Aleister Crowley’s Graphomania and the Transformations of Magical Inscriptivity

This article attempts a preliminary genealogy of the bibliophile activities of Aleister Crowley, who compulsively self-published books as well as periodicals. The article identifies a series of decisive transformations and shifts (from “codification” to “currency”) in the history of magical inscription and dissemination, each of which contributed to the book-thinking of occultism at the fin de siècle and beyond. More broadly, the article historicizes the development of occultism’s “bibliographic imagination” and its complex attachment to the inscribed or printed page.