Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press
A collection of rare pagan poetry and purple prose from the heart of the 1920s counterculture.

Victor Neuburg is most famous for two things: discovering Dylan Thomas, and being the man that Aleister Crowley once turned into a camel. Obsolete Spells offers another side of Neuburg, through his own poems and the strange books of Vine Press, the hand-operated imprint he ran from his West Sussex cottage between 1920 and 1930.

Neuburg's youth involved terrifying-yet-farcical years as Crowley's lover, victim, and magickal sidekick. His later period, as editor of the influential "Poet's Corner" column for the Sunday Referee, found him a key figure in London's literary scene.

But in between, Neuburg acted as a conduit for bohemian writers, arts luminaries, and the sexually adventurous: Peter Warlock set his words to music, singer Marian Anderson lived in his spare room, and he was a fixture at utopian community, the Sanctuary. Through it all, he turned the handle on the Vine Press: books of nature writing and anonymous song; poems and artwork worthy of The Wicker Man, side-by-side with a book on cricket.

Obsolete Spells offers a selection of Neuburg's work and others from Vine Press books—over-the-top hymns to the Old Gods, tales from a utopian landscape, and more, most of which has been out of print for a century.
1137713387
Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press
A collection of rare pagan poetry and purple prose from the heart of the 1920s counterculture.

Victor Neuburg is most famous for two things: discovering Dylan Thomas, and being the man that Aleister Crowley once turned into a camel. Obsolete Spells offers another side of Neuburg, through his own poems and the strange books of Vine Press, the hand-operated imprint he ran from his West Sussex cottage between 1920 and 1930.

Neuburg's youth involved terrifying-yet-farcical years as Crowley's lover, victim, and magickal sidekick. His later period, as editor of the influential "Poet's Corner" column for the Sunday Referee, found him a key figure in London's literary scene.

But in between, Neuburg acted as a conduit for bohemian writers, arts luminaries, and the sexually adventurous: Peter Warlock set his words to music, singer Marian Anderson lived in his spare room, and he was a fixture at utopian community, the Sanctuary. Through it all, he turned the handle on the Vine Press: books of nature writing and anonymous song; poems and artwork worthy of The Wicker Man, side-by-side with a book on cricket.

Obsolete Spells offers a selection of Neuburg's work and others from Vine Press books—over-the-top hymns to the Old Gods, tales from a utopian landscape, and more, most of which has been out of print for a century.
21.95 In Stock
Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press

Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press

Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press

Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press

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Overview

A collection of rare pagan poetry and purple prose from the heart of the 1920s counterculture.

Victor Neuburg is most famous for two things: discovering Dylan Thomas, and being the man that Aleister Crowley once turned into a camel. Obsolete Spells offers another side of Neuburg, through his own poems and the strange books of Vine Press, the hand-operated imprint he ran from his West Sussex cottage between 1920 and 1930.

Neuburg's youth involved terrifying-yet-farcical years as Crowley's lover, victim, and magickal sidekick. His later period, as editor of the influential "Poet's Corner" column for the Sunday Referee, found him a key figure in London's literary scene.

But in between, Neuburg acted as a conduit for bohemian writers, arts luminaries, and the sexually adventurous: Peter Warlock set his words to music, singer Marian Anderson lived in his spare room, and he was a fixture at utopian community, the Sanctuary. Through it all, he turned the handle on the Vine Press: books of nature writing and anonymous song; poems and artwork worthy of The Wicker Man, side-by-side with a book on cricket.

Obsolete Spells offers a selection of Neuburg's work and others from Vine Press books—over-the-top hymns to the Old Gods, tales from a utopian landscape, and more, most of which has been out of print for a century.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781913689261
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 08/16/2022
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 5.80(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Justin Hopper is an American writer based in Britain. His work explores the intersection of landscape, memory and myth. His site-specific audio poetry works have been commissioned by arts organisations and festivals in the US and UK. For Wood Street Galleries in the US, Hopper has curated a decade-long series of contemporary landscape-art exhibitions. His most recent release, the 2019 spoken-word and music album Chanctonbury Rings from Ghost Box Records, was called "an album of sensual spellcraft" by Caught by the River.

Table of Contents

Foreword Richard McNeff 13

Victor B. Neuburg and the Vine Press Justin Hopper 19

Selections from the Vine Press 53

Lillygay: An Anthology of Anonymous Poems ed. Victor B. Neuburg

Introduction 57

Dedication 59

Prologue 59

The Distracted Maid 60

Eloré Lo 61

Bonfire Song 63

Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane 64

Lilly-White 65

Sick Dick; Or The Drunkard's Tragedy 66

A Lyke-Wake Dirge 68

Johnnie wi' the Tye 69

The Shoemaker 70

Rantum-Tantum 71

Epilogue 72

Colophon 74

Gabriele Dannunzio's Appeal to Europe trans. Hayter Preston

Introduction 76

Part V. 78

Swift Wings: Songs in Sussex Victor B. Neuburg

Introduction 80

Dedication 82

Publishers Note 82

Prologue 83

Cuckfield 84

Shoreham Hills 84

Old Steyne 85

Richard Jeffries 86

A River-Bed 87

Ovingdean 88

Hove Street 88

White Hawk Hill 89

William Collins 91

October 92

Rottingdean 92

Fulking Hill 93

Frenchlands 94

The Sea In Moonlight 95

Night-Piece 95

Ex Cathedra 96

Coombes 97

Botolphs 98

The Barrow 99

Ivory 101

Decline 101

Epilogue 102

Songs of the Groves: Records of the Ancient World Victor B. Neuburg

Introduction 105

Epigraph 107

Dedication 108

Proem 109

Downwood 111

Druids 114

Philomel 116

Panthea 120

Night-Song of Bacchus 122

A Song of Stars 127

The Garden of Pythagoras (By Way of Apologue) 130

Colophon 132

Songs of a Sussex TRAMP by Rupert Croft-Cooke

Introduction 138

Preface 140

Old Hastings 140

The Downs 141

Birling Gap 142

Waves 143

Lewes Gaol 143

Larkspur: A Lyric Garland by and ed. Victor B. Neuburg

Introduction 147

Dedication 149

Prologue 150

The Milk-Maids 150

The Amorous Shepherdess 152

The Ballad of Lyonesse 153

The Yellow Moon 155

Gyles and Jille 157

Bowpots 158

Trollie Lollie 159

Epilogue 160

Colophon 161

Night's Triumphs: Songs of Nature Ernest Osgood Hanbury

Introduction 164

To Nature 166

Spring Woods 167

To the Moon 168

Before the Storm: Four Tales of Old Russia by The Princess Ouroussoff

Introduction 171

Dedication and Publisher's Note 173

The Marble Cross 174

The Way of the South Wind and Teams of Tomorrow G.D. Martineau

Introduction 179

The Iron Waters 180

Fairlight Hill 181

Chancionbury Tales 181

Fairlight Woods 182

Nocturne: Lyme Regis 183

Newhaven 184

A Martello Tower 185

In the Trees 186

The White Blackbird by Alfred de Musset; trans. Henrietta Tayler

Introduction 189

The White Blackbird (section one) 191

The Story of the Sanctuary Vera Gwendolen Pragnell

Introduction 197

Dedication 199

The Story of the Sanctuary:

IV. 200

V. 200

VI. 208

VII. 210

Wot's the Game: England's Post-War Book 'Ex-Privare Billy Muggins'

Introduction 215

Apologue 217

Seven Years Shirley Tarn

Introduction 220

A High Note 222

Seven Years (1-25 + untitled 26th part) 223

Day of Life | Twain One Rold White

Introduction 239

Prologue: Birthday 242

Morning's Birth 242

Mist-Dawn 243

Night's Tears 244

The Great Unknown 245

Insanity 245

Dying Dreams 246

Towards Death 246

Waste 247

Renaissance 247

The Prayer of the Prodigal Poet 248

Poetic Reincarnation 249

Epilogue: Day of Life 250

Twain One: Foreword 251

The Love-Dream 252

Love-Danger 253

Love 253

Love's Serenity 254

The Gold Moon 255

Equanimity 256

Fati Amor 257

Now Have I Looked Unto the End 257

Sacrifice 258

Phantasy and Other Poems Ethel Archer

Introduction 260

Argument 263

Introduction 264

Phantasy 267

To The Moon Spirit 273

Epilogue 276

Wax: A Drama of Evolution Runia MacLeod

Introduction 278

Wax (from Act 1) 281

Chapbooks Victor E. Neuburg

Introduction 290

Afterword Margaret Jennings-White 293

Selected Bibliography 297

Acknowledgements 300

L'Envoy 303

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