LEWIS, H. Spencer Mental Poisoning [Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC, 1947]

LEWIS, H. Spencer. Mental Poisoning.

San Jose, California: Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC (Rosicrucian Order), 1947. Third edition. Octavo, 127 pp. plus 4 black-and-white photographic plates on coated stock, depicting Egyptian statuary, temples, and archaeological sites, many credited to AMORC expeditions. Original publisher’s bright green cloth, lettered and decorated in black on the upper board with a coiled serpent motif, black spine lettering; issued without dust jacket. Very light rubbing at extremities, spine ends gently softened, cloth clean and unfaded; binding firm; hinges sound; contents clean with light, even toning; small orange label and a contemporary owner’s name neatly written on the inside of the rear cover. Near Fine.

Issued as Volume XVII of the Rosicrucian Library, Mental Poisoning presents Lewis’s theory of psychological suggestion and mass influence, blending early twentieth-century psychology with esoteric philosophy. The book exemplifies AMORC’s interwar publishing program, which combined didactic text with visual material drawn from ancient and symbolic sources. Particularly notable for its striking serpent-decorated binding and its place within American occult and self-mastery literature of the mid-twentieth century.