[CROWLEY, Aleister], “Rev. C. Verey.” Clouds Without Water.

[CROWLEY, Aleister], “Rev. C. Verey.” Clouds Without Water.
London: Privately Printed for circulation among ministers of religion, 1909

£ 1,500

16mo (162 x 120mm), pp. XXI, 140, [4]. In the original pink marbled wrappers, cover and spine lettered in black, publisher’s device to back, internally clean, uncut edges. In custom pink morocco clamshell box.

First edition, state C of this poetry collection by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947). With a title derived from the Epistle of Jude in the New Testament (Jude 1:12-13), the work is written under the heteronym of Reverend C. Verey. He prefaces the volume with a condemnation of the rising bohemian values, atheism and socialism of the early 20th century, all these ideologies that transpire in a ‘found manuscript’ published here. Ironically, however, the collection describes at length a multitude of debaucherous acts with a note of humour.

Some twenty years after the publication of this work, Crowley judged that ‘it may be that history will yet say that Clouds without Water, a story told in quatorzains, as Alice in sonnets, is my supreme lyrical masterpiece. [..] Dr. Louis Umfraville Wilkinson, has dared to confess publicly that Clouds without Water is “the most tremendous and the most real love poem since Shakespeare’s sonnets”’.

Extremely rare volume with no copies found on the market and very few appear at auction.

Reference
Yorke 29

Provenance
From the Library of Barry Humphries (1934-2023), bookplate to front wrapper verso.