An Idol's Passion: A Tale of the Orient | 1895, rare occult first edition.

Monumental first edition from 1895, illustrated by the English artist Reginald Machell, a friend and personal interior decorator of the Russian mystic and Theosophy founder Helena Blavatsky. This friendship and his subsequent joining of the esoteric order Blavatsky founded, had a profound effect on the artist, which can be seen here in these dark gothic illustrations with strong occult undertones.

There are only two copies held by institutions worldwide. Notoriously rare, especially so with the original cloth portfolio.

First edition, large folio. Loose-leaf (523 x 419mm.) Half-title, title, 17 tinted plates incorporating the text mounted on 17 sheets. (Soiling to half-title, toning to margins.) Loose-leaf within original grey cloth-covered portfolio (worn, ties broken).

Published by Transatlantic Publishing Company, New York & London, 1895.