Taking trains. A travel book by Wilson, Rathmel F.R.G.S - 1935

First and only edition. The Channing Press. The Channings. Dawlish. 1935. Octavo. 300pp. + 1p publisher's ads. Original yellow cloth, a little discoloured, with spot to upper board and ink spot to lower board. Printed paper labels to spine and upper board, both chipped. Partially unopened.

Edward Archibald Rathmell Wilson (1875–1955) an actor, playwright, author, traveller, art collector and dilettante. A Rosicrucian, "Sine Metu", initiated 20/04/1913. A Theosophist. A regular contributor to the Occult Review and the Golden Dawn Magazine of The Brothers of The Path. He wrote the preface to Anthony Greville-Gascoigne's 'The Way of an Initiate' 1940.

"I have, you will find, made this title include not only trains of steel but also trains of thought".

A scarce oddity. The writing is in the style of his Occult Log Books for the Golden Dawn Magazine. For whatever reason, his name in this publication is spelled with one, rather than two "l" s.

His obituary, in The Shirburnian, is damming with less than faint praise: "He was fundamentally the literary dilettante, and had he been forced to write professionally his published work might have achieved wider recognition. Modern life after the first war, was not quite to his liking."