1919 ELSA BARKER Last Letters LIVING DEAD MAN Spiritualism Occult WEISER For Sale

1919 ELSA BARKER — LAST LETTERS FROM THE LIVING DEAD MANFirst New York EditionFinal Volume of the “Living Dead Man” TrilogyAutomatic Writing • Spiritualism • Life After DeathSamuel Weiser Bookseller Provenance

BARKER, Elsa. Last Letters from the Living Dead Man. Written Down by Elsa Barker, with an Introduction. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1919.

Octavo. 240 pages. Original publisher’s dark blue cloth with gilt spine lettering.

An attractive 1919 New York edition of the third and final volume in Elsa Barker’s influential “Living Dead Man” trilogy, a notable work of early twentieth-century Spiritualism, automatic writing and psychical literature.

Barker stated that the communications recorded in the series came through automatic writing from the deceased Los Angeles judge David Patterson Hatch, identified in the books as “X.” Contemporary bibliographic records identify the 1919 Mitchell Kennerley edition as 240 pages.

THE “LIVING DEAD MAN” SERIES

The series began with:

• Letters from a Living Dead Man — 1914
• War Letters from the Living Dead Man — 1915
• Last Letters from the Living Dead Man — 1919

In her introduction to this volume, Barker explicitly describes it as the “third and last” book in the series and states that it was written between February 1917 and February 1918.

The book explores such subjects as:

• death and survival after death
• automatic writing
• communication with spirits
• consciousness and the unconscious
• spiritual development
• reincarnation and metaphysical speculation
• the First World War and its spiritual implications
• the relationship between material and spiritual existence

The work belongs to the flourishing culture of Spiritualism and psychical research surrounding and immediately following the First World War.

DAVID PATTERSON HATCH

Barker attributed the communications in the series to David Patterson Hatch (1846–1912), a former Los Angeles judge.

Library and bibliographical records for the work identify Hatch as the purported communicating spirit and classify the book under Spiritualism and spirit writings.

SAMUEL WEISER BOOKSELLER TICKET

The front pastedown retains a vintage bookseller ticket from:

Samuel Weiser Inc.
740 Broadway
New York City

Samuel Weiser became one of the best-known American specialist dealers and publishers in occult, esoteric and metaphysical literature, making the surviving ticket especially appropriate to the subject of the book.

It gives this copy an appealing additional association with the twentieth-century trade in occult and Spiritualist books.

CONDITION

Very Good to Very Good+.

The original dark blue cloth remains clean and attractive, with only light surface rubbing.

The boards are square, with sharp corners and no significant bumping. The gilt lettering on the spine remains bright, crisp and fully legible.

The binding is firm, the hinges secure and the text block sound.

Internally the pages are clean and well preserved, with normal age toning.

The front pastedown bears the original Samuel Weiser Inc. bookseller ticket. An old pencil price of “$14.50” appears at the upper corner of the front free endpaper.

No ownership inscriptions, underlining or annotations noted.

Please examine the photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

Author: Elsa Barker (1869–1954)
Title: Last Letters from the Living Dead Man
Publisher: Mitchell Kennerley
Place: New York
Date: 1919
Printer: J. J. Little & Ives Company
Edition: 1919 New York edition
Format: Octavo
Pagination: 240 pp.
Binding: Original dark blue cloth
Language: English
Subjects: Spiritualism, automatic writing, spirit communication, psychical research, afterlife, metaphysics, World War I

A particularly attractive early copy of an important American Spiritualist work, enhanced by the Samuel Weiser occult-bookseller ticket.