PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH - 1893-1894, Volumes 9 & 10
Book Details + Condition: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. (London). First Edition, 1894. Hardcover. A large double-volumed edition, with Volume 9 being 407 pp, and Volume 10 being 466 pp, and Indices to front of each volume. Illustrated. Scarce first edition, original copy of PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH from 1893-1894. Publisher's original green cloth boards with gilt title, etc. to spine. Contents of this volume include Mind Cure and Faith Cure; Defense of Theosophists; The Mechanism of Hysteria; The Law of Psychic Phenomena; Indian Magic and Testimony of Conjurers; Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies; Hallucinations; Trance-speech and Automatic Writing; and much more. Notable contributing authors include: Frank Podmore, W.H. Myers, Oliver Lodge; Richard Hodgson, and others. Please see our other listings for more first editions of THE SOCIETY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, as well as information about the organization below. Interior hinges cracked, but binding remains firm; lightly rubbed corners; discoloration / aging to boards; light foxing to first and last few pages; interior 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.
