Was Kenneth Grant a professional writer?

[merlin]

Pardon me for my curiosity. I understand that there is not much biographical information regarding Kenneth Grant, and the fact that he was a very private person probably contributed to this, the most detailed account about him being currently the Wikipedia entry. I was wondering in particular if Grant was a professional writer in his adult life, or not, and if not what was / were his mundane job or activity? 

[Michael Staley]

Kenneth Grant was a professional writer since much of his work was published, sold quite well, and earned him royalties. So far as I am aware, he had jobs in bookshops etc in the early and mid 1940s. Thereafter he wrote and tried to get his work published.

For instance, in the early 1950s he wrote two works, entited Magic' and 'Change', and sent these off to various publishers. He completed a study of Spare in 1954 and, after Spare approved it, sent it to various publishers. In the mid 1960s he was commissioned to write a book on Spare; although contracted by the publisher, they never proceeded with the book, but it did lead to the publication of 'Images & Oracles of Austin Osman Spare' by Muller in 1975.

In the late 1960s Grant was commissioned to write a number of essays for what later became 'Man, Myth & Magic'. In the late 1960s he embarked on writing a book about Crowley, and this became the first two books of the Typhonian Trilogies, 'The Magical Revival' (1972) and 'Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God' (1973).

So yes, Kenneth Grant was a profesional writer, with a succession of published works and consequently earnings from royalties.

[merlin]

Thank you very much for your answer, Michael. It's fascinating to know that Kenneth Grant was a writer by profession, especially for those years when getting published was harder than nowadays.