< Back

Conan Doyle, Arthur.
The History of Spiritualism.
Publisher: Cassell and Company Ltd., London;
Date of Publication: 1926
Stock Code: 14176
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp., xiii, 342; vii, 342, including pp., 34 Index and pp., 1 publisher’s catalogue at end of ‘Psychic Books by Arthur Conan Doyle’. With 16 plates as called for. Publisher’s steel blue cloth ruled in blind to upper boards, titles in gilt to spines. Both spines lightly sunned, foxing to fore-edge and light marginal foxing to both volumes. A solid, smart set in the publishers’ original cloth. Though known for the creation of fiction’s most famous detective, Conan Doyle was also a staunch supporter of the spiritualist movement. Volume one focuses on the origin of the spiritualist movement, whilst volume two contains biographies of notable mediums, the two volumes forming a comprehensive history of the movement. Conan Doyle’s belief in spiritualism was so strong that he continued to defend spirit photographer William Hope as genuine, despite glaring evidence he was a fraud. His friendship with Harry Houdini also ended on account of Conan Doyle’s enduring belief Houdini had supernatural abilities. £480.00