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(For our secondhand list of Wilsonia, click here, or alternatively, check out our new Bargain list)

Obtaining Books by Colin Wilson

A number of Colin Wilson’s books are currently in print or being reprinted but the majority – he is the author of over a hundred titles - are not easily obtainable. In fact, some are collector’s items. Early novels like Ritual in the Dark are presently in print only in the USA but Man Without A Shadow (renamed Sex Diary of a Metaphysician) was available until recently in Britain under the Ronin imprint. His immense novel Metamorphosis of the Vampire has not yet been published but an idea of its contents and quality may be obtained through Abraxas. The Outsider was recently reprinted in a Gollancz paperback and the immensely enjoyable Adrift in Soho is available from Brainiac Books in London. Borgo Press of San Bernardino, California, was another valuable source of Wilsonia who ceased trading in 1999. In addition to a volume of literary essays Existentially Speaking, Borgo published The Haunted Man, a study of David Lindsay, and were intending to print the Collected Plays of Colin Wilson, a venture that now lies open to suitable bidders.

For everyday shoppers, there are the popular ‘trade’ paperbacks sold at Asda and Woolworths which can be picked up for a pound. The World Famous series, covering strange cults, crimes of passion, serial killers, UFOs and mysterious vanishings, make pleasant light entertainment, contrasting with thick compendiums like A Plague of Murder (available from Robinson or most bookshops) and attractively produced coffee table books like Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites – sumptuously packaged by Dorling Kindersley. But the once-uncontrollable flood of Wilsonia available in these emporiums has now been reduced to a trickle and may dry up altogether. Major recent titles from Virgin Books are Atlantis to the Sphinx, a profound study of the antiquity of man and the development of consciousness, and Alien Dawn, a gripping and brilliant analysis of UFOs and the abductee syndrome, and the co-authored Atlantis Blueprint, a searching and expansive enquiry into the origins of civilisation.

As for the many unavailable core texts, such as The Occult (presently available in the US) and Mysteries and the greater part of the Outsider Cycle, these must be sought in secondhand bookshops and market stalls. Aside from conducting one’s own hunt, there are two major UK sources for CW’s books, and that is myself (Paul Newman, 57 Eastbourne Rd, St Austell, Cornwall PL25 4SU) and Colin Stanley (27 Melbourne Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 5DJ). Under the imprint of Paupers’ Press, Colin Stanley has brought out many original short works by Colin Wilson: Essay on the New Existentialism as well as The Musician as Outsider and Music, Nature and the Romantic Outsider and Autobiographical Reflections. Colin Stanley is also Colin Wilson’s bibliographer as well as the editor of a brilliantly informative critical series on this important writer. There is also an Abraxas and Paupers’ secondhand list frequently resorted to by collectors and enthusiasts. In addition to this, there are CDs like Mozart’s Journey to Prague, a musical drama written especially for the Medici Quartet, and videos of talks and television appearances.

Postage and Package

Below, I have listed a selection of some of the titles available on the booklists of Abraxas and Paupers’ Press. This is not pure opportunism - in many cases Colin Stanley and myself are the only UK sources from where these books or essays may be obtained. In America, the foremost Wilson scholar and collector is the immensely energetic private detective and entrepreneur Maurice Bassett who has several important projects on hand.

Payment

Asterisks indicate small books for which the postal cost is 50p. The larger ones cost £1.50 per title and there is a free service, whereby Colin Wilson will sign the titles of your choice, included in the Abraxas package. Regrettably we do accept credit card payments and cheques or international money orders should be in sterling, drawn on a UK bank and made payable to Paul Newman - abx.  US customers can pay in dollars - usually by doubling the figure in pounds - if this is not possible. For surface mail overseas, please add £2 for each paperback and £3 for each hardback; for titles marked by asterisk*, add £1.

NEW TITLES - Special Offer!

Abraxas proudly presents the full text of 'Shored Against My Ruin', full of new material, leading up to founding up the magazine. And also - by Colin Wilson - 'After the Ball is Over', a penetrating short, psychological study of the reasons why he believes in an afterlife. Thirdly there is 'The Haunted Gardens of Heligan', a wonderful ramble amid the nightmare glades of Cornwall most famous garden, bringing back all the nostalgia of the Edwardian past and introducing a few chills here and there as the shadow of the Great War closes in and the men who never came back make there presence felt once more. Finally there is the a charming, unofficial Notes for George Pranksy, in which CW sets out the lineage of his optimistic philosophy. All your favourite charms and nightmares are here, including William James’s ‘vastation’, the ever-dependable robot and Proust’s herb tea - but there is also a splendid account of the early French philosophers who influenced CW and the exciting discoveries of US lawyer Dan MaDougald. 

Fiction

Adrift in Soho - £7.99

Sex Diary of a Metaphysician: Californian edition of ‘sex diary’ with a new introduction by Timothy Leary (out of print).

Timeslip (Abraxas reprint with intro by PN): long short story, first appearing in Aries (1974) - £6*

Atlantis Blueprint, just out, fascinating attempt to recover the lost secrets of civilisation, see Abraxas update for details, £18.99

The Devil's Party, a mire of messiahs, £16.99

The Outsider (cover showing CW playing the trumpet) £8.99

The Books in My Life (Supplement One): searching literary self-appraisal, an inspiring coda to the Outsider cycle: thermal-bound A4 format - £6*

World Famous Strange but True (CW & Christopher Evans) - £6. 50

Giant Book of the Supernatural - £5.99

A Directory of Possibilities – (hb) £10

Strange Life of I.P. Ouspensky - £8.99

Aleister Crowley - the Nature of the Beast - £8.99

Existentially Speaking (essays by C.W.) - £16. 95

The Psychic Detectives, large trade pb - £16

The Necronomicon (reprint) - £6.99

The R’lyeh Text (2nd part of above) - £6.99

Essay on the New Existentialism (PP) - £5.95*

Autobiographical Reflections (PP) - £5.95*

Sex, America and Other Insights (PP) - £7.95*

Marriage and London (PP) - £7. 95*

Music, Nature & Romantic Outsider (PP) - £5. 95*

Musician as Outsider (PP) - £5. 95*

Decline and Fall of Leftism (PP) - £4.95*

Mozart's Journey to Prague: playscript (PP) - 6.95*

Outline of the Female Outsider - £5*

Below the Iceberg (seminal essay) - £4*

Tree by Tolkien (reprint) - £4*

David Lindsay: The Haunted Man (Borgo pb) - £15*

Sex and the Intelligent Teenager (P) - £10.95

Bouvier de Cachard (CW. Abraxas reprint) - £8*

Lone Voyager - C.W. on E.H. Visiak: intro. from Life’s Morning Hour, plus Medusan Madness - £8*

Some Comments on the Beats & Angries by Colin Wilson: short, pithy essay that first appeared in Outsider Magazine (Fall, 1961) - £5*

Author’s Emendations to The New Existentialism: epilogue and notes by C.W. to his mid-career masterwork; typescript - £6*

From Atlantis to the Sphinx: superb American Ist edition at £15.99

Alien Dawn: brilliant study of abductee phenomenon (£16.99)

Colin Wilson on Henry Miller - £15* (Quality art paper edition of CW’s correspondence on Henry Miller, with exciting new introduction by CW and colour and ink drawings by Joanne Taylor.)

Murder in the 1930s: murky goings on down memory lane - £4.99

Murder in the 1940s: nostalgia and desecration - £4.99

Jack the Ripper - Summing Up: CW and Robin Odell provide a round-up of available facts and theories - £7.99

Jack the Ripper Diary (intro. by C.W.): inimitable, shriekably prosaic record of Mad Jack's ravings and blatherings - £8.99

A Plague of Murder: compendium of eliminations and sex slayings - £7

Colin Wilson: A Celebration (hb): essays, critical and biographical, by various hands, including Angus Wilson, Nicolas Tredell, Colin Stanley - £15

Colin Wilson: The Man and his Mind by H. Dossor; near-definitive 300pp analysis of the varied oeuvre with introduction by CW - £12.50

Colin Wilson: The Positive Approach (PP), a judicious and considered refutation of the views and attitudes of CW's detractors by M. Trowell - £5.95*

Colin Wilson: 2 essays (PP) The English Existentialist and Spiders and Outsiders (John Moorhouse & Paul Newman) including interview with C.W - £5.95*

Colin Wilson as Philosopher & Faculty X & Transcendence of Time by John Shand/Gary Lachman . Recommended for its core analysis of CW's central concepts as well as its intellectual joie de vivre (PP) - £6.95*

The Nature of Freedom (PP): essays on Adrift in Soho, The Mind Parasites by Colin Stanley - £5.95*

Human Nature Stained (PP): CW and the Existential Study of Modern Murder - £6.95*

Guerrilla Philosopher (PP) by Tim Dalgleish: essay on CW’s philosophy -£5.95*

The Work of Colin Wilson: an annotated bibliography by Colin Stanley - £15.95.

The Work of Colin Wilson: 2nd bibliography by Colin Stanley - £15.95

The Outsider and After: Ted Brown's lively well-designed CW bibliography, an invaluable alienation accessory - £15 pb

Colin Wilson: The Outsider and Beyond, thorough, sympathetic early study by Clifford Bendau - £6.99*

Interviews with Britain’s Angry Young Men by Dale Salwak - £6.99*

Murder As An Antidote to Boredom (PP) study of CW, Laura Del Rivo, Bill Hopkins, Pirandello, Sartre, etc. by PN - £7.95*

Shored Against my Ruin: Abraxas, a biographical introduction, the weird and wonderful (!!!) story of the founding of the Colin Wilson Newsletter by Paul Newman (A4) - £6*

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