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Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Ladies and gentlemen, the day I've been eagerly anticipating for a year and a half has arrived...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117....../3292258 This is the third Spellbook campaign on Kickstarter from the absolutely amazing Steven Metze. He's a West Point graduate and former Iraq combat veteran, a hardcore gamer and author in the RPG/LARP space, an insanely well-versed expert and author in the Cthulhu Mythos, and the hands-down absolute BEST creator and reproducer of authentic ancient grimoires that I've ever seen or heard of. Not to put any shade on the wonderful creators that we all know and love in the bizarre magic space, but no one--and I do mean NO ONE--does ancient books like Steven and his team. I discovered him only after his last KS campaign (ohhh... the humanity!) but was able to grab several leftovers from former campaigns at his store at http://yog.sothothery.com and they are some of the most treasured occult books on my shelves. You can see pictures and videos of most of them at his previous KS page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1178965847/cthulhubook2 This campaign highlights his two newest books, years in the making. The first is "De Arcanum Tenebris" (of secrets from shadows), available in two lengths, 300 pages and 100 pages, to accomodate different price points. It comprises several sections, but also includes a couple of different narratives written in the marginalia by other owners of the book through history. The second is a full and complete version of The Voynich Manuscript, which obviously needs no introduction..! The add-on book in this campaign is a real historical work called The Noble Lyfe and Natures of Man. It looks like most of his previous books may also be available as add-ons. I am hoping to get ahold of his GIGANTIC repro of the tome Dictionnaire Infernal... Take a gander at the videos on this campaign and his previous campaign (both links listed above) to get a feel for his work. I can assure you that, when they are in your hands, these authentically aged and leatherbound volumes will take your breath away. Definitely pricey, but he really does strive to make options available for everyone. He is also very engaged in the comments, unlike some KS creators, so all your questions can get answered. If you like this kind of thing, there are about 23 days left to make a decision. ENJOY! Would love to hear what folks think! Seth |
lotcaster Regular user Texas 151 Posts |
Those are absolutely beautiful! I would be all-in on that, including the add-ons, if I could afford it.
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Dr. O Veteran user NC 395 Posts |
Thanks Seth! This looks awesome! Got my order in. Hopefully some of the past releases that I missed out on will be available again.
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Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Whoops! Looks like I gave you the link to the comments section, not the MAIN campaign... I'll fix that now!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117......cription Apologies everyone! BTW, the 11-foot Japanese Hell scroll that everyone will get with their pledge looks aMAZEballs!!! (And that two-foot Egyptian scroll from the Book of the Dead that all backers will get might go exceptionally well with a certain recent Lebanon Circle release!! Just sayin'...) Seth |
Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Dr. O, he will indeed be including ALL previous books, including the Book of Nine Scribes and all previous add-ons, to be available via Backerkit after the campaign ends. That is major cause for celebration, as he had said last year that Nine Scribes would be too tricky to do again. YAY!!!
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Dr. O Veteran user NC 395 Posts |
Thanks for the correction. The first link did show the books with reference to pledge perks. Really looking forward to this and need to start finding the cash for the books I missed out on. Reason to celebrate indeed!!
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Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Two of the add-on books will be authentic repros of the very real historical books Polygraphia by the monk Johannes Trithemius (teacher of Cornelius Agrippa, btw) and De Furtivis Literarum Notis by Giambattista della Porta.
Both tomes were NOT exactly on the Catholic church's Top Ten list; Polygraphia was banned by the church for three centuries, and De Furtivis' author della Porta was brought in for a "come to Jesus" chat with the Pope and narrowly avoided being tortured. Both books concern the topic of Cryptography, about hidden and coded messages. Polygraphia contains the first written description of the Theban substitution alphabet popular in Wicca, and della Porta, as a small example, invented very practical ways to have written messages appear inside both raw and boiled eggs. I'm now thinking of using both these books as some historical window dressing for presenting Bobby Hasbun's FUTILITY (see another thread in this selfsame forum for details on that amazing piece of work) because of the mystically "encoded" nature of the reveals. Good stuff brewing in the Bizarre world these days!! And there's even more coming down the pike... Seth |
Dr. O Veteran user NC 395 Posts |
Good thinking Seth. Yes I had to pull the trigger on FUTILITY while the credit card was still smoking from the Kickstarter backing. All great stuff brewing in Bizarre.
Thanks for the synopsis on the other books. Looking forward to them as well. |
lotcaster Regular user Texas 151 Posts |
That Voynich Manuscript reproduction is particularly interesting. I'm really impressed that he went to the extent of figuring out how to do the foldout pages. The version I have (from another publisher) splits those into multiple pages.
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Dr. O Veteran user NC 395 Posts |
Looks like the other books for the occult library are going to be made available once the Kickstarter campaign has ended! Looks like I need a bigger piggy bank....
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Intrepid Inner circle Silver Spring, MD 1178 Posts |
Envious. I'd be a dead man in the eyes of my wife if I bought this.
Bob
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Dr. O Veteran user NC 395 Posts |
I'm hoping the spells within will bring me back!
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Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
It is indeed wonderful that the earlier books are all available as add-ons... and ANY pledge level, even one without the main reward, will allow you to purchase the other books during the Backerkit survey after the campaign.
So, for instance, if you JUST wanted Raphael's Book of Talismanic Magic (the cheapest one, but also incredibly impressive looking) you could pledge at the $5 level, and just add it on for $150 during the survey. Only about a week left!! |
Satire New user 88 Posts |
What do people typically use these for, or is it more like desk art?
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Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Varies according to personality! Basically they are very cool and impressive books to have on your bookshelf. The reproductions of actual historical tomes are fascinating to actually read (the ones that are in English at least), such as Three Books on Occult Philosophy by Agrippa, etc.
Metze is also a gamer, and the grimoires he creates from scratch are also excellent for gamers who love RPG and LARP games. He also provides the PDF of his main books so that sections or pages can be printed out to have as props for the players if desired. I play Call of Cthulhu every Tuesday night with some friends, so these can come in handy. But he also puts in several layers of story in each of his grimoires, that needs to be read cover to cover in order to fully glean what's going on, if that interests you. This is a combination of the main text and the handwritten notes in the marginalia, very much like J.J. Abrams' book "S" (The Ship of Theseus novel) that came out a few years ago, or even like the "Griffin and Sabine" interactive books from back in the 90s... And of course any Bizarrist can come up with many ways to incorporate these books into a magick effect or presentation. Short answer: they are super fun!! Especially for those of us who just love ancient tomes full of dust, mold, and evil... Seth |
Satire New user 88 Posts |
Oh, that makes total sense! I have "S" on my shelf right now, next to a (concerning) number of RPG books (mostly 5e now).
So sounds like it's a combo of art/interesting writing/potential for effects. That's awesome. |
Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Just a reminder—the campaign is down to the last couple of days.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117......cription Will probably be years until the next one so if you’re on the fence, feel free to hop off and grab a spell book to keep you warm at night, spookies!! |
prankmonster New user 87 Posts |
Missed this!
How would one get their hands on the previous books? |
Seth speaks Inner circle New Mexico 1249 Posts |
Contact the creator through the links listed in his bio on Kickstarter.
He can let you know what’s available. Seth |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The spooky, the mysterious...the bizarre! » » Ancient Grimoires plus full VOYNICH Manuscript now available (10 Likes) |
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