The Shadow World

New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1908. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 294pp. Duodecimo [19 cm] Gray cloth over boards with pictorial stamping on the front board. Slight spine roll. Extremities gently bumped and rubbed. Light foxing to the text block edges. Brief contemporary gift inscription on the front free endpaper. From the collection of Berkeley book collector and letterpress printer John Ruyle. Clareson 329. "One must regard this narrative as a fictionalized account of Garland's experiences with psychical research; yet one hesitates to call it a novel because, for example, there is nothing resembling a conventional plot. It divides itself into two parts. The first records a miscellany of incidents involving spirit writing, poltergeists, and spirit voices. The second presents a series of dialogues between a skeptical scientist and Garland. He concludes that he is ready to 'go wherever science leads' and hopes that life here 'is but a link in the chain of existence.'" - Clareson.