Nearly a century since it was first published by philosopher and lecturer Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages is making its way out into the world once again — this time under the name of art book publisher Taschen.

Known as Hall’s ‘Great Book’, its pages are filled with the esoteric philosophy and myth that the author came across during his travels in the 1920s. His journeys took him to Egypt, China and India, where an insatiable curiosity brought him into contact with a wide array of practices and rituals.

Later returning to his home in Los Angeles, Hall spent the next five years writing in glorious detail about everything that he had encountered, covering subjects as diverse as hermeticism, tarot, alchemy and astrology.

These writings formed part of a huge body of work that would become known as The Secret Teachings of All Ages, and the book itself would be a lavish tome worthy of the wisdom passed down by many great teachers throughout history.

Faithfully recreated for the first time, this new edition by Taschen hopes to make accessible what has become an exceedingly hard publication to find. The book features all of the original text and images, including nearly 60 ornate illustrations by artists J Augustus Knapp and Mihran Serailian, who were regular collaborators of Hall’s.

A couple of such artworks can be found on the front cover of the book and the rear cover of the slipcase, accompanied by an orange leatherette-bound spine with beautiful gold foil embossing. The impressive set also includes a companion book with summaries of each chapter, previously unseen artworks, and photography from Hall’s personal archive.

Finally, four of the illustrations by Knapp and Serailian have been turned into prints for the reader to study in detail.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages is published by Taschen; taschen.com