Donald McCormick – The Hellfire Club (Pedigree, nd: originally Jarrold, 1958)

Blurb
When John Wilkes was prosecuted for the obscene libel of his Essay on Women in 1763, the repercussions of this case produced one of the biggest political scandals of all time.
A shocked public learned that its Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Cabinet Ministers had for years been masquerading in the semi-ruined Abbey of Medmenham on the banks of the Thames. Not only had they dressed up as “monks” and indulged in mysterious rites, but they had admitted to their strange society masked and hooded women, whom they were pleased to call “nuns”.
When the secret of Medmenham became known, this rakes’ club transferred its headquarters to caves cut deep into the heart of West Wycombe Hill. Thus posterity has come to know the originally styled “Knights of Saint Francis of Wycombe” as the “Hell-Fire Club”.
This book makes a fascinating study of an age when rakemanship was a fine art. By judicious selection of much original material, including extracts from the club’s wine books, from faded letters and diaries of con­temporary figures, the author has succeeded in building up a factual, well-documented picture of these scandalous “monks” and their lively “nuns”.
“Read this fascinating book for a close-up of the rakes who once ruled Britain.”— Daily Mirror.
This is an original PEDIGREE BOOKS reprint, complete and unabridged, of a book hitherto available only in full cloth-bound form and priced at 18s. net.
For the BEST in modern reading choose — PEDIGREE BOOKS

James Holledge – Sex And The Sun King (Horwitz, 1964)

Blurb
“Her beauty is marvellous. Her costume is as wonderful as her beauty, and her gaiety as her costume.”
In this manner a contemporary described the notorious Athenais de Montespan, mis­tress of Louis XVI who had vowed “to show France how a King’s mistress should really uphold her station.”
It was also said that “thunderous and triumphant she entered upon her empire as one to the manner born, a tyrant over Louis and thus over the land and people he thought to rule by right divine,”
To hold her position against rivals de Montespan used not only feminine wiles, but the cruel, disgusting magic of the Black Mass.

Phil Baker – The Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley (Dedalus, October 31st, 2009)

Cover design: Jonathan Barker

Blurb
One of the giants of popular fiction, with total sales of around fifty million books, Dennis Wheatley held twentieth-century Britain spellbound. His Black Magic novels like The Devil Rides Out created an oddly seductive and luxurious vision of Satanism, but in reality he was as interested in politics as occultism. Wheatley was closely involved with the secret intelligence community, and this powerfully researched study shows just how directly this drove his work, from his unlikely warnings about the menace of Satanic Trade Unionism to his role in a British scheme to engineer a revival of Islam.

Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material, Phil Baker examines Wheatley’s key friendship with a fraudster named Eric Gordon Tombe, and uncovers the full story of his sensational 1922 murder. Baker also explores Wheatley’s relationships with occult figures such as Rollo Ahmed, Aleister Crowley, and the Reverend Montague Summers, the shady priest and demonologist who inspired the memorably evil character of Canon Copely-Syle, in To The Devil – A Daughter.

Like Sax Rohmer and John Buchan, Wheatley has now moved from being perceived as dated to positively vintage, and this groundbreaking biography offers a major reassessment of his significance and status.

for more info click on the cute little Dedalus logo;

David Stton (ed.) – Fortean Times #256 (Dec. 2009)

Yep, something of a mini-Wheatley special! Even the editorial by David Sutton et al is mainly devoted to “Britain’s Occult Uncle”’s scary A Letter To Posterity. Best of all, lead feature, Dennis And All His Works is by Phil Baker himself and serves as an intriguing taster for the biography as the five pages of text concern themselves with the interesting stuff, namely the Black Magic novels and Wheatley’s commendable WWII exploits as a deception planner and propagandist. Mr. Baker suggests that Wheatley wasn’t quite the expert on black sorcery he made himself out to be (i gather he’s far more explicit in the biog), but most modern Occultists, however loathe they are to admit it, probably got into the game via a dogeared copy of The Devil Rides Out. In passing, Mr. Baker also detects the Wheatley influence on June Johns’ Black Magic Today and Sandra Shulman’s The Degenerates, both “published by iconic paperback imprint New English Library which also published Richard Allen’s Skinhead books.” Considering the little space at his disposal, Mr. Baker works in plenty of tantalising snippets including the true identity of ‘Conky Bill, and the revelation that Wheatley & chums perpetrated a ‘Linda Lovecraft’ style scam in the Daily Mail when they introduced glamourous socialite Ermintrude Wraxwell to the gossip column (“next day, offers started coming in from agents and film companies. Had we named a real girl, we could have made a fortune from her.”). Even the flame girl covers get a paragraph! Also, from nowhere, Curtain Of Fear and Such Power Is Dangerous have abseiled to near the top of my wants list although, admittedly, perhaps not for the reasons DW would’ve wished.

Somebody up there likes us because as an added bonus, there’s another six pager, this one by Stewart T. Stanyard, celebrating fiftieth anniversary of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone.

Many harrumph at the lurid and sensational cover photograph gracing June Johns’ Black Magic Today. It’s only when taken in its proper context – i.e., against the cover of Ms. Johns’ earlier investigation of white magic – that you can begin to appreciate New English Library’s commendable restraint.

June Johns – King Of The Witches (Pan, 1969)

Blurb:

A. master of the occult reveals the forbidden secrets of sorcery, witchcraft and black magic

KING OF THE WITCHES

Alex Saunders, the most powerful white witch in Europe, lays bare the true rites and ceremonies of his craft, recounts his uncanny powers of healing and tells how he bargained for his soul with the devil.

Worldly success bought a string of mistresses, bizarre parties and satanic sexual rites.

Personal tragedy led Saunders to renounce the haunted world of black witchcraft and begin his constant battle with the forces of evil ….

“A range of clairvoyant and magical phenomena, exceptional even by the standards of Crowleyan achievement.” – The Times Literary Supplement

See also King of the Witches thread on Vault of Evil

Gelie Duncan – Living Witchcraft (Horwitz, 1970).

“Nine tenths of Black Magicians and Witches are phonies …. Most of these people are in it for sexual orgies and dope traffic. We should investigate the powers of the human mind, certainly, but this monkeying around with unknown forces is dangerous for the weak minded. I’ve known people neglect their wives and children and end up in the looney bin. The Witchcraft laws should be brought back. First offenders should be given a very strict warning, but a second time, then they should be slapped down“

- Dennis Wheatley (Roger Baker: Binding The Devil; Exorcism Past & Present, Sheldon, 1974)

You see! I told you they were all on the old drugs!

H. T. F. Rhodes – The Satanic Mass (Arrow, 1964)

H. T. F. Rhodes - The Satanic Mass

Blurb:

The first account of the blasphemous rites commonly called the Black Mass.

Thanks to James Doig for providing the cover scan

Ralph Comer – The Witchfinders (Tandem, 1968; Award, 1968: )

The Witchfinders

The Savage Rituals Of Another Age Performed Today

Blurb:
Savage 17th century practices of witch-hunting and burning have an uncanny effect – 300 – years later – on an entire village. The whole place dominated by the mysterious Winchmore Hall , retains an atmosphere of powerful evil.

Thanks to Killercrab for scanning the cover. Just look at those evil uglies!

Fiona Horne (ed.) – Pop! Goes The Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft (Disinformation, 2004)

Here’s another young lady with pop credentials. No novelty hit records to speak of but Fiona goes Janie Jones one better by actually being a witch instead of merely dressing up as one. Find out more about her books, TV work and general activities from Fiona Horne and you can hear some tracks from her solo album ‘Witch Web’ on her MySpace music page.

Fiona onstage!

Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Not wishing to step on Sexy Witch’s dainty toes but, ooh look, it’s Janie Jones publicising her big hit single Witches Brew in 1966. Despite several further attempts at cracking the charts, sadly, it wasn’t to be although Janie was soon to taste fame like she’d never dreamt when the crusading ‘News Of The World House Of the JuJu Queen (with the Clash as her backing band) it’s probably fair to say that the Witchy one wasn’t eaten up by repentance! began taking an interest in the swinging parties she threw for celebs at her Kensington home where regular attendees are rumoured to have included Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink and Tony Blackburn and personal services, spanking sessions and voyeurism were allegedly the order of the day. Convicted of running an escort service, she was sentenced to prison for seven years in 1973 and served four years. Judging by the glam transvestite nun-swishing back cover of her 1983 comeback single

Well, that’s certainly upped the tits ‘n bums quota if nothing else. Sort of.