- The Stereoscope - Its History, Theory, and Construction
by Sir David Brewster, 1856, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London
This classic of photography describes the ease with which photographs
can be made with "ghostly" figures. Our copy is an original
edition but the book was reprinted by Morgan & Morgan, Inc. in 1971.
- The Busy Life Beyond Death by John
Lobb, 1908, John Lobb, London
Lobb was a Primitive Methodist lay minister and published the
journal, "Christian Age".This book of conversation with "the
dead" is illustrated with photographs by Robert Boursnell. The
book is bound in light blue cloth with a beautiful embossed silver
illustration of "The Spirit of Lily Materialized."
-
Photographing the Invisible by James
Coates, 1911, Advanced Thought Publishing Co., Chicago Illinois
This is the book of a true believer. To quote from the introduction,
the answer to the question "What is spirit photography?" is "...it
is impossible to doubt that such photographs have been honestly produced."
-
The Case for Spirit Photography by Arthur
Conan Doyle, 1925, George H. Doran Company, New York
Doyle was very much a true believer in spiritualism and accepted "proof" that
seems unlikely to have convinced the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
- The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle,
1922 George H. Doran Company, New York
These photographs, produced by two girls, are so obviously made
with cutout "fairies" that Doyle's lifelong belief in them defies
belief.
- Hours with the Ghosts by Henry Ridgely Evans,
1897, Laird & See, Publisher, Chicago
This is a skeptical look at the world of spiritualism at the end
of the 19th century. In the chapter on sprit photography he describes
a session with a photographer who demonstrates techniques to make "spirit
photographs" that look more convincing that those he has seen from "real"
spirit photographers. He also discusses "thought photographs".
- Photographic Amusements by William E. Woodbury, Ninth
Edition, 1922, American Photographic Publishing Co., Boston
In Hours with the Ghosts, Evans sites this book as an excellent
source for information on creating spirit photographs. This delightful
book was published in multiple editions from 1896 until at least the
1930s.
- On the Threshold of the Unseen by Sir William F. Barrett,
F.R.S., Third Edition, 1919, E.P. Dutton & Company, New York
This writer discusses spirit photography in the chapter called
On Certain More Disputable Phenomena of Spiritualism and even
calls it "the debatable subject of alleged 'spirit photography' but
does not dismiss the possibility out of hand.
-
Photographing the Spirit World by Cyril
Permutt, 1988 The Aquarian Press, Wellingbourough, England
This is a 1988 edition of a book first published in 1983 as Beyond
the Spectrum. The book takes a very respectful look at what the
author call "overwhelming evidence of supernormal photography". This
book is especially interesting to us because several of our photographs
and post cards are used as illustrations in the book. This was the
source of much of the information on our site.
-
The World of Ted Serios "Thoughtographic"
Studies of an Extraordinary Mind by Jule Eisenbud,
M.D., 1967, William Morrow & Company Inc., New York
This book
features a 20th century practitioner of "thoughtography"
very much like Mrs. Deane earlier in that century.
- A Magician Among the Spirits by Harry Houdini, A facsimile
of a ©1924, Harper & Brothers, New York and London, reprinted
by Time Life Books for the Collector's Library of the Unknown
Harry Houdini dedicated himself to unmasking charlatans in spiritualism
that pitted him against his friend Arthur Conan Doyle.
- The Table-Rappers by Ronald Pearsall 1972, Michael
Joseph, London
- Ghosts in Photography by Fred Gettings,
1978, Harmony Books, New York
- Northlight - The Journal of the Photographic
Historical Society of America, Vol. 5 No. 2 Summer 1978 and Vol. 5
No. 3 Fall
1979 - Two part article The Spirits of Mumler by John Dobran
- Spook Crooks! Exploring the Secrets of the Prophet-eers Who
Conduct Our Wickedest Industry by Julien J. Proskauer 1932, A. L. Burt Company,
New York and Chicago
Proskauer was a professional magician who set out to expose fraud in
spiritualism, including spirit photography.
- The Camera Fiend by E. Hornung, 1911, Charles Scribner's Sons, New
York
A novel for young people about a ruthless doctor who attempts to photograph
the spirit leaving the body at the instant of death with a unique stereo
camera.
- The Haunting of L. by Howard Norman, 2002, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
New York
A novel set in Nova Scotia in the 1920s deals with a purported spirit
photographer. It draws quotes from an actual book, Chronicle of
the Photographs of Spiritual Beings, 1882 by Georgianna Houghton.
- The
Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult by Clement
Cheroux, Andreas Fischer and Pierre Apraxine, Denis Canguilhem,
Sophie Schmit, 2004, Yale University Press, New Haven and London
This
stunning book is the catalogue for the exhibition of the same name
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from September 27
to December 31, 2005.
- Telegrams From the Dead is a video tape
of a 1994 episode of The American Experience series by WGBH Educational
Foundation shown on PBS. It chronicles the rise of Spiritualism as
a 19th century religion. We were consultants and provided the props
and the photographic reenactment for the segment on William Mumler
photographing Mary Todd Lincoln.
- The Veil Lifted - Modern Developments of
Spirit Photography: a paper by J. Traill Taylor. Letter by the Rev.
H.R. Haweis, Addresses by James Robertson, and Miscellania by Andrew
Glendinning, Whittaker & Co., London 1894 has
been added to our collection.
- The Strange Case of William Mumler Spirit Photographer by
Louis Kaplan, University of Minnesota Press, 2008 includes a reproduction
of our Mumler photograph of Capt. Montgomery.
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