Co-authored with Llewelyn Powys.
First edition, signed and inscribed by John Cowper Powys.
This book is blessed by a wonderful signed inscription from John Cowper Powys to Lloyd Emerson Siberell, the first bibliographer of Powys' books.
Received as a gift from Powys, Siberell inserted his intriguing bookplate, which in itself is worthy of closer inspection, on the front right hand endpaper.
The centralised inscription reads as follows, the line breaks, capitalisations and underlines being those of Powys himself.
John Cowper Powys
inscribed
very
specially
for
The Library of
Lloyd Emerson Siberell
For
Every line of this
Fraternal
Book of
Confessions
is
as the old writers
love to say
"Fraught"
with memories
of the close &
Unique
Link
That always existed
between
Llewelyn & me.
All his genius
was rooted in
his Diary
as is the case
with the greatest
Essayists
& here can be
seen the
first shoots of his
incomparable style.
Corwen. N. Wales. Feb 2 1952
Dante Thomas notes that the book was 'issued February 21, 1916 at $1.50. This book was later for sale by Knopf.
Not published in England.
John Cowper Powys contributed:
Confessions. Pp. 9-175.
Note that Llewelyn's name is consistently misspelled in this his first book publication. On page 18 lines 23-26 are botched by misalignment and improper setting of type at the beginning of each line.'
The book was published by the Manas Press, which was a publishing house operated by Claude Bragdon, a prominent member of the American Theosophical Society. It was located in Rochester, New York. The first works produced were Bragdon's pamphlets Theosophy and the Theosophical Society and A Brief Life of Mrs. Besant.
Manas Press is especially noteworthy for translating and publishing the first English-language edition of P. D. Ouspensky's Russian work Tertium Organum, and for printing Bragdon's excellent writings on Theosophy, art, and architecture.
(Thanks are due to Theosophy Wikki for the above information)
In Theosophy manas is the fifth principle in human beings. It is the intellectual faculty that allows humans to think, remember, plan, etc. It is also the origin of self-consciousness.
The endpaper illustration may be a symbolic reference to the Hindu understanding of Manas, which is one of the four parts of the antahkarana (the "internal organ"), the other three parts being buddhi (the intellect), citta (the memory) and ahamkÄra (the ego).
On the back endpaper is a ticket which indicates that the book was sold at Brentano's in New York. Founded in 1853, the company traded until 1983, then as an independently branded part of Borders until 2011.
The book.
John Cowper Powys, Llewellyn Powys, Confessions of Two Brothers, The Manas Press, Rochester, New York, 1916.
The book was published by the Manas Press, which was a publishing house operated by Claude Bragdon, a prominent member of the American Theosophical Society. It was located in Rochester, New York. The first works produced were Bragdon's pamphlets Theosophy and the Theosophical Society and A Brief Life of Mrs. Besant.
Manas Press is especially noteworthy for translating and publishing the first English-language edition of P. D. Ouspensky's Russian work Tertium Organum, and for printing Bragdon's excellent writings on Theosophy, art, and architecture.
(Thanks are due to Theosophy Wikki for the above information)
In Theosophy manas is the fifth principle in human beings. It is the intellectual faculty that allows humans to think, remember, plan, etc. It is also the origin of self-consciousness.
The endpaper illustration may be a symbolic reference to the Hindu understanding of Manas, which is one of the four parts of the antahkarana (the "internal organ"), the other three parts being buddhi (the intellect), citta (the memory) and ahamkÄra (the ego).
On the back endpaper is a ticket which indicates that the book was sold at Brentano's in New York. Founded in 1853, the company traded until 1983, then as an independently branded part of Borders until 2011.
The book.
John Cowper Powys, Llewellyn Powys, Confessions of Two Brothers, The Manas Press, Rochester, New York, 1916.
