ELIPHAS LÉVI - MANUSCRIPT. THE CLAVICLES OF SALOMON. Manuscript in the hand of ÉLIPHAS LÉVI, dated 1860. One volume, in-4 (26, 5 cm x 20, 5 cm), of 68 ff. (136 pp.), contemporary half-bound in brown chagrin. Spine with 4 raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and bearing the gilt title. Purple percaline boards framed with gilt fillet and with two intertwined gilt triangles in the centre, red edges. Worn corners, binding partly detached. 73 illustrations, each occupying a full page and all in colour. The book is divided into eight chapters: After the first two pages, which include two drawings, the Angel of Symbolism and the Temple of Solomon, which contains the title, the first chapter, devoted to Solomon and the various keys, begins: "My son, take the key that you will find on the first page of the figures in this book and, despite the monstrous porter who will try to prevent you from entering the holy city, you will enter ancient Thebes where you will be initiated into the mysteries of Zion". Chapter two is devoted to the Great Pentacle of Solomon, followed by the 36 talismans. Chapter three describes the table of the planets according to the days and hours. The fourth chapter contains an explanation of the Clavicles or secret keys. The fifth chapter is devoted to the explanation of the sacred letters through his tarot. The sixth chapter gives the key to the world of spirits. In the seventh chapter, the key to Evocations. In the eighth, the mystery of dreams. Manuscript in multicoloured inks, in Eliphas Levi's own handwriting, dating from 1860. It is illustrated with 70 figures, plates and original drawings, all of great beauty. The year following its composition, in 1861, Éliphas Lévi made a pale copy, devoid of colour and with a very abbreviated text, for Baron Spédialéri... It was this copy that was reproduced under the title "Clefs majeures et Clavicules de Salomon" by Chamuel in 1895 and which is regularly published. We have here the true original, incomparably more beautiful and more complete, which Éliphas Lévi had drawn for himself (description by P. Chacornac, Éliphas Lévy, 1926, p.202). Provenance: Christiane Buisset library, formerly Bechtel library. Bookplates of each library. Christiane Buisset, Grand Mistress of the Masonic Order of Memphis for France and Canada, was the woman who freed women's Freemasonry from male lodges. She no longer wanted women's masonry to be dependent on adopted lodges. A great specialist in Éliphas Lévi, she created the Cercle Éliphas Lévi. A torn page.