Tangerine Dream Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 I can't seem to find anybody talking about this. I've always wanted to know where the picture that is next to the Stairway To Heaven lyrics in the inner sleeve of Led Zeppelin IV came from. It's a mysterious drawing of a bearded man reading a book, with symbols etched into the stones behind him. Who's the artist, when was is created, and, the most intriguing question, what are those symbols, and what is their meaning? There's one that stands out that I tried my best to draw and look for one matching it. Any information regarding this picture or the symbols would be really be helpful to my search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpat Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 I bet it was something Page dug up, or maybe the album artist. The word "London" seems to be on the rocks as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerine Dream Posted August 15, 2019 Author Share Posted August 15, 2019 5 hours ago, dpat said: I bet it was something Page dug up, or maybe the album artist. The word "London" seems to be on the rocks as well. I never noticed that in the rock. So interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 I've suggested it's an alchemist transmuting led into gold. Others claim the illustration is Dr. John Dee, an English occult philosopher. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 On 8/14/2019 at 8:31 PM, dpat said: I bet it was something Page dug up, or maybe the album artist. The word "London" seems to be on the rocks as well. I always saw that "rock" as a milestone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaweed gate Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 Interesting topic. Does someone know here if the illustration has been specially designed and drawn for the inner sleeve or if it's a rehash of a drawing preexisting to the record? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerine Dream Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 On 8/17/2019 at 11:52 PM, SteveAJones said: I've suggested it's an alchemist transmuting led into gold. Others claim the illustration is Dr. John Dee, an English occult philosopher. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee He does resemble the man in the picture. Could very well be him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_harris Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 I don't think it's Dee, pretty certain it's old artwork, possibly an old engraving. I don't think they're stones, maybe sacks of something? The symbol is mysterious for sure, could be a magic sigil / sign for the occultist in the image! so surprised this hasn't been solved yet with all the info on the Internet 😲 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_harris Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 (edited) found it (y) he is "The Merchant" from Canterbury Tales 1880 Chatterbox (magazine?) set of pictures inspired by Chaucer's characters!https://chaucereditions.wordpress.com/1880s/1880-chatterbox/ symbol is still a mystery, but from a late 19thC illustrator could be a made up symbol, or maybe Erskine Clarke was involved in some occult things, and that's where the symbol is from (and therefore, presumably, Page's interest/ desire to include the image..).. Edited January 3, 2020 by _harris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 5 minutes ago, _harris said: found it (y) he is "The Merchant" from Canterbury Tales 1880 Chatterbox (magazine?) set of pictures inspired by Chaucer's characters! NICE WORK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76229 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 4 hours ago, SteveAJones said: NICE WORK! Given Page's extensive collecting habit, I'd hazard he owned a copy of this book (maybe a reprint) and thought it'd look cool & mysterious on the sleeve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant's_Tale The tale of the merchant has a main character called Januarie (month of Page's birth!). The merchant's tale is part of "fragment 4" of the overall story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluribus Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 6 hours ago, _harris said: found it (y) he is "The Merchant" from Canterbury Tales 1880 Chatterbox (magazine?) set of pictures inspired by Chaucer's characters!https://chaucereditions.wordpress.com/1880s/1880-chatterbox/ symbol is still a mystery, but from a late 19thC illustrator could be a made up symbol, or maybe Erskine Clarke was involved in some occult things, and that's where the symbol is from (and therefore, presumably, Page's interest/ desire to include the image..).. The symbol is a type of merchant’s mark. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant's_mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tremelo Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) Did Jimmy own his occult book store at this point? I would imagine he found images from simply having access to that. Also back in the day I think I found a reference for every song title on the artwork, although it's strange, the human at the bottom of the mountain seems to have a dog's face. (Black Dog) a stretch, also I don't know if the jacket's I have had have just been scratched up but it seems like there is a storm by the mountains (rain) when the levee breaks (flooding?) Also Four Sticks would be obvious from the album cover, but also in the lantern itself. I was really into this album back then and just projected my own thoughts onto the artwork LOL!!! Edited January 4, 2020 by Tremelo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticks of Fire Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 On 8/12/2019 at 7:53 PM, Tangerine Dream said: I can't seem to find anybody talking about this. I've always wanted to know where the picture that is next to the Stairway To Heaven lyrics in the inner sleeve of Led Zeppelin IV came from. It's a mysterious drawing of a bearded man reading a book, with symbols etched into the stones behind him. Who's the artist, when was is created, and, the most intriguing question, what are those symbols, and what is their meaning? There's one that stands out that I tried my best to draw and look for one matching it. Any information regarding this picture or the symbols would be really be helpful to my search. Cool post I have the book which has the originals used for John Bonham and John Paul Jones and also Sandy Denny’s. It includes theirs and also has many others. There is this image which looks like the top part. I wonder if the symbol was “created” from other symbols much like the Zoso one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticks of Fire Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 On 1/3/2020 at 7:46 AM, _harris said: found it (y) he is "The Merchant" from Canterbury Tales 1880 Chatterbox (magazine?) set of pictures inspired by Chaucer's characters!https://chaucereditions.wordpress.com/1880s/1880-chatterbox/ symbol is still a mystery, but from a late 19thC illustrator could be a made up symbol, or maybe Erskine Clarke was involved in some occult things, and that's where the symbol is from (and therefore, presumably, Page's interest/ desire to include the image..).. Wow. Amazing find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 On 1/4/2020 at 11:28 AM, Tremelo said: Did Jimmy own his occult book store at this point? He didn't open his occult book store (The Equinox) in Kensington until circa 1975. At this point he was primarily acquiring books at bookstores and auctions in London and while on tour (book stores on Hollywood Boulevard in particular). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 On 1/4/2020 at 11:28 AM, Tremelo said: Did Jimmy own his occult book store at this point? He didn't open his occult book store (The Equinox) in Kensington until circa 1975. At this point he was primarily acquiring books at bookstores and auctions in London and while on tour (book stores on Hollywood Boulevard in particular). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredbloggs Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 (edited) Interesting topic,are there any photographs available of Jimmy`s shop Equinox aka "The Equinox (Booksellers and Publishers)Ltd" in Holland Street W8 at the time he owned it? I grew up in Holland Park in the 1960s-1970s very close to both Equinox and his house The Tower House but Holland Street is very small and only ever had about 5 or 6 shops in it so I never bothered to explore them at the time. P.S. Whilt I was searching for pictures of the shop I found this book which was published by it twice in both 1974 and 1975 https://openlibrary.org/publishers/The_Equinox_(Booksellers_and_Publishers)_Ltd I also found this little titbit about the shop http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location.php?loc=2645 Edited January 11, 2020 by Fredbloggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Albert 72 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 On 1/11/2020 at 6:33 PM, Fredbloggs said: Interesting topic,are there any photographs available of Jimmy`s shop Equinox aka "The Equinox (Booksellers and Publishers)Ltd" in Holland Street W8 at the time he owned it? I grew up in Holland Park in the 1960s-1970s very close to both Equinox and his house The Tower House but Holland Street is very small and only ever had about 5 or 6 shops in it so I never bothered to explore them at the time. P.S. Whilt I was searching for pictures of the shop I found this book which was published by it twice in both 1974 and 1975 https://openlibrary.org/publishers/The_Equinox_(Booksellers_and_Publishers)_Ltd I also found this little titbit about the shop http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location.php?loc=2645 http://www.englandunderground.com/city/kensington-london/listing/the-site-of-led-zeppelin-guitarist-jimmy-pages-occult-book-shop-equinox-which-closed-in-1979/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One who stands looking Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 On 1/3/2020 at 1:46 PM, _harris said: found it (y) he is "The Merchant" from Canterbury Tales 1880 Chatterbox (magazine?) set of pictures inspired by Chaucer's characters!https://chaucereditions.wordpress.com/1880s/1880-chatterbox/ symbol is still a mystery, but from a late 19thC illustrator could be a made up symbol, or maybe Erskine Clarke was involved in some occult things, and that's where the symbol is from (and therefore, presumably, Page's interest/ desire to include the image..).. Thank you! Great found! As to the symbol. I don’t think it’s a rune and I don’t think we see rocks in the background. I like to offer this interpretation: The person is a merchant. Therefore he is holding a ledger and he standing next to bundles of goods. You can see the rope around one bundle. The symbol is a so called own brand, which was used in the middle ages. I found several such own brands on the internet containing the figure 4 (or mirror-inverted). This was used in christianity to safeguard god’s blessing (sorry, it’s not occult). Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven, you know 😉 Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3hrsoflunacy Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 On 1/11/2020 at 10:33 AM, Fredbloggs said: Interesting topic,are there any photographs available of Jimmy`s shop Equinox aka "The Equinox (Booksellers and Publishers)Ltd" in Holland Street W8 at the time he owned it? I posted this in 2012, and I believe I got it from Knebby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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