Two of DW’s ventures in his last years were ‘The Devil and All His Works’ (1971) and the Heron series of his works, which was launched the following year.
‘The Devil and All His Works’, despite its title, was a tour of the world’s religions, although parts had a Black Magic or Witchcraft theme. Back in the 1930s, DW had not felt sufficiently confident to write a factual book on The Black Art, nominating Rollo Ahmed to do so instead. Now, 35 years on, DW felt capable of doing so. The book caught the mood of the day, selling some 60,000 copies.
The Heron edition, which followed the Lymington edition produced in the 1960s to 1970s, was much more sensationally advertised. Heron specialised in ‘heirloom quality’ sets of the classics (actually books with plastic covers that mimicked embossed leather), and between 1972 and 1977, they produced illustrated editions of almost all of DW’s books. Their sensationalist advertising of the DW series was a regular feature in the Sunday supplements of the day.
References : Phil Baker pp 578 – 581; 585-586.
Provenance : Private collection
