Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956)

With a wild gaze, the absurd inhabitants stare at the visitor, as if the large pages were direct windows into this desolate landscape. It is the realm of the ugly, where hillsides sigh with melancholic expression and a disfigured woman with a blonde tail walks past – a small snake surrounds her head and the knot in her hair hangs loosely upwards. In this world it's hard to say when the vegetation has crossed the line and become beast.

The summer of 1924 was one of a personal crisis for show more Austin Osman Spare. His art was little requested and his last attempt at publishing an art periodical had failed. He was 37 years old. In his desillusion, he apparently walked deeper into his bleakest dreams which he recorded in his sketchbook with flowing lines, vaguely coloured with the odd hues of green, brown and yellow. The inhabitants are ugly, scared and bored: not even the monks wi
th yellow robes convince. The beautiful nymphs of his earlier works are absent, likewise the strong, old witches. The glimpses of power are few, one of them being expressed by the lynx-like creature with a luminous head in one of the last plates.

It seems it was here that the artist found something – this creature has the same curious smile one can see on photos of the aging Spare – the content outsider living on little else than tobacco and beer, selling his paintings for some coins.

"The Valley of Fear" is a large 4to size book, 48 pages, with 24 full-page drawings issued in 700 hand-numbered copies. It has a short introductory essay written by the publisher. show less

Spare's detailing of his magical system is obstuse and difficult to slog through, like an unedited grimoire. You may want to refer to some of his interpreters, and there are many excellent books on his methods of sigil casting and other forms of magic. Of course, they don't have his illustrations. At the risk of sounding shallow, I had a digital copy of this work but it was just text. I bought this copy to have the pictures. Each picture that accompanies the text is a spell in and of itself. show more Worth it for scholars, but maybe not a great choice for beggining students. show less

The reason I'm giving this one star has everything to do with presentation. Spare's writings are abstruse, to say the least, but they originally came in books that were literally works of art. You can't just print out the text with no care or feeling for font and typography alongside (or under) some haphazardly placed black and white reproductions of his art and expect it to gel. If you're just curious about what he wrote you can look up all the texts contained in this book online. If you show more want a bona fide AOS grimoire, I'd recommend trying to get hold of something that contains a higher-quality reproduction of his works. show less

Cheap printing, but was useful to be able to buy it when it was cheap. Now there are nicer, but more expensive editions available of these works. 5 stars are for content, not production.