PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH - 1920-1921, Volume 31
Book Details + Condition: Robert MacLehose & Company (Glasgow, Scotland). First Edition, 1921. Four (4) original softcover volumes loose in original corresponding hardcover boards. Includes all parts of Volume 31: May 1920 (Part LXXIX); November 1920 (Part LXXX); April 1921 (Part LXXXI); July 1921 (Part LXXXI, Appendix). Pagination: 104 pp; 135 pp; 174 pp; 56 pp. Includes separate Index for Volume XXXI. Illustrated. Contents of this volume include: Case of Multiple Personalities; Psychological Foundation in Belief of Sprites; Cases of Apparent Thought Transference; New Methods of Research; and much more. Please see our other listings for more first editions of THE SOCIETY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, as well as information about the organization below. Light wear to hardcover boards; original softcover volumes show fading / discoloration to covers; text is clean and free of markings.
The Society for Psychical Research was created in 1882, with Henry Sidgwick serving as its first president. Its stated purpose was to apply scientific methods to the investigation of psychic phenomena and the paranormal. Areas of study included hypnotism, dissociation, thought-transference, mediumship, spirit possession, apparitions and haunted houses and the physical phenomena associated with séances. The SPR were the first to introduce a number of neologisms which have entered the English language, such as 'telepathy', which was coined by Frederic Myers. Much of the early work involved investigating, exposing and in some cases duplicating fake phenomena. Among its most renowned members were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Price, and William T. Stead.
