Michaud's library was probably one of the most significant occult collections in private hands in the United Kingdom. It numbered nearly fifty-thousand volumes, and included an extraordinary number of rarities, not just books, but original manuscripts and typescripts, and of course material relating the OHM.  The bulk of the library was dispersed long ago: what we have for sale is one tiny but still representative fragment of that original collection, which was retained out of personal interest by a close relative.

As with the original collection, the items in this catalog are highly diverse although with a broadly 'esoteric' theme, and range from truly rare editions of famous texts, to solid reprints of standard works. The catalog starts with a small collection of material relating to the OHM, followed by a selection of books written and / or published by Jean Michaud.  The third section is devoted to some of the rarities of the Michaud collection, including a Signed presentation copy from H. Spencer Lewis, of the Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians (1935), Elephant Folio with dozens of Hand-colored illustrations throughout. This issue was printed on parchment, and it seems likely that less than a dozen were ever prepared thus. Also of great rarity is the First Edition in English of one of the most famous esoteric works of all time, The True Prophecies Or Prognostications Of Michael Nostradamus (1672). Other early rarities include John Gaule's Pusmantia. The Mag-Astro-Mancer, or the Magicall-Astrologicall-Diviner, Posed and Puzzled (1652), Joakim Philander's Vitulus Aureus: the Golden Calf (1749), and John Baptista Porta's Natural Magick (1658). Of more recent origin, but still uncommon are a nice second edition of Francis Barrett's The Magus (1875), a superb leather bound 13 volume set of Burton's translation of A Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (1897), John Yarker's The Arcane Schools (1909), and a lovely First Edition, in dustjacket, of Dion Fortune's The Sea Priestess (1938).

The fourth and final section of the catalog is comprises an interesting selection of second hand, out-of-print, and unusal books a wide variety of subjects, including: Atlantis, Astrology, Cartomancy, Clairvoyance, Eastern Religion, Egyptology, Erotica, Fairy Tales, Folklore, Ghosts and Ghost Stories, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Meditation, Mythology, Occult Fiction, Palmistry, Rosicrucianism, Satanism, Spiritualism, Symbolism, Tarot, Theosophy, Yoga, & Werewolves! Because of the number of items in this catalog we have put this fourth section of it on a separate web-page.  A link is provided from the main catalog page.

At present we have a number of catalogs in preparation.  Our next one, due shortly, will be devoted to Aleister Crowley, Rare Books and Ephemera.  In late October we plan to issue a major catalog of Books on Alchemy and Hermetica, Mostly from the Lenkiewicz Collection.  Following that will be a special list on Austin Osman Spare, and our long awaited catalog on The Occult Review.  We are not quite sure in what sequence they'll be issued, but both should appear within the next two months. Future catalogs will be devoted to Spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, Mythology, Theosophy, Magic, Grimoires, and other of our specialties.  Of course we will also continue to regularly issue our Aleister Crowley catalogs.

Of course the books in these catalogs represent just a fraction of a percent of our overall holdings. We currently list nearly 10,000 other mostly esoteric-related titles on our main website: www.weiserantiquarian.com with new stock added weekly.