The announcement
Kenneth Grant needs no introduction to the occult cognoscenti: his nine-volume “Typhonian Trilogies” redefined magick and inspired a new generation of occultists. Equally fascinating has been his other creative output, the fictional “nightside narratives” of weird tales that “provide direct access to a number of dream-gates” (Jan Fries).
Now comes the long-awaited publication of the definitive collection of Kenneth Grant’s collected poetry. Prose is a record of experience, whereas all real poetry is experience itself, for both poet and reader. Where prose achieves this quality it is no longer prose but poetry, regardless of its form or structure.
Poetry as direct experience
Poetry is therefore direct experience, a means of knowing Reality. This Reality consists not in what is experienced, but in the act of experiencing itself. Poetry is capable of surprising the erroneous tendency of the Ego to identify itself with a particular body. If allowed to be poetry; if allowed to be itself; if allowed full and free utterance, it can be as powerfully disruptive as imagery in visual realms.
Disruption follows eruption, and re-integration follows disintegration. Only where Consciousness embraces — and thereby dissolves — all Egos; only when the latter’s tendency to appropriate to itself that which in reality belongs to Absolute Consciousness is abolished, may a new start be made and a new beginning lead to the constant recurrence of ever fresh experience, which it is within the power of poetry to achieve.
Contents
These hauntingly beautiful and emotional poems, with titles such as “Sorcery”, “Sigils”, “Words of Power” and others, offer a direct demonstration of ritual invocation and evocation as it should be performed.
Convolvulus contains all of the previously published poems from Black to Black and The Gull’s Beak, plus the hitherto unpublished collection Convolvulus: Poems of Love and The Other Darkness. Together, these poems span the years from the nineteen-forties to the present day. Integrated with the poems are 21 sketches by Austin Osman Spare.
Editions
Convolvulus materialises in two editions totalling 750 copies.
Standard edition
Hardback, sewn binding, 192 pages, bound in black Wibalin with a dustjacket by Steffi Grant.
Price: £25.00
Deluxe edition
The first 75 copies comprise a deluxe issue, available only from the publishers. The boards are bound in handmade paper, quarter-bound in black goatskin with gold blocking, with specially printed endpapers and top and tail bands to the binding. Each deluxe copy includes the dustjacket and is individually numbered and signed by Kenneth and Steffi Grant.
Price: £75.00
Advance orders and postage
Although the book was still at the printers and was not expected back before the end of January, interest was very high and the editions were expected to sell out quickly. Advance orders were invited to secure a copy. Due to demand, orders for the deluxe edition were limited to one per person.
| Destination | Standard | Deluxe |
|---|---|---|
| UK | £4.00 | £5.00 |
| Americas & Canada | £7.00 | £9.00 |
| Europe | £6.00 | £8.00 |
| Australasia & Pacific Rim | £8.00 | £10.00 |
Publisher
The book could be ordered directly from the publishers:
BCM Starfire
London WC1N 3XX
UK
PayPal, cheques, postal orders or international money orders were acceptable forms of payment. All payments had to be in Sterling only and payable to Starfire Publishing Ltd. Please allow 28 days for delivery.
Contact: starfire.publishing(at)virgin.net