sound heard but this thy lion-roar of r
(el)u80icf36   Crowley's above-quoted remarks from (el)f37The Confessions suggest that Liber VII was written during the same period as Liber LXV, although his Diary for 1907 E.V. makes no mention of it.  Evidence for the reception in 1907 E.V. of Liber DCCCXIII Vel Ararita may, with caution, be inferred from a Diary entry for 1 a.m. on October 30: 2About 11 p.m. of October 29 (I suppose) I began the 7 fold Word & finished the same.

   Entries for the months of November and December in Crowley's Diary for 1907 E.V. clearly record the reception of six more books included in this compilation: Libri X, XXVII, LXI, LXVI, CCXXXI and (el)f37CD.  This contradicts The Confessions, pp. 673-4, where four of these books (Libri X, LXVI, CCXXXI and CD(el)f36) are cited in a synopsis of Crowley's magical writings produced in 1911 E.V.  Such confusion is understandable since Crowley had lost his diaries for both 1907 and 1911 E.V., and was writing from memory for The Confessions roughly a decade later. However, Libri I, XC, CLVI(el)f36 and CCCLXX are also listed in the Confessions(el)f36 as being produced in 1911 E.V., as may well have been the case.

   In 1909 E.V. several scriptures (Libri VII, XXVII, LXI, LXV, CCXX (el)f36and DCCCXIII) were collected and published under the title                  Thelema.  Crowley was fond of using this volume for bibliomancy, obtaining spiritual guidance by opening the book at random and dropping his magical ring onto the page.                   came to be known as The Holy Books among Crowley's students, although Crowley himself invariably used its proper title when referring to it, unless discussing the Sacred Writings as a general class.  The second title is somewhat apocryphal, and potentially misleading, since many books in Class A were produced years after                 's publication.  For the present edition the original title of                  is retained, and popular usage is acknowledged in the sub-title: The Holy Books of Thelema.

   It has long been traditional that The Holy Books were (technically) all of the writings in Class A.  All of the books in this compilation are in Class A, but two present problems in classification.

   Liber I, the first instance, had only one authorized publication under imprimatur, in The Equinox I(7).  Although published there in Class B, it was later listed in Class A in the Synopsis of the Official Publications of the A...(el)A... in The Equinox6 I(10).

   The second instance is Liber LXI Vel Causae, which was twice published under imprimatur, in                    (London: Zaehnsdorf, 1909) and in The Equinox III(1).  In                    it appears in Class (ss)3A; indeed,                    in its entirety was in Class 2A.  In The Equinox III(1), however, Liber LXI is published in Class D, and it is so listed in the Synopsis cited above.  Crowley's reclassification of Liber I is less troublesome than the case of Liber LXI.  While it is certainly understandable that a historical document of this nature be preserved intact, it is a revised version of the (bl)2History Lection of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and not a received book in the ordinary sense.  Crowley's (el)f37Diary for 1907 E.V. records the writing of this book thus: (bl)2Rewrote Preliminary Lection.

   However, in the absence of conclusive and compelling evidence for their omission, they are included in this compilation.  If this is an error, it will be on the side of inclusion.

   Also, there are three Class A books which are not included in the present volume. Two are in Class AB: Liber CDXVOpus Lutetianum (commonly called The Paris Working) and Liber CDXVIIILiber XXX (el)u2RUM(bl) Vel Saeculi (commonly called The Vision and the Voice).  Both books contain Class A material (which appears in quotation marks as the utterance of a deific or angelic entity).  The majority of both texts is however in Class B.  The third omission is in Class A(ss)-B: Liber DCCCCLXIII                            Thesarau Eidolon6, commonly called The Treasure-House of Images.  In this case, only a short prefatory note is in Class A; the book itself, in Class B, is the work of Maj.-Gen. J.F.C. Fuller.