The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult Introduction

Dennis Wheatley’s last major venture before his death was to assemble, in association with George Rainbird,
the Chairman of Sphere Books, a series of reprints of fiction and non-fiction works on the Occult.
The series went under the title ‘The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult’, and each had an introduction by DW.

The aim of the venture was to corner the occult paperback market, for both fact and fiction.
In the event, the relevant department at Sphere struggled to ascertain which books were still in Copyright,
and to negotiate suitable rights for some of those books which were still in Copyright.
The list of what could be included in the series was therefore at any given time somewhat fluid,
a situation which DW found somewhat frustrating.

The series was launched in 1974 with a party at Brown’s Hotel, which Phil Baker advises was decorated with nylon
cobwebs and lit with black candles to give atmosphere to the occasion.

The invitation to the launch party

The promotional ‘manuscript’ which DW himself designed, and which was sent
to booksellers informing them of the launch of the series.

This copy was given to Iwan Hedman / Morelius by
Dennis Wheatley.

Part of DW's specially bound set
of The Library of the Occult

The series was originally intended to run to hundreds of titles, but in the end only forty five were produced.
Some are common but others, especially some of the White Lion Publications, are exceptionally hard to find.