“We’re transforming Old Street,” reads the sign affixed to the construction site, next to which stand a team of bobbies cuffing a bewildered homeless woman, her possessions in plastic bags at her side. I observe and take note from the upper level of a double-decker bus headed to the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History. My thoughts return to the woman throughout the afternoon, part of her lingering in my awareness as I view paintings and illustrations by Mervyn Peake and Austin Osman Spare. Apart from Éliphas Lévi and a small Fabian contingent that included H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw, the figures I’ve been reading about at the British Library seem to have left these stones unturned.
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Trance-Scripts 
Great post 🙂
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Loving your travelogue.
And learning stuff. There’s a song by Bulldog Breed on their 1969 album ‘Made in England’ called ‘Austin Osmanspare’. Never imagined it was based on a real person.
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Thanks, Bruce! He’s a fascinating figure, virtually forgotten around the time of his death but then rediscovered and looming large as an influence upon artists like Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. I’ll have to check out that Bulldog Breed album!
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