ELIPHAS LEVI ZAHED: The History of Magic, 610pp duodecimo full leather binding with gilt stamping, marbled endpapers, ribbon ties, seals of the planets and pentagrams, silk lined clamshell box, paper label to front of box in gilt frame.
Only 12 copies have been made, £245.00 per copy
Éliphas Lévi Zahed, born Alphonse Louis Constant (8 February 1810 – 31 May 1875), was a French esoteric philosopher, poet, and writer. Initially pursuing an ecclesiastical career in the Catholic Church, he abandoned the priesthood in his mid-twenties and became a ceremonial magician. At the age of 40, he began professing a deep knowledge of the occult. He wrote over 20 books on magic, kabbalah, alchemy, tarot and the black arts.
The pen name “Éliphas Lévi”, was an anagram of his given names “Alphonse Louis” into Hebrew Levi gained renown as an original thinker and writer, his works attracting attention in Paris and London among esotericists and artists of romantic or symbolist inspiration. He left the Grand Orient de France (the French masonic organization that originated the so-called Continental Freemasonry) in the belief that the original meanings of its symbols and rituals had been lost and convinced that the true symbols could be discovered only by deep spiritual and magical work.
