first edition of this five-act dark comedy in alexandrines; issue with the imprint of Barabbas and Company (instead of the typically seen Wieland and Co.) on the title. A small number of copies were printed with both titles, but we could find no reference to a copy with the Barabbas and Company title alone.
The half-title is inscribed and signed: "Aleister Crowley / Library Copy." An additional inscription in his hand on the verso reads "La passion religieuse de Levi Clef des grs Mystères p 123," referring to Eliphas Levi's influential occult work, of which Crowley published a translation as The Key of the Great Mysteries. The passage cited concerns the relationship between the religious passion of the saints and the extremes of romantic passion, a theme which is manifested in Mortadello in such scenes as the spontaneous generation of stigmata upon a morbid but intensely passionate courtesan.