Aleister Crowley:

An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Biographical Sketch

Aleister Crowley, 1875-1947, was born Edward Alexander to Edward and Emily Crowley in Leamington, Warwickshire. His father died when Aleister was eleven, and the boy and his mother went to live with relatives. Supported by a legacy left by his father, Crowley entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1895. Though he rarely attended lectures and left without taking a degree, his time at Cambridge was not wasted. He began a program of self-education which involved reading everything he could get his hands on, becoming extremely proficient at chess, and enjoying the social venue available to a wealthy young college man of the times. Crowley traveled a great deal during school holidays, taking trips to St. Petersburg, Holland, and Scandinavia. It was in Stockholm on New Year's Eve 1896 that he had his first mystical experience, which was to shape his pursuits for the rest of his life.

After his mystical experience Crowley began to take his writing seriously and in 1898 he privately published the long poem Aceldema: A Place to Bury Strangers In. Though he had changed his name to Aleister early in his Cambridge career, he published this work anonymously under the moniker "A Gentleman of the University of Cambridge."Aceldema was followed by several other long poems including a mildly pornographic publication White Stains (1898).

Crowley left Cambridge in 1898 and in November became an initiate in the Order of the Golden Dawn, under the tutelage of Samuel Mathers, one of the founders of the Order. He progressed rapidly through the ranks and his efforts to assume a leadership role in the London chapter of the Order, against the firm opposition of fellow member W. B. Yeats, sparked a power struggle which eventually destroyed the Order in 1900. After the dissolution of the Golden Dawn Crowley traveled to America, Mexico, Hawaii, and India, returning to England in 1903 where he married Rose Kelly. The couple took an extended honeymoon which took them back to India in 1904 where their daughter was born.

The Crowleys were in Cairo in the spring of 1904 when Rose, who had previously shown little or no interest in the occult, became possessed by an entity named Aiwass. Over the course of three days Aiwass dictated a text to Crowley which became known as Liber AL vel Legis or The Book of the Law. In this work Crowley was named as the Prophet of a New Aeon which would end the Age of Osiris and usher in the Age of Horus.

Between 1907 and 1911 Crowley, under the direct influence of a spirit, wrote twelve Holy Books. During these years he also worked on nonmagical manuscripts and published several long poems including Clouds Without Water (1908) and began expanding his literary efforts to prose in the form of Knox Om Pax (1907). In 1909 Crowley announced in the first issue of his new publication The Equinox, the formation of a magical order, the Argentum Astrum or Silver Star, also called A.A. Though Crowley had done his best to ignore the dictates of The Book of the Law, the slim volume quickly became the central core of Crowley's magical system. By 1913 the A.A. was no longer flourishing and Crowley had been inspired by the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), a fringe Masonic order. He took the name Baphomet and became the head of the English speaking branch of the order.

Crowley spent the duration of World War I in America, returning to England in 1919. He next went to Sicily where he began an abbey and battled a growing heroin addiction. In 1923 a disciple died of fever and his widow accused Crowley of murder, bringing unwanted notoriety to the abbey and leading to Crowley's expulsion from Italy. In 1925 he was elected World Head of the O.T.O., and 1929 saw the publication of his seminal work Magik: In Theory and in Practice.

Crowley traveled between England and Germany a good deal during the 1930s. He initially admired aspects of the Nazi system, but by the time World War II started, he was disillusioned and spent the years of the war on the south coast of England. He battled frequent bouts of ill health and a recurrence of his heroin addiction. He also finished a number of writing projects, including the Book of Thoth and a redesign of the 78 cards of the Tarot deck. In 1945 he moved to his last home, a residential hotel in Hastings, and died on December 1, 1947.

Return to the Table of Contents

Scope and Contents

Works, magical and poetic, comprise the majority of the Aleister Crowley Collection, 1889-1989 (bulk 1898-1953), in addition to prose, correspondence, and personal papers. Also present are materials relating to several occult groups with which Crowley was involved. The collection is organized into five series, arranged alphabetically by author or title and chronologically where possible: Series I. Works, 1893-1974 (bulk 1900-1956, 13.5 boxes); Series II. Correspondence, 1903-1947 (.5 box); Series III. Personal Papers, 1889-1942 (bulk 1911-1942, .5 box); Series IV. Occult Groups, 1901-1989 (3 boxes); and Series V. Third-Party Works and Correspondence, 1898-1951 (.5 box). This collection was previously accessible through a card catalog, but has been re-cataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.

Encompassing poetry, fiction, commentary, magical formulae, pornography, and other genres, Crowley's literary efforts were voluminous and carefully preserved. The variety of forms in which Crowley expressed himself are amply demonstrated in the Works Series. Holograph drafts are frequently bound with later typescript versions, allowing the researcher to examine Crowley's revision process.

Letters written by Crowley make up the bulk of the Correspondence Series. Primary correspondents include his solicitor Isidore Kerman, and associates Sybil Mengeus and Louis Wilkinson. A few letters written to Crowley are also present. Additional financial and legal papers regarding Crowley's debts and lawsuits are located in the Personal Papers Series, along with a set of hand colored tarot cards designed by Oswald Wirth.

Crowley affiliated himself with several occult groups during his lifetime, including The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Argenteum Astrum (Silver Star), and Ordo Templi Orientis. Materials relating to these groups, include printed forms, notebooks, and historical essays, and are included in the Occult Groups Series. The remaining material in this collection is made up of works by other authors and correspondence between other people, often friends or associates of Crowley.

Elsewhere in the Ransom Center are twelve Vertical Files containing newspaper clippings with biographical information and literary criticism as well as published works by Crowley and over 100 photographs of Crowley and his artwork located in the Literary Files of the Photography Collection.

Return to the Table of Contents

Restrictions

Access

Open for research

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Related Material

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Acquisition

Purchases and gifts, 1960-2002 (R162, R312, R920, R1252, R2139, R2180, R2396, R2914, R3057, R3217, R3600, G759, G868, G2619)

Processed by

Chelsea S. Dinsmore, 2000

Return to the Table of Contents

Sources

Return to the Table of Contents

Aleister Crowley Collection--Folder List

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

 Aleister Crowley Collection--Index of Correspondents 

Box and folder numbers are followed by a number in parentheses which indicates the number of items by that person. A single item is indicated where there is no number in parentheses following the box and folder number. Where there is correspondence from Aleister Crowley, the number in parentheses is followed by the phrase "from Crowley." So in the example:

Calder-Marshall, Arthur, 1908- --14.1 (3 from Crowley), 14.7 (3)

There are 3 letters from Crowley to Calder-Marshall in box 14, folder 1, and 3 letters from Calder-Marshall in box 14, folder 7.

Return to the Table of Contents

 Aleister Crowley Collection--Index of Works 

Works contained in this index which are included in the "Syllabus of the Official Instruction of the A.A." are indicated by the parenthetical statement of their Liber number and Class placing where possible.

Return to the Table of Contents