The original manuscript was written in Old French. This has been
translated by Philippe Pissier who, having translated Crowley into French and
written about occultism, has the eye to communicate the magical viewpoint of
the writer.
Whilst there are a plethora of books about magic there are very few
magical books. It is hoped that this item issued by the Society of Esoteric
Endeavour, its form and even its smell being determined by the text itself for
magical purposes, might be considered such.
Images are presented below. However before accessing this pictures one
may wish to consider the difference in the experience of unwrapping the book from
the cross of white linen, smelling the scent of the incense which it carries,
touching it and seeing it for the first time. Surely the experience will be far
more intense if one has not already seen images of the book. If you are sure
you want the book you may wish to avoid seeing the images.
Having been held in incense smoke, wrapped in the linen cross and then
packed in tissue paper and sealed in bubble wrap, it is not possible to view
which number each copy is. Accordingly it is totally luck of the draw which
number one receives.
The book costs 120 Pounds. Postage and insurance
Please note all copies have sold