The History of Spiritualism

This 1926 publication focuses on key practitioners and contemporary accounts of nineteenth-century spiritualism and the passions and controversies surrounding it.

Arthur Conan Doyle (Author)

9781108033206, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

376 pages, 8 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.48 kg

The Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) is best known for his creation of the character Sherlock Holmes. Trained as a medical doctor, Doyle - like many Victorian intellectuals - became fascinated by spiritualism and its promise of communication with the afterlife. Doyle was a firm believer in the movement, claiming as evidence 'sign[s] of a purposeful and organized invasion' from the spirit world. In 1926, towards the end of his life, he published this influential two-volume history. Volume 1 covers the background and origins of spiritualism, beginning with Swedenborg before turning to the 'supernatural' events in upstate New York in 1848 that are generally regarded as the beginning of modern spiritualism. It then focuses on key individuals including D. D. Home, and on scientific investigations of spiritualist phenomena. The History provides valuable insights into Victorian and early twentieth-century culture and the controversies generated by spiritualism at that time.

Preface
1. The story of Swedenborg
2. Edward Irving: the Shakers
3. The prophet of the new revelation
4. The Hydesville episode
5. The career of the Fox sisters
6. First developments in America
7. The dawn in England
8. Continued progress in England
9. The career of D. D. Home
10. The Davenport brothers
11. The researches of Sir William Crookes (1870–4)
12. The Eddy brothers and the Holmeses
13. Henry Slade and Dr. Monck
14. Collective investigations of spiritualism.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]