L. W. de Laurence

His publications, including his edition of the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses influenced the practise of magic among the African diaspora in the Americas, as well as in the Caribbean.

Laurence initially worked as a magnet healer and a hypnotist, travelling around Canada and the American Midwest where he achieved some prominence.

[1] His publishing company (De Laurence, Scott & Co.) and spiritual supply mail order house was located in Chicago, Illinois.

De Laurence was a pioneer in the business of supplying magical and occult goods by mail order, and his distribution of public domain books, such as Secrets of the Psalms by Godfrey Selig and Pow Wows or the Long-Lost Friend by John George Hohman had a great and lasting effect on the African American urban hoodoo community in the southern United States, as well as on the development of Obeah in Jamaica.

In addition, he is believed to have co-written some books with his fellow Chicago resident, the prolific New Thought and yoga author William Walker Atkinson.