MYTH OF THE MAGUS – EM Butler – 1st, 1948 MAGICK MYTH MAGICIAN OCCULT ALCHEMY
Book Details + Condition: MacMillan and The University Press (New York and London). First Edition, 1948. Hardcover with dust jacket. 275 pages, followed by Index. Illustrated. By E.M. Butler. The Magus, a legendary magician of
superhuman powers, is an archetype central to myth and religion across many
cultures. Identifying its anthropological origins in ancient rituals performed
by a shaman or wizard to ensure the prosperity of his tribe, E.M. Butler goes
on to trace its subsequent development in pre-Christian religious and mystic
philosophers, in medieval sorcerers and alchemists, and finally in the
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century occult revival. From Zoroaster to Solomon,
Merlin to Faust, Cagliostro to Rasputin, legends of the Magus are explored and
where possible compared with the historical record in this fascinating account,
first published in 1948, of one of the major figures in religious and occult
mythology. Firm binding and minimal wear, with a clean interior. Dust jacket shows much wear due to age, with chipping and tears to edges and corners.
