2010 1st Edition ,
MELUSINE OF LUSIGNAN
and The Cult of the Faery Woman
A scarce first edition of Gareth Knight’s short monograph on the Mélusine legend and its esoteric afterlives. Drawing on medieval French source traditions, Knight treats Mélusine not merely as a romance heroine or dynastic ancestress of the Lusignans, but as a survival of older European faery / water-spirit tradition. The work moves from Lusignan and the core romance cycle through iconography, the ten sons, Geoffrey “Great-Tooth,” Mélusine’s faery kin, and the legend’s modern reception, concluding with bibliographical notes.
By Gareth Knight
Author Bio: Gareth Knight (1930–2024) was a British occultist and teacher in the Western mystery tradition, closely associated with the Dion Fortune lineage of esoteric Qabalah. He worked with the Society of the Inner Light and later co-founded Helios Book Service, publishing widely on practical and philosophical aspects of Qabalah, tarot, and ritual. He is best known for the two-volume A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism (1991), a hands-on, structured guide to working with the Tree of Life and its symbolic correspondences.
Synopsis: Author / work context: Knight’s central argument is that Mélusine belongs to a deep stratum of medieval and pre-Christian faery belief, and that the Lusignan material preserves more than a courtly romance alone. He reads the legend as a potent initiatory and symbolic narrative, tying together medieval French lore, feminine otherworld motifs, genealogy, sacred landscape, and the later cultural afterlife of the serpent-tailed faery woman. The chapter sequence in this first edition is: Melusine in Lusignan; The Romance of Melusine; Images of Melusine; The Ten Sons of Melusine; Geoffrey the Giant Killer; The Faery Kin of Melusine; and Melusine Today.
Binding: Softcover, Octavo (Standard) (8vo 6 × 9 in 152 × 229 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Collation: pp. 124
Language: English
Published By: R. J. Stewart Books, Lincoln, Illinois, USA
ISBN: 9780981924670
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - A clean, presentable copy. Text block is fresh and tidy, with no obvious staining, inscriptions, or structural faults visible. No previous owner inscriptions.
Binding:
Hardcover, octavo, with publisher’s dust jacket.
Collation:
124 pages. Title-page vignette present; contents page present; seven chapters as listed above; Bibliographical Notes at p. 124.
.
SKU: BTETM0002529
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
2010 1st Edition ,
MELUSINE OF LUSIGNAN
and The Cult of the Faery Woman
A scarce first edition of Gareth Knight’s short monograph on the Mélusine legend and its esoteric afterlives. Drawing on medieval French source traditions, Knight treats Mélusine not merely as a romance heroine or dynastic ancestress of the Lusignans, but as a survival of older European faery / water-spirit tradition. The work moves from Lusignan and the core romance cycle through iconography, the ten sons, Geoffrey “Great-Tooth,” Mélusine’s faery kin, and the legend’s modern reception, concluding with bibliographical notes.
By Gareth Knight
Author Bio: Gareth Knight (1930–2024) was a British occultist and teacher in the Western mystery tradition, closely associated with the Dion Fortune lineage of esoteric Qabalah. He worked with the Society of the Inner Light and later co-founded Helios Book Service, publishing widely on practical and philosophical aspects of Qabalah, tarot, and ritual. He is best known for the two-volume A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism (1991), a hands-on, structured guide to working with the Tree of Life and its symbolic correspondences.
Synopsis: Author / work context: Knight’s central argument is that Mélusine belongs to a deep stratum of medieval and pre-Christian faery belief, and that the Lusignan material preserves more than a courtly romance alone. He reads the legend as a potent initiatory and symbolic narrative, tying together medieval French lore, feminine otherworld motifs, genealogy, sacred landscape, and the later cultural afterlife of the serpent-tailed faery woman. The chapter sequence in this first edition is: Melusine in Lusignan; The Romance of Melusine; Images of Melusine; The Ten Sons of Melusine; Geoffrey the Giant Killer; The Faery Kin of Melusine; and Melusine Today.
Binding: Softcover, Octavo (Standard) (8vo 6 × 9 in 152 × 229 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Collation: pp. 124
Language: English
Published By: R. J. Stewart Books, Lincoln, Illinois, USA
ISBN: 9780981924670
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - A clean, presentable copy. Text block is fresh and tidy, with no obvious staining, inscriptions, or structural faults visible. No previous owner inscriptions.
Binding:
Hardcover, octavo, with publisher’s dust jacket.
Collation:
124 pages. Title-page vignette present; contents page present; seven chapters as listed above; Bibliographical Notes at p. 124.
.
SKU: BTETM0002529
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
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