About the Book
Reveals changing perceptions of ghosts at different social levels from the Reformation through to the twentieth century in Britain and America. This five-volume set focuses on the key published debates that emerged in each century, and illustrates the range of literary formats that reported or discussed ghosts.
Table of Contents:
Volume 1: 1660-1762: The Enlightenment? The Philosophical Debate Thomas Bromhall, A Treatise of Spectres (1658); John Heydon, The Harmony of the World (1662); Joseph Glanvill, Sadducismus Triumphatus (1681); A Narrative of the Demon of Spraiton (1683); Richard Bovet, Pandaemonium, or the Devil's Cloyster (1684); Richard Baxter, The Certainty of the World of Spirits (1691) Popular Literature The Suffolk Miracle (1670); A True Relation of the Horrid Ghost of a Woman (1673); A Full and True Account of a Strange Apparition (1685); News from Basing-Stoak ([c1685]); The Female Ghost (1705) Satire and Politics A Dialogue betwixt the Ghosts of Charls the I, late King of England, and Oliver the late Usurping Protector (1659); A new apparition of S. Edmund-bery Godfrey's Ghost to the E. of D- in the Tower (1681); The Ghost of Tom Ross To his Pupil the D. of Monmouth (1683); Patrick Swift-Sight, A Strange, Unprecedented and Unheard-Of Apparition (1714) End of the Age of Miracles? J Roe, The Certainty of a Future State (1698); [William Assheton], The Possibility of Apparitions (1706); Exact Narrative of Many Surprizing Matters of Fact Uncontestably Wrought by an Evil Spirit or Spirits (1709); The Wonderful Strange Apparition and Ghost of Edward Ashley (1712); Thomas Burnet, A Treatise concerning the State of Departed Souls (1733); Life after Death, or The History of Apparitions, Ghosts, Spirits or Spectres (1758) Volume 2: 1762-1820: Cock Lane, Common Sense and Morality Cock Lane Oliver Goldsmith, The Mystery Revealed (1762); A Seasonable Present To the Renowned Society of Ghost-Mongers (1762); Cock Lane, Humbug [nd]; An Authentic, Candid and Circumstantial Narrative of the Astonishing Transactions at Stockwell (1772) Education [Mary Weightman], The Friendly Monitor (1791); Richard Johnson, False Alarms, or, The Mischievous Doctrine of Ghosts and Apparitions (1802); James Plumptre, The Truth of the Popular Notion of Apparitions, or Ghosts, Considered by the Light of Scripture (1818) The Sampford Ghost C C Colton, Sampford Ghost, A Plain and Authentic Narrative (1810); C C Colton, Sampford Ghost, Stubborn Facts against Vague Assertions (1810); John Marriott, Sampford Ghost!!! A Full Account of the Conspiracy (1810); [John Wolcot], The Sampford Ghost, A Poem ([c1810]); The Sampford Ghost Surpassed ([c1810]) Cautionary: Popular Morality and Fraud The Ghost (1764); The Portsmouth Ghost ([c1810]); A Full Account of a Secret Murder: Brought to Light by the Wonderful Means of a Divine Providence ([1811)];The Power of Conscience Exemplified in the Genuine and Extraordinary Confession of Thomas Bedworth (1815); The Morristown Ghost, or, 'Yankee Trick' ([c1815]); Patrick Reardon and James Chorley, An Authentic Narrative of the Mysterious Warnings (1821) Volume 3: 1820-1848: Religion vs Science - The Debate Updated Religious Inspiration: Prophets and Spirits Robert Young, The Entranced Female (1841); William Reid Clanny, A Faithful Record of the Miraculous Case of Mary Jobson (1841); Moses Aaron Richardson, Authentic Account of a Visit to the Haunted House at Willington (1842); Vetus, Wesley's Ghost (1846); Sabin Hough, Remarks on the 'Revelations' of A J Davis ([c1848]) Explaining away Ghosts John Stock, A lecture on the Philosophy of Spectral Appearances ([1839]); R Buchanan, The Origin and Nature of Ghosts, Demons and Spectral Illusions Generally (1840); Robert Paterson, An account of Several Cases of Spectral Illusions ([c1843]); James Braid, The Power of the Mind over the Body (1846) Volume 4: 1848-1914: Spiritualism and Hauntings Advent D M Dewy, History of the Strange Sounds or Rappings (1850); E Gillson, Table-Talking: Disclosures of Satanic Wonders and Prophetic Signs (1853); John Prichard, A Few Sober Words of Table-Talk about Table-Spirits (1853); John Worth Edmonds, An Appeal to the Public on Spiritualism (1858) Further Developments William H Mumler, Personal Experiences of William H Mumler in Spirit-Photography (1875); William H Harrison, The Moral Status of Certain Psychical and Spiritualistic Organisations (1884); William Stainton Moses, Spiritualism at Home and Abroad (1885); Philosophus, Ghosts and their Modern Worshippers (1892); Elizabeth d'Esperance, What I Know of Materialisations (1904) Reporting Ghosts Henry Johnson Brent, Was it a Ghost? The Murders in Bussey's Wood (1868); Arthur James Melhuish, A Ghostly Annual (1883); H Lewis Scaife, A True Ghost Story, or, Three Nights in a Haunted House (1895); A Selection of Newspaper Reports of Supposed Hauntings: 'A Ghost Story', Leeds Mercury (1812), 'The Juvenal-Street Ghost', Liverpool Mercury (1841), 'The Orton Ghost', Preston Chronicle (1849); 'A "Ghost" at Chelsea' and 'Further Particulars of the "Ghost"', Reynolds's Newspaper (1853), 'The Handborough Ghost', Jackson's Oxford Journal (1857), 'A Murder Revealed by a Ghost, at Kendal', Birmingham Daily Post (1861), 'The "Haunted" Houses in the Borough', Illustrated Police News (1871) Volume 5: Spiritualism during the Great War From the Battlefields N H Barragar, War Lectures from the Spirit World by General Grant and Others (1918); [Harriet McCrory Grove and Mattie Hunt] (eds), A Soldier Gone West (1919) The Last Flourish of the Great Debate Fielding Fielding Ould, Is Spiritualism of the Devil? (1917); E A G and P W S S, True and False Spiritualism (1918); Frederick B Meyer, The Modern Craze of Spiritualism (1919); On the Side of the Angels, The Law v. Spiritualism ([1919])
Review :
'provides a valuable source of texts for anyone carrying out research into the debates about ghosts and related phenomena in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.' Journal for the Society for Psychical Research
