POSTHUMOUS HUMANITY: A Study of Phantoms

London: George Redway, 1887. First UK edition. Very good plus.. Rare first edition in English of this investigation of life after death, seeking to explain scientifically phantoms, lycanthropes, vampires, and Doubles by reference to "magnetic fluid" and the mesmeric ether. Energetic and detailed treatise on the "post-mortuary personality," a creature mainly distinguishable from the common Ghost by the author's vigorous application of scientific terminology and scientistic aesthetics. Writing with the noble aim of "rescu[ing] the people of our epoch from the enervating hallucinations of spiritism," D'Assier - a self-described Positivist and follower of Comte - disavows supernaturalism and superstition even as he finds accounts of incubi, werewolfism, vampirism, and astral projection entirely convincing, incorporating them neatly into his mesmeric ether theory.

With an appendix detailing the results of a survey distributed throughout India via the many outposts of the Theosophical Society, in order to discover regional variation in answers to such question as: "Have you knowledge of the dead making themselves visible to the living?" and "Have you knowledge of living persons being persecuted, attacked, or injured by the Double, or phantom, of a living practitioner of sorcery or Black Magic? Give particulars." This appendix was prepared by translator and Theosophist Olcott, to whom it seemed "that it would add value to the present work to collage for it the opinions of the Indian people respecting the shadow-world," and thus appears only in the English edition. 7.5'' x 5''. Translated from the French and annotated by Henry S. Olcott, President of the Theosophical Society. Original royal blue cloth, gilt-stamped spine. Brown endpapers. 360 pages, followed by 60-page publisher's catalogue. Pencil to front endpaper verso. Faint dampstain to upper edge. Spine faintly sunned; cloth slightly wrinkled. Mild edgewear.