Chicago, Satan's Sanctum

Unfortunately this 1899 book is about local crime.  Still, the cover is charming enough. 
The entire book is available to download as PDF from archive.orghttp://archive.org/details/chicagosatanssan00curo

Spirit photography - W.K. Dunmore, Photographing the Unseen

Looking through an issue of Occult Digest, I saw a listing for a book by local spirit photographer W.K. Dunmore, "Photographing the Unseen."  After a variety of fruitless searches I worried that this book was lost to history.

At some point I realized that this book was taken from a collection of essays in Occult Digest's predecessor, Psychic Power magazine.  So I tracked down the appropriate issues in archives and took the time to scan each article, collecting them into a single PDF.

So if you are interested in the methods of a Chicago-based spirit photographer from the earlier part of the 20th Century, visit this link:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9QYMrCUmLu1UlkwV1Nja2xWWGc

The file looks much better when downloaded than when viewed in a web browser.

For more information about W.K. Dunmore, see this earlier post regarding Psychic Power magazine.

Lauren de Laurence - The Great Book of Magical Art

The day after I found and purchased a book by Lauren de Laurence, I walked into Bookworks in Lakeview, only to find this astonishing gem.

Lauren de Laurence - The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindoo Magic and Indian Occultism

It's huge, beautiful and at $275, much more than I can justify spending right now.  So if you're in the market, drop in to Bookworks.  It's in the glass case near the rare books and first printings. 

For more about Lauren de Laurence in Chicago, click the label of his name at the bottom of this post.

Lauren De Laurence - Practical Lessons - Hypnotism and Magnetism

 Today I went with my fiancee to some antique malls in Edgewater.  I was looking at cases full of materials relating to Chicago's history at the Broadway Antique Mall and wondering why I never found anything relating to the people and organizations that I've been posting about here on Occult Chicago.

Of course, as soon as I finished complaining, I looked up to find this:

That's right:  Lauren de Laurence. This Lauren de Laurence, the man who founded the Order of the Black Rose and the Order of the White Willow.  The man who was eventually arrested for mail fraud (due to a judge not liking his explaination of the paranormal, after hitting an employee over the head for staring up his female employees' skirts).

What an amazing find.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the universe for answering my antique store wishes.

De Laurence himself, in every single photograph.

I'm looking forward to learning more about de Laurence's methods on hypnotism and his secrets regarding the OCCULT (he capitalizes the word throughout the text of the book).

Scarlet Imprint book release, June 2nd

Scarlet Imprint makes some amazing looking books.  For example, their newest release Mandragora.

From the Scarlet Imprint website

"Further explorations in esoteric poesis," Mandragora includes nine essays and the work of 48 poets.  

There will be a book release at Life Force Arts Center on June 9th. 

Newberry Library - bibliophiles take note!

Until a few months ago, I had only been to the Newberry Library for their yearly book sale every July (this year from the 26th to 29th - mark your calendars).  I had no idea what I was missing out on.  This is one of the best resources in the city.

Located at 60 West Walton street, The Newberry is a free public library non-circulating library with mind blowing archives.   I finally browsed their catalog online after wondering if they might have an antique copy of the witchcraft treaty Malleus Maleficarum.  It turned out that they had at least SIX, the earliest dating from 1484. 

They have a ton of information relating to local history, Medieval studies and consequently quite a lot of items of interest regarding witchcraft, magic and the occult.  Take a look at bound volumes of Austin Osman Spare's publication The Golden Hind.

For more information, visit:
http://www.newberry.org/

The direct link to their catalog:
http://www.newberry.org/catalogs-and-guides

Show up, sign up for their library card and bring your camera.  They allow photographs to be taken as long as you vow not to publish them in any way (otherwise I would definitely be posting some of my own here). 

Also, dating from 1887, the building is beautiful.

Photograph taken from the Newberry's Plan Your Visit page