Lost documents from A. E. Crowley's estate.

Many years ago I had the opportunity to scan these lost documents for an old friend and comrade, ostensibly for the purpose of creating a website and/or a book that would make them available to the public. After several years no website materialized, nor a book, nor any indication that either ever would, so I released a number of them here on the ConCen of the old time, a somewhat dark and black ConCen then, although I don't recall exactly which ones. Now, after several more years, the situation remains the same so I am releasing (and/or re-releasing) the entire set.

There are three groups:

First, and least, there are some post-card-style images of Crowley's Boleskine estate that were in a cardboard jacket with a key and descriptions.

Second, there are a few letters, one scrawled in his distinctly semi-legible hand to Frater OM, a typed 'professional' testimonial with a few hand-written notes at the top, and a long, typed draft of one that is quite interesting and discusses many things, such as his plans to rent a large house in order to found an 'Abbey of Thelema', the logistical difficulties imposed by WWII upon dealing with fellows in 'enemy' countries, sundry and funny descriptions of some of his followers and helpers and their abilities and progress, and which in general conveys his low opinion of academic training and conventional opinion. Most interestingly, it is heavily marked up in ink with edits in his hand.

Third, there are several fascinating documents pertaining to his last days, his funeral, his estate, and even his remains. His bank book shows that he did in fact die more or less penniless or worse. A letter from his landlord confirms that he was living in (and died in) a small hovel of an apartment (in a hotel who's staff he was said to have 'inconvenienced') which he trashed so thoroughly that it would not be restored to habitability pending complete, top-to-bottom renovations. The elaborately itemized bills for his funeral even include a tailor's bill for the suit he was cremated in, and subsequent invoices are shown by subsequent pleadings and exchanges to have gone unpaid for some time. It is finally his good friend the Lady Freda Harris (the long-suffering painter with whom he patiently co-created the magnificent Thoth tarot deck) to whom his executor appeals for payment, and when it is finally received the funeral parlor broaches the embarrassing matter of the fact that something like a year later Mr. Crowley's ashes are still sitting unclaimed in their chapel and what should be done? A letter from John Symonds explains the sad but extremely funny circumstances of Crowley's very unfortunate wife Maria's admittance to a sanitarium and the director's surprise to learn that she was married to him, adding that she refuses to discuss him or their marriage.

I feel that the last set in particular is a real treasure trove, so please someone see they get to where they might need to go. It's been years, decades now really, since I've cracked a Tarot deck or participated in any esoteric groups or workings or such-like, at least any that required props, scripts, temples, devices or any other trappings of the Western Esoteric traditions, so I am rather out of that scene (to say the least) and have been for a very long time. On the other hand, the fellow that I scanned these for was (and still well could be?) a very formidable and capable mage...so here's hoping he doesn't turn me into a frog or something even worse for the transgression of letting these out into the wild.