Hi All
Machen worked for a time cataloguing occult and alchemical texts for the
bookseller George Redway in London around 1885 (the year in which ‘The
Novel of the White Powder’ was published) so it is possible that he
encountered some reference to the Vinum Sabbati at this time. Certainly
Machen’s exposition of the vinum sabbati towards the end of ‘White Powder’
seems altogether alchemical.
Machen also makes reference to Payne Knight’s work on Priapus (and the
appendix to it by Thomas Wright which discusses the Witches Sabbat) in
conjunction with his discussion of the witches sabbat and the sabbat wine
in ‘White Powder’; indeed the Payne Knight/Wright book seems to have
provided inspiration for other of Machen’s tales dealing with the ‘little
people’. However, quick scan of online versions of said texts offers
nothing in the way of elaboration on the matter of the sabbat wine,
however (though Wright notes that ‘holy water’ used in the witches sabbat
was composed of the devil’s urine). All in all I suspect that Machen’s
concept of the vinum sabbati may be nothing more than a conceit which
serves the purpose of the tale, but one shaped by his prior reading of
alchemical literature.
Justin
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Dr. Justin Woodman
Course Convenor
Integrated Degree in Social Anthropology
Department of Professional and Community Education
Goldsmiths College
New Cross
London SE14 6NW
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