THE SUNDAY TIMES

London, England

28 October 1951

BOOKS ON THE WAY.

Magic-Monger.

Three books with Aleister Crowley as their subject are on the way; two of them will be ready this week. On Thursday, Rider will publish "The Great Beast," by John Symonds: on Friday, Rupert Hart-Davis issue "The Magic of My Youth," by Arthur Calder-Marshall. "Aleister Crowley, The Man: The Mage: The Poet," by Charles Cammell, follows later from The Richards Press.

Mr. Symonds was Crowley's literary executor: he was with him when he died at Hastings in 1947. Of "The Magic of My Youth," Mr. Calder-Marshall says: "I never intended to write this book. It is an essay in autobiography . . . some rather queer characters act as mirrors." Mr. Cammell, whose grandfather founded the ship-building firm of Cammell, Laird, knew Crowley well between 1936 and 1941. Surprisingly, he sees his subject as an original thinker ruined by the study of magic. He insists that the self-styled "Master of Thelema" was a great lyric poet.