The Rosicrucian Papers of Sissarrad G. Balyan records an archive of material Whittlesea purchased on eBay for £10. It was listed as simply ‘Rosicrucian Magazines etc’ and he was the only bidder. Whittlesea had long been interested in the American manifestation of Rosicrucianism which combined pyramid selling, perpetually deferred self-realisation and a strangely banal promotion of cosmic consciousness and reincarnation. 

The papers date from the 1950s when Balyan, an engineer, was based in Egypt. While living in Alexandria, a notorious haunt of cabbalists and gnostics, Balyan followed a correspondence course in ‘scientific mysticism’ from the AMORC (Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) Rosicrucians of California. 

Along with the monographs, magazines, correspondence and other ephemera associated with Balyan’s studies the papers also included a group of anonymous drawings and diagrams. Some are obviously taken from examples in the Rosicrucian Digest, while others show a serious young man in a variety of hieratic poses. There is no indication of who made them, or whether they depict Balyan himself, a friend or a lover.