Gandalf's Garden (3 results)

Softcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Size: 4to <12". 34 pp. Binding firm, spine worn. Slight marking front/rear pages, but body of book mostly clean and unfoxed. Covers creased and worn. Profusely illustrated. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 250 grams. Category: Magic, Paranormal & Occult; Britain/UK; 1960s; Sociology & Culture. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 48545.

[Esoteric Magazine] ORIGINAL MAGAZINE, the first issue with no text printed on the egg. A4 magazine (32 x 22cm), pp.32. Printed on various alternating pastel-coloured leaves, with occasional illustrations. Publisher's white, slightly glossy, paper covers, stapled twice. Covers detached. Well-thumbed, but essentially clean and intact internally. Covers heavily rubbed, with some marks, chips, and closed tears. Fair. The most hippie publication imaginable, chock-full of cosmic eggs and spiritual gardeners. This rare first issue (the magazine only ran for a total of six issues) contains a stream-of-consiousness piece by John Peel; an interview with 'Ghandi's Successor' Vinoba Bhave; various poems and satirical cartoons; a report from the Tibetan Monastic Centre; an excoriating piece on the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam; an extract from a book on Yoga; a profile of Swedenborg and his cult; and an interview with Marc Bolan about the name of his band Tyrannosaurus Rex. In sum: groovy, varied, and genuinely interesting content from a lost age of idealism and hope.

A rare complete run of the underground free press periodical published by the eponymous hippie community operating out of a shop in London's World's End. Gandalf's Garden emphasized the mystical interests of the late 1960s, advocating for meditation, yoga, psychedelics, and occultism. Contributors included Christopher Logue, Adrian Mitchell, Joan Baez, Spike Milligan, Mark Western, Mary Caine, Colin Bord, and Legolas. Muz Murray developed the periodical to nourish a rapidly growing community of dissimilar customers who visited his little shop in the unfashionable part of Chelsea to drink tea, attend spiritual meetings, and rest in safety. It was one of the first popular centres in London to openly invite teachers from any and all spiritual traditions to share their practice. The London hub of the Garden was dispersed in 1971, but rebloomed as several "seed" centres across the UK. The periodical is a striking alternative to similar underground press publications popular at the time (though Gandalf's Garden preferred to be called "Overground"). In contrast to the lurid and chaotic illustrations of International Times and Oz, which often contained exclusionary diatribes, Gandalf's Garden celebrated an open and understanding sense of community, reflected in its soft pastel and neon palate. "Gandalf's Garden is soulflow from the pens of creators - mystics, writers, artists, diggers, delvers and poets. A wellspring of love and anguish that those with searching thirsts may drink thereof" (Issue 1). 6 issues, quarto. Original wire-stitched psychedelic wrappers, contents printed on multicoloured paper. Profusely illustrated in colour and black and white throughout. A touch rubbed with a few marks, rare in such bright and excellent condition.