Aleister Crowley - The Drug

ALEISTER CROWLEY

THE DRUG

The fifth book in our series is a new edition of Aleister Crowley’s The Drug. Available in a very limited hand-bound edition of only 150 copies.

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“We can produce fantastic dreams by hashish, hallucinations of colour by anhalonium Lewinii; we can even make him ‘see stars’ by the use of a sandbag. Why then should we not be able to devise some pharmaceutical, electrical or surgical method of inducing Samadhi; create genius as imply as we do other kinds of specific excitement? Morphine makes men holy and happy in a negative way; why should there not be some drug which will produce the positive equivalent?”

— ALEISTER CROWLEY

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley

“The Drug” was originally published in Great Britain in the January 1909 issue of The Idler, an illustrated monthly magazine that printed various light pieces and sensational fiction.

This work is one of Aleister Crowley’s earliest published short stories and highlights his power as an author of fiction as well as poetry.

It has been said that this short story is one of the first, if not the first fictionalized account of ingesting a hallucinogenic substance. Crowley certainly experimented with a wide variety of mind-altering substances throughout his life, and it is not too far-fetched to consider the possibility that this story may be based, at least in part, on personal experience.

“The Drug” may be based on Crowley’s experiences with Anhalonium Lewinii, a now obsolete name for Lophophora Williamsii, commonly known as the peyote cactus. The active constituent of peyote is mescaline, a well-known alkaloid that can produce hallucinogenic effects when ingested.

References to Anhalonium Lewinii by Crowley are found as early as 1907. Crowley’s diary entry for 12 March 1907 seems to indicate that he was using a commercial preparation of Anhalonium Lewinii. He writes that he has taken 10 drops of the preparation and will take no more since this was the maximum dosage mentioned on the label. Crowley also seemed to have had a relationship of some sort with Parke-Davis and even mentions an October 1915 visit to the company in his confessions:

“They were kind enough to interest themselves in my researches in Anhalonium Lewinii and made me some special preparations on the lines indicated by my experience which proved greatly superior to previous preparations.”

According to Perdurabo, Dr. Richard Kaczynski’s excellent biography on Crowley, the Abbey of Thelema’s copy of Diary of a Drug Fiend contains a marginal note by Crowley stating that he had conducted numerous experiments on people with Anhalonium Lewinii in 1910 and afterwards. These experiments may have formed the basis for Liber CMXXXIV, The Cactus, described as “An elaborate study of the psychological effects produced by Anhalonium Lewinii (Mescal Buttons), compiled from the actual records of some hundreds of experiments.” Unfortunately The Cactus was never published and is now considered lost to history.

Whether “The Drug” is truly a fictionalized account of the use of peyote is, of course, open to debate, but, the story does stand on its own as a very early piece of psychedelic literature.

Each book is bound by hand and measures 5 1/2” x 8 1/2". 28 pages. Printed in blue and black on 24 pound text weight, acid-free paper specifically chosen for this edition. Bound in an acid-free, glued-up composition cover consisting of crinkled metal foil over custom printed end sheets. The text is set in Nyala font. The spine is fashioned from red oak.

As an added bonus, each book comes with a hand-bound copy of Crowley's "The Soul-Hunter."

Each copy also includes a handsome themed bookplate and bookmark.

Edition limited to 150 numbered copies. Price: US $16.95

Cover

Endsheets

Illustration

Title Page

Interior