Title: Art Magic,
or the Mundane, Sub-mundane and Super-Mundane Spiritism; A Treatise in Three
Parts and Twenty - Three Sections, Descriptive of Art Magic, Spiritism, The
Different Orders of Spirits in the Universe Known to be Related to, or in
Communication with Man; Together with Directions for Invoking, Controlling, and
Discharging Spirits, and the Uses Abuses, Dangers and Possibilities of Magical
Art
Author: Emma Hardinge Britten
Publisher: Progressive Thinker Publishing House
City: ChicagoYear: 1898 (First Edition)Binding Style: Hardcover
Pagination: 66pp + 2pp publisher's catalog
Illustrated: Yes
Book Details + Condition: Publisher's original cloth boards with silver title and price to spine, printed endpapers, black-and-white illustrations. A reprint of the first edition published in 1876. One of the best
known works associated with Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899). The book is an interesting overview of occult and religious practices, from ancient Egypt to
the (then) contemporary Spiritualist literature of Andrew Jackson Davis,
although with a particular focus on mediaeval texts,
the Cabala, and magic in general. Many suspect that Britten wrote the work
herself, although she claimed only to have edited it, and seemed to imply that
it had actually been written by one 'Chevalier Louis de B------,' a (possibly
fictional) Adept who she also suggested had introduced her to a highly select
and secretive occult fraternity called the Orphic Society. Corners lightly
bumped, some mild discoloration to the cloth. Endpaper hinges cracked but firm, pages browned — both flaws almost invariably
encountered with this edition, which used cheap paper stock. Text is unmarked.