Occultism - Pace, Charles Matthew - 'Hamar'at'
£440
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography
Auction: 11 October 2017 at 11:00 BST
Description
The Sethanic Cult of the Mask's "The Necrominon" by Hamar'at, The Hermetic Book of the Shades, 4to, illustrated typescript/photocopy, 63pp., including a few illustrations hand-drawn, hand-coloured or embellished in pen, contained in black hand-made covers illustrated in gold pen; [Idem] "The Tarot of the I Ching", 4to, typescript, 16pp., with numerous hand-drawn, coloured and laid-in illustrations and a couple of loose elements including a small patch of monochrome woolen embroidery laid into a sheet of brown paper with handwritten German text, bound in yellow card covers, title page with stamp of the Ho[?] Library and an erased address; [Idem] Another copy, with all illustrations drawn and uncoloured, 4to, bound in yellow card covers (3)
Footnote
Note: Although accounts vary, Charles Matthew Pace seems to have been born in Campbeltown in around 1920, and grew up in Glasgow. Gavin Baddeley writes that Pace, "...made no bones about associating with the infernal..." calling him, "...a mysterious figure boasting the title 'the Jackal of Egypt'..." However, it seems that any media reports regarding Pace's Occult activities in the 1960s tended to be overblown, as Baddeley writes he was, "...never as black as the media liked to paint him."
Michael W. Ford writes extensively about Pace in his book Necrominion - Egyptian Sethanic Magick: as a teenager, he developed an interest in Egyptology: particularly mythology and religion. Around this time, Aleister Crowley, the English Occultist, was utilizing, "...a good amount of Egyptian symbolism in his writings and rituals..." As an adult, Ford writes, Pace identified as a "...Satanist, Luciferian and probably more accurately a "Sethanist"..." - the term "Sethanic" can be found on the initial page of the types "Necrominon". However, in the work, Pace writes that he "prefers to be called a Luciferian."
The three books included in this lot would seem to be copies of Pace's works, quite possibly created by Pace. A manuscript copy of the "Necrominion" is referred to by Ford as a "...handwritten fully illustrated grimoire...", and Pace did present his teachings at Wiccan meetings in the 1970s. It has been said that Pace was a talented artist, who produced magical books (such as these), and some sources claim that Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page, commissioned Pace to paint murals in the home on Loch Ness, which Page purchased from Aleister Crowley.