Rosicrucian Collection (Special Collections)

About the Rosicrucian Collection

Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship

The Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship was established in Liverpool in 1924 by Gerald Alexander Sullivan (1890-1942). In 1935 the Fellowship moved to Dorset, and built the Ashrama Hall and the Christchurch Garden Theatre at Somerford in Christchurch. Members studied occult sciences and esoteric subjects under the leadership of Sullivan and performed in the mystical plays he wrote as Alex Mathews and staged at the Garden Theatre. Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), who became known as the father of modern Wicca, was a member during the late 1930s and claimed to have been initiated into a New Forest coven by another member of the Crotona Fellowship. The Fellowship survived for only a few years after the death of Gerald Sullivan in 1942.

The Library of the Crotona Fellowship was deposited at the University Library in 1977.

Content

The collection includes publications of the Fellowship's Bohemian Press such as Rosicrucian Philosophy: Pointers for Students, Secrets of the Rosicrucians and copies of the plays by Gerald Sullivan writing as Alex Mathews e.g. Twilight on the Threshold: a Mystic Play. There are also biographies of the hermetic philosophers, books on theosophy, mesmerism and alchemy and works by those associated with earlier Rosicrucian groups e.g. Francis Bacon and Robert Fludd.

Extent

140 books ranging in date from the 16th century to the 20th century.

Using the Rosicrucian Collection

Access

The Rosicrucian books are part of the Special Collections Division on level 4 of the Hartley Library which is on the Highfield Campus.

The collection is held on closed access and material is fetched for use in the Archives and Rare Books Search Room, which is open Monday - Friday 09.30-17.00. Appointments are not normally required, but you will need to show a form of ID on arrival at the Library and on entering the Search Room. Material cannot be produced, without prior arrangement between 12.00 and 13.00.

You can request material:

  • By phoning the Search Room on 023 8059 2721 or ext. 22721
  • By emailing archives@soton.ac.uk
  • By visiting the Search Room and completing a request slip

Catalogues

The books are listed in the Hartley Library card catalogue, on level 3, and there is a handlist available in the Archives and Rare Books Search Room.

Reprographic service

Bound volumes cannot be photocopied but you can request photographic or microfilm copies, subject to the age and condition of the item.