nVariations of sodomy, pederasty, bestiality, and necrophilia are interwoven with gleeful blasphemy in this seminal collection of poetry by Aleister Crowley. Inspired by Krafft-Ebings study of sexual perversity, Psychopathia Sexualis, it purports to be the literary remains of George Archibald Bishop, a neuropath of the Second Empire. Crowleys infamous first book, White Stains was clandestinely printed in 1898 by Leonard Smithers. Of the one hundred numbered copies that were originally printed, only a handful were spared destruction by Her Majestys Customs; an outcome which speaks against Crowleys decision to invoke the blessing of the Virgin Mary in his prefatory sonnet. Crowley would go on to establish himself as a leading figure in the Western occult tradition. A drug addict, bisexual, and proponent of sex magick, Crowleys flamboyantly impious lifestyle would lead the tabloid press to crown him The Wickedest Man in the World.