Glimpses of the Next State: The Education of an Agnostic.
London: Watts & Co., 1911. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. xxiv + 642pp. Original green cloth lettered in gilt on spine. Index. B/w frontisportrait & plates. INSCRIBED by the author on the front free endpaper; "To [name illegible to cataloguer] with kind regards and pleasant recollections of many sittings together at Cambridge house, from the author, 13 August 1912". Cambridge House was W. T. Stead's home in Wimbledon, and numerous seances were held there with well-known mediums, including Etta Wriedt; with attendees including W. B. Yeats. The author, Vice Admiral William Usborne Moore (1849 – 1918), was a British naval commander, psychical researcher and spiritualist. He presented himself as an unlikely convert to Spiritualism, and was described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as "among the greatest of psychic researchers", but was often criticized for his defence of Mediums whose fraudulent activities were thought to have been convincingly exposed. He was extremely active in Spiritualist circles, and attended numerous sittings, including with materialization medium Frederick G. Foster Craddock; direct voice medium Etta Wriedt; American materialization medium Joseph Jonson; the Chicago "Spirit Portraitists" known as "the Bang Sisters" etc. etc. The book is a fascinating account of his experiences with Spiritualism, and the conclusions he drew from them. Contents: Preface; Introduction; Chapter I. Early Psychic Experiences; Chapter II. First Investigation in America; Chapter III. The Mediums. Craddock and Husk; Chapter IV. Mental Phenomena in England; Chapter V. Return of Thomson Jay Hudson; Chapter VI. Manifestations at Toledo, Ohio; Chapter VII. The Bang Sisters at Chicago; Chapter VIII. Etherialisations and the Direct Voice; Chapter IX. Third Visit to America; Chapter X. The Voices; Chapter XI. Analysis and Correlation; Chapter XII. Conclusions; Appendices: A—Waking the So-called Dead; B—Electrical Conditions. U. S. A; C—Mr. Hereward Carrington and Fraud; D—Fraud and Genuine Phenomena Combined; Index. From the collection of Dr. M. H. Coleman, with his ex-libris seal blind-stamped on the front free endpaper. Cloth a bit rubbed overall, light chafing to fore-edge of upper board, spine a bit canted, spine ends and corners bumped and lightly chafed, page edges darkened, endpapers unevenly browned, bookshop sticker, a little light foxing to first and last few leaves, pages toned but unmarked. Overall a tight, clean VG copy (no dust jacket). A fascinating association copy: hopefully further research might identify the original recipient. Item #54199
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