Shambhala [with] Fiery Stronghold [with] Lecture Announcement.

Item Details

New York & Boston, Frederick A. Stokes Co. & The Straford Co., 1930 & 1933

First, Very good

First edition. Octavo. viii, 316 pp. With a color frontispiece by Svetoslav Roerich. Publisher's burgundy cloth with gilt spine and cover lettering, front with a gilt design, patterned endpapers. Original pictorial dust jacket, spine faded and with some edge chips.

First edition. Octavo. (vi), 459, (1) pp. Publisher's cream cloth over orange cloth with gilt spine and cover lettering, dust jacket (slight spotting). A very clean and fresh copy.

Original Theatrical Handbill for the Roerich Theatre in New York City. New York: Nicholas Theatre, 1933. Handbill printed on both sides. Printed on blue paper measuring 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. No issues at all.

The Roerich Theatre, at Riverside Drive and West 103rd Street in Manhattan, was Nicholas Roerich's big push to establish himself in America. An early and monied devotee of Agna Yoga and Roerich's art, Louis Horch, committed to build a Master Building on Riverside Drive to showcase Roerich and provide a living quarters for all types of creatives. From the National Register of Historic Places - "The Master Building is a twenty-nine-story Art Deco skyscraper that was built in 1929 with the goal of combing art with everyday living. The building is significant under Criteria A in the area of Art for its associations Roerich Museum, which featured hundreds of the artist’s paintings, as well as two not-for-profits associated with the museum —the Master Institute of the United Arts and The Corona Mundi International Center. The Master Building is also significant under Criteria C for its Art Deco design. Primarily attributed to Harvey Wiley Corbett of the firm of Helmle, Corbett & Harrison, the building is one of Corbett’s most significant pieces of work and is one of the best examples of New York City’s Art Deco-style skyscrapers. The building is a designated New York City landmark."

The date of 1933 is important as it was when Roerich and Horch were still on good terms. By 1935 they started drifting apart and arguing an by 1937 a court ruled in favor of Horch's sole ownership of the Master Building. In 1938 the divide between them became severe and irreparable and Horst did away with Roerich's Theatre entirely.