W. H. Ibbett was a member of the Society of the Mercurii, an occult fraternity that operated in London in the early 19th century. Its membership list included such names as Edward Bulwer Lytton (author of Zanoni), Emma Hardinge Britten (well-known occult author), Richard James Morrison (author of Zadkiel), Robert Cross Smith (author of Raphael), and others. Ibbett wrote A Victorian Grimoire, his magnum opus, in 1854.