The Wanderings of a Spiritualist.

DOYLE, Arthur Conan.

Item Number: 127243

New York: George H. Doran Company, 1921.

First edition one of only 1500 copies of Conan Doyle’s personal account of his experiences with the supernatural. Octavo, original green cloth, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “Yours in the great cause of Spirit Arthur Conan Doyle May 31/22.” Tipped in is an autograph note from The Ambassador Hotel in New York signed by Doyle which reads, “May 30 My dear Stilwell, We are clear tomorrow (Wednesday). I could imagine nothing more pleasant than to start about 3:30 or later and drive with you, if we could get back about 6 or later. Perhaps you would let us know. Hurriedly, A. Conan Doyle.” The recipient, Arthur Edward Stilwell was the founder of the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf Railroad, predecessor to the Kansas City Southern Railway. He served as KCPG’s president from 1897 to 1900 and published many books after his retirement in 1912. He wrote novels, poetry and plays. He also wrote political works on world affairs and the monetary system. His writing attracted attention because in them he maintained that he had based many of his life and business decisions on the whispers of what he called brownies – nocturnal spiritual fairies that provided him with guidance. He notably claimed that his brownies had advised him not to make Galveston the Gulf terminus of his line, because that city was destined to be destroyed by a tidal wave — which it would be in 1900; he placed the terminus at a different location, which he founded and named for himself, Port Arthur. Arthur Conan Doyle and other authorities on the supernatural considered Stilwell to have the greatest psychic experiences known to man, according to a June 15, 1922, New York Times article about Stilwell’s gift. In very good condition. Rare. An exceptional association copy.

Doyle had a longstanding interest in mystical subjects and was preoccupied by the idea of paranormal phenomena, and his fascination with the practice of communicating with the dead was amplified when his son, Kingsley, was killed in military service during World War I in 1918. He wrote several works on spiritualism including The New Revelation (1918), The Vital Message (1919), and The Wanderings of a Spiritualist (1921) and became a member of the the renowned supernaturalist organization, The Ghost Club. The Wanderings of a Spiritualist is a deeply personal autobiographical account of Conan Doyle's experiences with the supernatural as well as his encounters, correspondence and meetings with other spiritualists including.