Cavendish’s classic in its original glory.

The Black Arts after Fifty Years

Celebrating an outcast classic

This essay is adapted from my introduction to the 50th anniversary edition of The Black Arts (2017).

This year marks the 50th anniversary of historian Richard Cavendish’s landmark study of the occult, The Black Arts. The publication of Cavendish’s book — 1967 — could be seen as a banner moment for the rebirth of occult and esoteric…