Wasson

Wasson, David Atwood, edited & with introduction by Charles H. Foster. Beyond Concord: selected writings of David Atwood Wasson. Bloomington: Indiana Univ Press, 1965.
of Thoreau, Parker, Carlyle & other contemporaries. Foster contends Wasson's thought foreshadowed Irving Babbitt, T. S. Eliot, the New Humanists of the 1920s and the no-so "New" critics. DJ edge wear & inside repair to back top of DJ.. A vital force in 19th century American philosophical & religious movements, Wasson was a profound & original critic.

Frontis of Wasson. VG in G DJ.

[SW: Transcendentalism Thoreau Paker Carlyle Religion Irving Babbitt T. S. Eliot New Hamanists New critics,]

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WASSON, Robert Gordon (1898-1986): Soma divine mushroom of immortality,

New York: A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book [colophon: printed by the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona for Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., October 1968]. Large 8vo. (11 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches). Title in red and black. 2 plates after Charles Poluzzi, coloured by hand using the pochoir process by D. Jacomet et Cie of Paris, numerous other plates and illustrations (including 18 coloured and mounted, and 1 uncoloured and mounted), 3 full-page maps printed in two colours, 1 folding letterpress chart. Original blue morocco-backed cloth, lettered in gilt on the flat spine, t.e.g., original blue cloth slip-case. A very fine copy of this limited edition on hand-made paper: a study of the ancient Vedic God / plant / intoxicant called Soma. Wasson proposed that the hitherto-unidentified Soma and the psychoactive Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) mushroom are one and the same. A limited edition of 680 copies, this number 385: the colophon notes that it was "designed by Giovanni Mardersteig and set in Dante Type ... The text and the illustrations have been printed by the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona, except for the two plates in pochoir, which were executed in Paris by Daniel Jacomet et Cie. The paper was made by hand by Fratelli Magnani, Pescia". The half-title identifies this work as being number 1 in the "Ethno-mycological Studies" series. American born Wasson and his Russian-born wife spent thirty years studying and investigating mushrooms, latterly concentrating on the psychoactive or hallucinogenic varieties, culminating in their becoming probably the first Westerners to participate in a Mazatec sacred mushroom ritual. Their Life magazine article, in 1957 ("Seeking the Magic Mushroom"), brought the knowledge of the existence of psychoactive mushrooms to a wider audience for the first time. The present beautifully-produced work is arguably Wasson's most important: his work revolutionized the understanding of the origin of religion. Prior to his work on Soma, theologians had interpreted the Vedic and Magian practices to have been based on alcoholic beverages that produced inebriation. Wasson was the first researcher to realize that the form of Vedic intoxication was entheogenic. His discoveries were celebrated by a generation of human scientists as well as botanists and chemists. The impact of Wasson is still reverberating throughout a range of disciplines including anthropology, history, theology and psychology.

[SW: Natural History 19608.jpg]

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Faulkner, William. These 13. Tipped in: a signed handwritten letter to his literary agent and friend Ben Wasson.
[ , English/American literature ]

These 13. New York, Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1931. Cloth (hardcover; slightly stained and back slightly discoloured). 358 pag. First edition. One of the 299 special edition copies that were numbered and signed by the author (this is copy number 16).Tipped in: a handwritten letter to his literary agent and friend Ben Wasson. Ink on paper. Single leaf, folded five times. 27,5 x 21 cm. Recto only. 15 lines to 'Dear Ben', signed 'Bill'. Not dated [but problably written in November 1930]. * Interesing letter to Faulkners literary agent and friend Ben Wasson, concerning his life at the Shegog House, that Faulkner purchased on April 12, 1930. He tells Wasson that he spend the whole summer repairing the the deteriorated property from 1844 and talks about his country lifestyle: 'I have 13 chickens,a cow (...) and 5 gallons of whiskey.' Faulkner also referres to Curtis Brown, a London-based literary agent who sold his story Red Leaves to the English magazine Saturday Evening Post (Red Leaves was published by the Post on october 25, 1930). Faulkner promises Wasson to send him some 'stuff' as soon as he gets to it. Very positive letter from the Shegog house! This letter is NOT in Selected letters of William Faulkner (edited by Joseph Blotner).

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Wasson, David Atwood; Foster, Charles H., Editor: BEYOND CONCORD; SELECTED WRITINGS OF DAVID ATWOOD WASSON, Port Washington Kennikat Press 1972
ISBN: 0-8046-1737-6 Fine

(10)334pp. Name index. Biblio of writings. Reprint of 1965 edition. Wasson's writings represent late phase of American Transcendentalism. No Dust Jacket Cloth 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

[SW: Wasson, David Transcendentalism]

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