MERRILL, James (1926-1995)

[Ouija] [Occult] The Changing Light at Sandover: Including the Whole of the Book of Ephraim, Mirabell's Books of Number, Scripts for the Pageant and a new coda, The Higher Keys [Signed]

New York: Atheneum, 1982. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing of Merrill's long dramatic sequence with voices, collected here in a single volume for the first time. Royal 8vo (237 x 145mm): [8],560,[4]pp, with errata slip laid in. Publisher's finely woven black cloth, upper cover with author's monogram and title in blind, spine lettered in copper, photographic end papers, top edge stained scarlet, pictorial dust jacket priced $25. Signed by Merrill (without inscription) at the half title and dated 1993. Virtually pristine, tight, square and bright: a superlative, unread example. Fine / Fine. Item #BB1824
ISBN: 9780679441588

Merrill's masterpiece (Mirabell won the National Book Award for Poetry, in 1978), a "postmodern apocalyptic epic" originally published in three volumes, from 1976 to 1980, then in this single-volume edition with a coda. With his partner, David Jackson, Merrill spent more than 20 years transcribing supernatural communications during séances using a Ouija board. He published his first Ouija board narrative cycle in 1976, with a poem for each letter of the alphabet, calling it The Book of Ephraim, which became the first part of this poetic trilogy. Ephraim is a control spirit who allows Merrill and Jackson to communicate with friends and family members who have passed on as well as with famous poets, including Wallace Stevens, W. B. Yeats, and W. H. Auden. The second part of the trilogy, Mirabell: Books of Number (1978), describes a dualistic universe in which godlike forces of good and evil contend; “Mirabell” is based on opposition and the tension opposites create. Scripts for the Pageant, the third part, focuses on attraction of opposites to stress how order can be brought from chaos. Scripts for the Pageant, the longest and most dazzling of the three volumes, covers such diverse topics as the writing of poetry, threat of nuclear war, destruction of the environment, death and reincarnation, and the role of the arts in a technological world. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $724.00