A new Kickstarter project is resurrecting a fascinating chapter of American retail history, when paperback books about witchcraft and the occult found their way into grocery store checkout lanes alongside everyday household items.
Spell Bound, a deluxe hardcover collaboration between Century Guild and Bibliomancers, documents the explosion of occult-themed paperbacks in the 1960s and 1970s. This new edition builds on their previous sold-out softcover, offering museum-quality production values to showcase how witchcraft imagery crept from the margins into mainstream retail spaces.
The timing of these publications wasn't accidental. As detailed in the book's historical context by Century Guild founder Thomas Negovan, traditional American and British housewives were increasingly drawn to occult themes as a form of empowerment during the sexual revolution. By 1970, 70% of American daily newspapers featured astrology columns, reflecting this cultural shift that manifested everywhere from television shows like "Bewitched" to local newsstands.
The Kickstarter edition includes an introduction from Bibliomancers archivists Astraleyes and Eric Nordhauser, plus rare witchcraft-themed artworks from Negovan's personal collection. Special production features include spot varnishing, a cloth-wrapped spine, and a matching debossed slipcase.
"The Season of the Witch had arrived," as the book notes, documenting a unique moment when the occult stepped "out of the shadows—and into our shopping malls."
Previously:
• The world's largest occult library has a public online archive
• Watch this unintentionally hilarious 'Kids And The Occult' VHS tape
• Toil and Trouble: a brief history of women using the occult as a form of resistance
