NACHRICHT von dem VORKOMMEN des BESESSENSEYNS : EINES DÄMONISCH-MAGNETISCHEN...

Full title: Nachricht Von Dem Vorkommen Des Besessenseyns Eines Damonisch-Magnetischen Leidens und seiner schon im Alterthum bekannten Heilung durch magisch-magnetisches Einwirken, in einem Sendschreiben an den Herrn Obermedicinalrath Dr. Schelling. Von Dr. Justinus Kerner.

(NEWS of the OCCURRENCE of POSSESSION, a DEMONIC-MAGNETIC SUFFERING, and ITS HEALING through MAGICAL-MAGNETIC INFLUENCE, which was already known in antiquity, in a letter to the Chief Medical Councilor Dr. Schelling. By Dr. Justinus Kerner.)

STUTTGART und AUGSBURG: Verlag von J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1836. First edition. TEXT in GERMAN.

Marbled paper covered card covers, black cloth covered spine, handwritten paper title label on front cover, small thin book, 4.5x7 inches, [2], 70 pages.

GOOD condition, mildly ex-lib with a shelving number label on the cover and a "Bible Society / Psychology" ink stamp at the bottom of the title-page, the covers have some scrapes, the rear cover fold is substantially splitting but the cover is still holding on, there is a thin tape ghost stain along the gutter edge of two pages, offsetting to the first and last page, and a previous owner's name and brief inscription in German dated 1889 at the top of the title page, overall a tight copy with pages that are tight, bright, and clear.

An original 1836 demonic copy of which you can take possession.

BIOGRAPHY OF MRS. J. H. CONANT - THE WORLD'S MEDIUM OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Being a History of Her Mediumship from Childhood to the Present Time...Selections from Letters Verifying Spirit Communications Given through Her Organism...Specimen Messages and Invocations from Various Intelligences in the Other Life...etc., etc., etc. By [John W. Day]. Opening Remarks by Allen Putnam

BOSTON: William White and Company / Colby & Rich, 1873. Second Edition, so stated on the title page.

Hardcovers, brown cloth covered boards, blind embossed "Colby & Rich" publisher's logo on the front and rear covers, gilt titling on the spine (including "Colby & Rich / Boston" at the bottom of the spine), 5x7.5 inches, 322 pages plus two pages of publisher's ads at the rear.

GOOD condition: The book has been professionally conserved, making the covers and binding nice and solid; the covers have some scrapes and rubs and the spine gilt is somewhat faded. Internally, the thin yellow endpapers show some creasing and a bit of edgewear, there is a slight crease to the upper corner of the pages, the front blank endpapers and the frontispiece are foxed, otherwise all the pages are tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. A solid, presentable copy, one of the nicer copies I have seen.

Though "William White and Company" is stated as the publisher on the title page, copyright page, and on the ads at the rear: the covers show "Colby & Rich" on the covers and spine. Here's what happened... Luther Colby was one of the founders of William White and Company. When William White died (or left, it appears uncertain which) in mid 1873, Luther Colby formed a partnership with Isaac B. Rich to take over the stock and operations of William White and Company. The first edition of this book was published in early 1873 before William White (died?), and was bound with "William White and Company" covers. After Colby & Rich took over White's stock and operations they published a second edition, also in 1873, with Colby & Rich covers but using the same first edition sheets, therefore leaving William White and Company as the stated publisher on the text pages.

About Mrs. J. H. Conant, Medium and Spiritualist (from Wikipedia and other Internet sources):

******Frances Ann Conant (aka J. H. Conant), b.1831 d.1875, was an American spiritualist medium. Conant was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Luther Colby, editor of the spiritualist newspaper the Banner of Light, funded Conant's public séances in Boston for seventeen years. Each successful seance was reported in the Banner of Light newspaper. Spiritualists claimed that Conant made contact primarily with the spirit of a deceased Boston physician who made diagnoses of disease and prescribed treatments. Conant was criticized by the Boston Courier and others for making fanatical, false and wild statements.******

CAGLIOSTRO (Joseph BALSAMO) : La Franc-Maçonnerie et l'Occultisme au XVIIIe siècle (Freemasonry and Occultism of the 18th century). D'Apres des Documents Inedits (From Unpublished Documents). By Henri d'ALMERAS.

PARIS : Société Française d'Imprimerie et de Librairie, 1904. First Edition. TEXT IN FRENCH.

Hardcovers (front cover disbound but present),

leather covered spine and paper covered boards, top page edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Pagination: [2] blank prelim leaf, [1] first title page with small engraving of Cagliostro, [1] blank verso, [1] half title page, [1] Du Meme Auteur / List of Author's Previous Works, [1] Frontispiece leaf with tissue guard, [1] title page, [1] blank verso, 386 pages.

Condition: The front cover is disbound but present, the rear cover's spine fold is worn and tender but holding, the spine covering is chipped and peeling, the boards are worn at their edges and have some scratches and rubs. Internally, the pages are toned along their edges, there is a previous owner's signature on the first blank page, otherwise the pages are tight, bright, clean and unmarked.

A complete copy of this SCARCE 1904 work on the Freemason and Occultist, Cagliostro, by the noted historian Henri d'Almeras.

About CAGLIOSTRO (from Wikipedia):

******Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, b.1743 d.1795, was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (Joseph Balsamo).

Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled magician. He became a glamorous figure associated with the royal courts of Europe where he pursued various occult arts, including psychic healing, alchemy and scrying. His reputation lingered for many decades after his death, but continued to deteriorate, as he came to be regarded as a charlatan and impostor, this view fortified by the savage attack of Thomas Carlyle in 1833, who pronounced him the Quack of Quacks. W.R.H. Trowbridge in his Cagliostro: the Splendour and Misery of a Master of Magic (1910), attempted a rehabilitation.

Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco credits to Balsamo the creation of the Egyptian Rite of the Freemasons and intensive work in the diffusion of Freemasonry, by opening lodges all over Europe and by introducing the acceptance of women into the community. Occult historian Lewis Spence comments in his entry on Cagliostro that the swindler put his finagled wealth to good use by starting and funding a chain of maternity hospitals and orphanages around the continent. Occultist Aleister Crowley believed Cagliostro was one of his previous incarnations.******

Reel-to-Reel Audio Tape recording of Robert Ornstein's Big Sur / Esalen Talk "On The Psychology of Meditation". . Produced by BIG SUR RECORDINGS, San Rafael, California, 1971. From the series "Audio Tape Recordings in the Forum of Human Potentiality and Human Growth".

Five inch reel 1/4 inch tape, housed in a printed 5 1/4 inch square box. The tape looks unused. The box has some rubs and has some signs of wear, but is solid and doing its job well.

BIG SUR RECORDINGS of HUMAN POTENTIALITY talks and lectures at the Esalen Institute have become quite scarce.

About ROBERT ORNSTEIN (from Wikipedia):

******Robert Evan Ornstein, b.1942 d.2018, was an American psychologist, researcher and author. He taught at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute, based at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, was professor at Stanford University, and founder and chairman of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK).

Ornstein was involved in reconciling the scientific understanding of mind and consciousness with other scientific and cultural traditions.

Ornstein worked to reconcile the wisdom traditions of the East and science in The Psychology of Consciousness and was interested in promoting the modern Sufism of Idries Shah. Shah and Ornstein met in the 1960s. Ornstein's The Psychology of Consciousness (1972) was enthusiastically received by the academic psychology community, as it coincided with new interests in the field, such as the study of biofeedback and other techniques designed to achieve shifts in mood and awareness.

His books The Psychology of Consciousness and The Evolution of Consciousness introduced the two modes of consciousness of the left and right brain hemispheres and a critical understanding of how the brain evolved.******

THE TRUE AND INVISIBLE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER - An Interpretation of the Rosicrucian Allegory, and an Explanation of the Ten Rosicrucian Grades. By PAUL CASE.

SIGNED and HAND NUMBERED by PAUL CASE on the front pastedown: "No. 152 / Paul Case".

Self published, second edition, 1928. Paul Case self published the first edition in 1927, limited to only 64 copies; it was NOT a signed edition. He then revised and enlarged his work and self published a second edition a year later in 1928. The second edition is a signed, numbered and limited edition. The exact limitation of the second edition is not stated, but certainly quite small. The 1927 first (unsigned) and 1928 second (signed and numbered) editions of "The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order" are the only editions that were self published by the author. Both are scarce.

Hardcovers, black cloth covered boards with red titling on the front cover and spine, ii + 101 pages, pages printed on one side only, mimeographed from an original typed copy, self published. Illustrated with a plate showing the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and one other plate; there are also a few small drawings within the text.

Laid-in the book are a group of Paul Case related materials, lecture announcements, remarks on the Tarot, a card about B.O.T.A., etc. Some of the items are covered with relevant handwritten notes by a previous owner, perhaps taken during a Paul Case lecture. There are also 8 typed pages on the Sepher Yetzirah, with hand corrections to mistyped words. Likely a typed copy made by the previous owner from a printed translation. An interesting grouping of ephemera from a dedicated occultist.

Condition: The covers' spine folds are scraped and have some tearing to the cloth, the boards have some water drop stains and finger marks, and the edges have a few scrapes, otherwise the covers are solid and doing their job well. Internally, the endpapers have light offsetting / toning, otherwise the pages are tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. The various ephemera is well used, heavily marked condition; but still cool!

RARE Early Source Material on Rosicrucion Occultism, SIGNED by THE PRIMARY SOURCE, PAUL CASE.

The Great Pyramid of Gizeh. A Symbol of Universal Truth J. Munsell Chase. Published by Chase & Rae Press, San Francisco, 1916. First edition. An uncommon San Francisco esoteric work blending early Pyramidology with the Theosophy adjacent symbolic and metaphysical interpretations circulating in West Coast spiritual circles. Chase presents the Great Pyramid as a living emblem of universal truth, moving through its history, dimensions, and chamber system while tying each aspect to ideas of fire, sacred number, the decad, the four elements, and the broader mysteries he believed began in ancient Egypt. Issued as Temple Talks Series 1 No. 1 and very difficult to locate today. Green printed paper wraps, staple-bound. Illustrated with eleven b&w plates and diagrams, including maps, sectional views of the King's Chamber, and symbolic renderings typical of early occult pyramid studies. Good + Condition: light wear to the wrappers, two bottom margin clear tape repairs to verso's of ffep and title page, corner creases, oxidizing to the staples but they're holding well, overall tight, bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce, only 3 copies in OCLC collections worldwide.

John Munsell Chase (1859-1941) was a San Francisco writer, publisher, editor, and occultist. He was Vice President of the California State Spiritualists Association and the Society of Progressive Spiritualists in San Francisco, and the director of the Mediums' Protective Association. He was editor of the "Philosophical Journal" a spiritualist weekly in 1903-1904. His publications include "The Riddle of the Sphinx" (1915), a work exploring esotericism, theosophy, and philosophy. The Great Pyramid of Gizeh: A Symbol of Universal Truth (1916), a detailed analysis of the pyramid's architecture and history. And he published maps of San Francisco. He passed away in Tamalpais Canyon, now Homestead Valley in Mill Valley after a fall.

Handwritten Index for Basilius Valentinus' "Triumphal Chariot of Antimony". The index was created at the Paracelsus Research Society. The Index is written in two 8x10 inch spiral notebooks filled with lined paper. The pages are written on one side only. The Index has a total of approximately 100 written pages. Laid into the first notebook is a sheet that briefly describes the Index and it's significance, and commends the student from Christchurch, New Zealand, who compiled the Index for the Society. The Index is undated and place unstated, but likely Australia circa 1980 (the "Collins Spirax" notebooks were made in Australia, .

GOOD condition, clean, with writing that is clear and legible.

A unique index to one Basilius Vaentinus's important work on alchemy.

About BASILIUS VALENTINUS (from Wikipedia):

******Basilius Valentinus (English: Basil Valentine), ostensibly a 15th century alchemist, possibly Canon of the Benedictine Priory of Saint Peter in Erfurt, Germany but more likely a pseudonym used by one or several 16th century German authors. Modern scholarship suggests that one author was Thölde, but that others were involved. Thölde published the first five books under Valentinus's name.

Whoever he was, Basilius Valentinus had considerable knowledge of alchemy. The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine is a widely reproduced alchemical book attributed to Valentine, first published in 1599 by Johann Thölde. It contains two parts, the second of which houses the twelve keys. These were accompanied by woodcut engravings from later publications in the early seventeenth century.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony was first published in Germany in 1604 under the title Triumph Wagen Antimonii,******

WITCHCRAFT: CATALOGUE OF THE WITCHCRAFT COLLECTION IN THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. Edited by Martha J. Crowe; Introduction by Rossell Hope Robbins; Index by Janes Marsh Dieckmann.

Published by Kto Press / Kraus-Thomas, Millwood, New York, 1977. First edition.

Hardcovers, red cloth covered boards, gilt spine titles, 9.5x12 inches, xxcviii, 644, [8]. A comprehensive catalogue of the 3,000+ titles in the collection, no illustrations.

GOOD condition: The covers are lightly soiled; internally, "MASTER SET - Do Not Remove From Shelf" is stamped near the top of the front free endpaper, overstamped with "WITHDRAWN", otherwise the pages are tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked.

An important bibliographical reference for that Witch in your life or soul.

From the Cornell University Library website:

******Part of Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell's Witchcraft Collection contains over 3,000 titles documenting the history of the Inquisition and the persecution of witchcraft, primarily in Europe.

The majority of the Witchcraft Collection was acquired in the 1880s through the collaborative efforts of Andrew Dickson White, Cornell's first President, and his first librarian, George Lincoln Burr. The collection documents the earliest and the latest manifestations of the belief in witchcraft as well as its geographical boundaries, and elaborates this history with works on canon law, the Inquisition, torture, demonology, trial testimony, and narratives. The collection focuses on witchcraft not as folklore or anthropology, but as theology and as religious heresy.

It features many early texts from the period when the theory of the heresy of witchcraft was being formulated, including fourteen Latin editions of the Malleus maleficarum, which codified church dogma on heresy. Four of these Latin editions were printed in the fifteenth-century, most notably the scarce first edition printed before April 14, 1487. The collection also contains other defining texts of the doctrinal discussion of demonology, such as Jean Bodin's De la Demonmanie des sorciers (1580), Nicolas Remi's Daemonlatreiae (1595), Henri Boguet's Discours des sorciers(1602) and Pierre de Lancre's Tableau de I'inconstance des mauvais anges (1612).

Significant in the collection are a small and extremely rare number of works by theologians who opposed the Inquisition, such as those of Cornelius Loos, the first theologian in Germany to write against the witch hunts. The most important materials in the Witchcraft collection, however, are the court records of the trials of witches, including original manuscript depositions taken from the victims. These documents, in both original manuscript and in print, reveal the harsh outcome of the more remote doctrinal disputes. Perhaps the most significant of all manuscripts in the Witchcraft collection is the minutes of the witchcraft trial of Dietrich Flade, a sixteenth century city judge and rector who spoke out against the cruelty and injustice of the persecutions in the 1580s. These and other trial documents are listed in the collection's finding aid.

In the 21st century, curators began building on AD White's witchcraft collection by acquiring modern materials such as posters and publicity for films featuring witches or sorcery, and newsletters on the activities of contemporary Wiccan and Pagan communities.******