''Earth Inferno'' is the first book by the English artist and magician Austin Osman Spare, written when he was 18.

Artist's book

Conceived as an

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

reaction to the publicity surrounding his inclusion in the Royal Academy summer show in 1904, the book was developed over the remainder of that year and was eventually published in 1905. Printed by the Co-Operative Printing Society, the book was designed by the artist and self-published in an edition of 265 numbered and signed copies.''Revised Notes Towards A Bibliography of Austin Osman Spare''
Clive Harper and Mandrake Press, 2007

Influences and design

Influenced heavily by

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

's ''

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * Inferno (1973 fi ...

'', the book is decorated with poems and aphorisms in an aesthetic style. It clearly shows the design influence of Spare's early supporter

Charles Ricketts Charles de Sousy Ricketts (2 October 1866 – 7 October 1931) was a British artist, illustrator, author and printer, known for his work as a book designer and typographer and for his costume and scenery designs for plays and operas. Ricketts ...

. Each pair of pages contains a painting and a commentary toward that painting. In addition to excerpts from Dante, the book also contains excerpts from Edward FitzGerald's translation of ''

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia". Altho ...

''.

Concepts

Published when the artist was 18 years of age, the book introduces the reader for the first time to Spare's fundamental concepts such as Kia, Ikkah and Sikah and Zos. On page 10, Spare alludes to "The Book of KIĀ".

Notes

External links

Facsimile of the original book
{{chaos magic series 1905 books Occult books Self-published books Works based on Inferno (Dante)