Mandrake Press

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The Mandrake Press was a British small press founded by Edward Goldston and P. R. Stephensen in 1929. In 1930 the company had financial problems and a consortium led by Aleister Crowley formed Mandrake Press Ltd. The new consortium was equally unsuccessful and the company was dissolved in 1930.

In eighteen months The Mandrake Press published over 30 items including D. H. Lawrence, The Paintings of D H Lawrence together with works by Liam O'Flaherty, Rhys Davies, Giovanni Boccaccio, Peter Warlock under the pseudonym Rab Noolas, S. S. Koteliansky, Aleister Crowley, Thomas Burke, Cecil Roth, Beresford Egan, W. J. Turner, Brinsley MacNamara, Edgell Rickword, Richard Middleton, V. V. Rozanov, Philip Owens, Vernon Knowles, and others.^[1]

At the 1985 Cambridge University Exhibition of the works of The Mandrake Press it was believed that no copies of the Book of Tobit had ever been produced even though the book had been announced and a prospectus issued. Since 1985 three copies have been discovered — one in an Australian library and two in private collections.^[2]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The Mandrake Press 1929-1930 Catalogue of an exhibition at Cambridge University Library September to November 1985. Limited to 300 copies. With prefatory essay by Jack Lindsay by CARR, R.P. (arranged and with a tabulation of items published by the Mandrake Press).Publisher: Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, 1985.
2. ^ The Book of Tobit decorated by Ann Gillmore Carter Australian Library Collections

[edit] References

• Munro, Craig (2000). Stephensen, Percy Reginald (1901 - 1965). Melbourne University Press. Retrieved on 2007-05-24.
• Mandrake Press : Cambridge University Exhibition Catalogue 1985
• Wild Man of Letters: The Story of P.R. Stephensen by Craig Munro. Melbourne University Press, 1984

[edit] Further reading

• Evans, Dave (2007). The History of British Magic After Crowley: Kenneth Grant, Amado Crowley, Chaos Magic, Satanism, Lovecraft, the Left Hand Path, Blasphemy and Magical Morality. Hidden Design Ltd. ISBN 0955523702