The View From Kalamazoo
ARS OBSCURA Press
An announcement in my email:
ARS OBSCURA Bookbinding & Restoration, Inc. is most pleased to announce a new activity, ARS OBSCURA Press.
With this announcement is the release of our first title, the obscure but outstanding –
The Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe
by Lynn Thorndike,
edited by Joel Radcliffe.
Originally published in 1905, this work, after a manner, is an outline for Lynn Thorndikes later monumental magnum opus, the eight volume set of the History of Magic and Experimental Science.
I offer this work largely on the value of Lynn Thorndikes gargantuan stature amongst scholars of Magick and original thinking. Ive contributed the new typesetting and a fine leather binding of a limited ARS OBSCURA Press edition.
This work is first and foremost a historical primer. From the Classical to the Medieval eras, the history of Magick is explored through the works and the personages of these periods. Primary source material is laid clear that comprises the primary signposts of this lineage. These being the likes of Pliny and his Natural History, to Pythagoras, Aristotle, Cato, Boswell, Galen, Seneca and Ciceros Dream of Scipio, to name a few. Mr. Thorndike provides a thorough groundwork. The eclipse of Magick by science and yet the ageless persistence of Magickal inclinations brings the gravity to the issues of the scientific questions of Magicks evolutions. In keeping with the scholar tradition there are copious Latin and Greek footnotes throughout.
Limited edition of 250 hand-numbered copies bound at the studios of ARS OBSCURA Bookbinding, Inc. and guaranteed to outlive its owner. A full leather binding in burgundy kidskin. Leather headbands and black silk ribbon. Sewn marble ndpapers, also burgundy. This book is hand-sewn on 2 sawn-in cords. Gold gilded title and author on the spine with gilded lines parallel to the 5 raised bands.
ISBN: 0-9623780-9-7. 12 pp.,107 pgs., 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches. Type has been set in Garamond and Athenian.
Price: $105.00.
Shipping is priority USPS with Delivery Confirmation Number. Please add $6.00.
A lined (with matching marble paper) slipcase is available, but is an extra $40.00.
Please use my PayPal account, that is, the first “Add to Cart” button on our order form page.
