PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH - 1903-1904, Volume 18
Book Details + Condition: R. Brimley Johnson (London). First Edition, 1904. Hardcover. 548 pages, with Index to rear. Illustrated. Scarce first edition, original copy of PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH from 1903-04. Publisher's original green cloth boards with gilt title, etc. to spine. Contents of this volume include: Unusual Psychological Phenomena; Multiple Personalities; Poltergeists; Haunted Houses; and much more. Notable contributing authors include: Andrew Lang; Sir Oliver Lodge; James Hyslop; 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. Firm binding; rubbed corners and edges; some discoloration and aging to boards; front free endpaper is attached to inside front board (some old moisture wrinkling to first few pages); 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.
