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ELSA BARKERLAST LETTERS FROM THE LIVING DEAD MAN1919 First American EditionFinal Volume of the “Living Dead Man” TrilogyAutomatic Writing • Spiritualism • Spirit CommunicationSamuel Weiser Occult Bookseller Provenance
BARKER, Elsa. Last Letters from the Living Dead Man. Written Down by Elsa Barker, with an Introduction. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1919.
First American edition. Octavo. 240 pages. Original publisher’s dark blue cloth with gilt spine lettering.
An attractive copy of the third and final volume of Elsa Barker’s celebrated “Living Dead Man” series, one of the better-known early twentieth-century works of automatic writing and Spiritualist literature.
Barker attributed the communications recorded in these books to the deceased American judge David Patterson Hatch, represented throughout the series as the communicating personality “X.”
In her introduction, Barker explicitly calls this the “third and last” volume of the series and states that the material was produced between February 1917 and February 1918, after which she ceased practicing automatic writing. Project Gutenberg
THE LIVING DEAD MAN TRILOGY
Barker’s series consists of:
- Letters from a Living Dead Man — 1914
- War Letters from the Living Dead Man — 1915
- Last Letters from the Living Dead Man — 1919
The present volume combines Spiritualist teachings with reflections on death, survival after bodily death, psychic communication, the unconscious, reincarnation, spiritual development, and the social and metaphysical consequences of the First World War.
Individual chapters include:
The Genius of America
Fear Not
The Promise of Spring
The Diet of Gold
The World of Mind
America’s Good Friday
The New Ideal
The Lever of World Unity
The Stars of Man’s Destiny
The Aquarian Age
The Watchers
Contemporary bibliographic records identify the 1919 Mitchell Kennerley edition as 240 pages and classify it under Spiritualism and spirit writings. Google Books
DAVID PATTERSON HATCH
Barker stated that the communications came from David Patterson Hatch, a deceased Los Angeles judge.
The supernatural attribution is presented here as Barker’s claim rather than as established fact, but it is precisely this purported spirit authorship that made the series notable within early twentieth-century Spiritualist literature.
SAMUEL WEISER BOOKSELLER TICKET
The front pastedown retains a vintage bookseller ticket from:
SAMUEL WEISER INC.
740 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10003
Samuel Weiser became one of the best-known American specialist booksellers and publishers devoted to occult, esoteric, metaphysical, and Spiritualist literature.
The ticket is therefore an unusually appropriate bookselling association for this title and gives the copy additional interest to collectors of the history of the occult book trade.
CONDITION
Very Good.
Original dark blue cloth remains attractive, with light rubbing and minor surface wear.
Boards remain straight, with only slight wear at the corners and edges. Spine gilt remains bright and fully legible.
Binding firm and hinges sound.
Internally clean overall, with normal age toning and occasional minor spotting. No significant staining or damage noted.
Front pastedown retains the Samuel Weiser Inc. bookseller ticket. Old pencil price of “$14.50” at the upper corner of the front free endpaper.
No ownership inscriptions, underlining, or substantive annotations noted.
No dust jacket.
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they form part of the condition description.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Author: Elsa Barker
Title: Last Letters from the Living Dead Man
Publisher: Mitchell Kennerley
Place: New York
Date: 1919
Printer: J. J. Little & Ives Company
Edition: First American edition
Pagination: 240 pp.
Binding: Original dark blue cloth
Language: English
Subjects: Spiritualism, automatic writing, spirit communication, psychical research, afterlife, metaphysics, World War I
An unusually attractive copy of the final volume in Barker’s Living Dead Man trilogy, enhanced by the surviving Samuel Weiser occult-bookseller ticket.
