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Correspondence from P.R. Stephensen to Gerald Yorke
[EXTRACT]
[12 December 1953]
A.C. put the Basilisk Eye on my unfortunate co-director, 'Teddy' Goldston [Edward Goldston], and frightened hell out of him, through sheer deviltry . . . several booksellers who were freemasons approached Goldston and warned him of an awful fate that would be his if he continued to be associated with that BAD MAN, that wicked, wicked, A.C.
I may be considered a little prejudiced against Symonds [John Symonds] since he dismisses my little work on A.C. [The Legend of Aleister Crowley] as 'arid apologia' (p. 269). My purpose was to debunk the sensationalism attached to the Crowley legend, no easy task. Symonds in his book has succumbed to the temptation of being sensational, and to that extent leaves a big problem in criticism quite unsolved.
I would be prepared to edit his [Crowley's] collected short stories, with a memoir, and believe I could have them well published here, with some arrangements for distribution also in Britain and the U.S.A.
I think it is a good idea to have a complete collection of Crowley's works safely stored in Australia so that they will be preserved here when London and New York get atom-bombed in 1957 E.V. or earlier!
When he [Crowley] has been dead long enough, the hypocritical English will be very proud of having produced—and crucified—such a genius!
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