THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH COMBINED INDEX
Book Details + Condition: R. Brimley Johnson (London). First Edition, 1904. Hardcover. 239 pages. Scarce first edition, original copy of the Combined Index for the years dating 1882-1901 (first volume). Publisher's original green cloth boards with gilt title, etc. to spine. Index corresponds to: "Phantasms of the Living," Vols I & II; "The Proceedings," Vols I - XV; "The Journal" Vols I - IX; and "The Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research". Includes Table of Contents of "The Proceedings". Firm binding; rubbed corners and edges; light wear to boards; interior is clean and free of markings. Please see our other listings for more first editions of THE SOCIETY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, as well as for more Combined Indices.
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.
