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Libra Esoterica

The history of spiritualism

vol. I and II

by Arthur Conan Doyle

  • First published:
  • 20th century
  • Languages: English, Russian
  • Content type: Fiction

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.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Afterlife, reincarnation, and near-death experiences, Cryptozoology and Forteana, Divination and oracles, Occultism and esotericism, and Spiritualism, mediumship, and channeling.

  • Retained metadata contains “supernatural” in the description.

    • supernatural· in description
  • Controlled discovery queries from openlibrary matched “Runes”.

    • Runes· via Open Library
  • Controlled discovery queries from crossref, libris, national-library-of-scotland, openalex, and openlibrary matched “spiritualism” and “Spiritualism”. Retained metadata contains “Spiritualism” in the title, “Spiritualism” in the description, “Spiritualism” in the subject metadata, and 1 additional metadata match(es).

    • spiritualism· via Crossref
    • spiritualism· via Libris, National Library of Sweden
    • spiritualism· via National Library of Scotland
    • spiritualism· via OpenAlex
    • Spiritualism· via Open Library
    • Spiritualism· in title
  • Retained metadata contains “afterlife” in the description and “afterlife” in the subject metadata.

    • afterlife· in description
    • afterlife· in subject
  • Cryptozoology and Forteana

    Controlled discovery queries from openlibrary matched “Curiosities and wonders”. Retained metadata contains “Curiosities and wonders” in the subject metadata.

    • Curiosities and wonders· via Open Library
    • Curiosities and wonders· in subject

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

Read & download

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Buy or borrow

Links to ISBN 0359746926; other editions may be cheaper. WorldCat shows libraries near you that hold a copy.

Editions

Open Library reports 29 editions; 8 cataloged here.

Crossref publisher-supplied book record

22 cm; 370 sidor

2011-06-02Cambridge University Press; Cambridge University Press / Katie Scarff; Cambridge University Press eBooksEnglish
  • 9781108033206
  • 9781108033213
  • 9781139059787
  • 9781139059794
  • +1 more
Catalog record

Norse discoveries and explorations in America, 982-1362; Leif Erikson to the Kensington stone

HathiTrust catalog record

1969Search-only preview

vol. I and II

Libris bibliographic record

1975English
  • 9780405070259
  • 040507025X
Catalog record

Subjects

21 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Identifiers

National Library of Scotland
  • 9917290073804341
  • 9917628063804341
  • 9934199263804341
  • 9935427243804341
  • 9944676883804341

Cataloging notes

  • Open Library reports 29 editions; this snapshot catalogs one representative edition and preserves work-level ISBN, date, and publisher aggregates.
Catalog id
openlibrary-work:OL262556W
Edition coverage
Multi source partial
Retrieved