10
The Law is for All
It is not known what assistance, if any, Professor Butler gave 
to Wilkinson, but he quickly produced a first draft in 1946 e.v. It 
is reasonable to assume that Crowley reviewed the result, as a 
copy was found among his papers. Wilkinson made heavy cuts, 
but his selection brought the work into better balance and focus.1
1 Based on the pagination of the present edition, Chapter I was cut from 
114 to 64 pages, Chapter II from 79 to 67 pages, and Chapter III from 
49 to 35 pages.
2 It was however uncirculated. See John Cowper Powys, Letters to Louis 
Wilkinson (London: Village Press, 1974), p. 192n.
3 An exemplary executor, Wilkinson managed the English side of Crow­
ley’s complex affairs virtually singlehandedly; his co-executor, John 
Symonds, was preoccupied with writing his hostile biography, The 
Great Beast (1951).
4 John Symonds, letter to Gerald Pollinger, April 2, 1986.
5 Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on the Book of the Law 
(Montréal: 93 Publishing, 1974). Although the most complete edition 
to date, even this edition made substantial cuts.
Crowley’s death in December of 1947 suspended any publish­
ing plans, and Wilkinson did no further editorial work on the 
book, although he did believe it to be in circulation among the 
o.T.o.1 2 He was in any event preoccupied with settling Crowley’s 
affairs, as Crowley’s had named him an executor of his will.3
The very existence of this popular abridged edition was one of 
Crowley’s better-kept secrets. Neither Karl Germer in New York, 
(his successor as head of the o.T.o.) nor the archivist Gerald 
Yorke in England knew of the project until after Crowley’s death. 
Wilkinson sent his copy to Yorke in 1949; it is now at the War­
burg Institute, University of London. Germer received Crowley’s 
copy from the executors in 1950; this copy is now lost. Wilkinson 
sent a third typescript (minus his introduction) to Jack Parsons of 
the o.T.o. in California. Thanks to the Parsons estate, this is now 
in the o.T.o. Archives; the original typescript of Wilkinson’s 
introduction was acquired by o.T.o. in a collection of his Crow­
ley estate papers. Wilkinson’s co-executor John Symonds 
remained unaware of the existence of this edition until 1986.4
John Symonds and his colleague Kenneth Grant produced the 
first edition of the commentaries in 1974, relying on an unedited 
typescript that was much longer than this popular edition.5