SEEING GHOSTS
GURNEY, Edmund, Frederic W.H. MYERS, and Frank PODMORE.
Phantasms of the Living …
London, Society for Psychical Research, and Trübner & Co, 1886.
Two vols, 8vo, pp. lxxxiv, 573, [1]; xxvii, [1], 733, [1], with half-titles; numerous illustrations within the text; some scattered foxing at extremities; else a very good copy in modern quarter black morocco with patterned paper sides and vellum tips, spine lettered directly in gilt.
First edition, second issue as usual, with the note regarding corrections and additions on the verso of the title-page of vol. I and said Corrections included.
Phantasms contains much of the early work of the Society for Psychical Research, documenting over 700 cases studies of ghosts, and covering telepathy, hypnotism, dreams, hallucinations, &c. Aided by Eleanor and Henry Sidgwick, Phantasms attempted to ‘prove the reality of telepathy, and to demonstrate that “phantasms” (impressions, voices, or figures) of persons undergoing some crisis – especially death – are perceived by their friends and relatives with a frequency which mere chance cannot explain’ (Schultz, Henry Sidgwick (2004), p. 319).
