(#168374) FALLACY OF GHOSTS, DREAMS, AND OMENS; WITH STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT, LIFE-IN-DEATH, AND MONOMANIA. Charles Ollier.

FALLACY OF GHOSTS, DREAMS, AND OMENS; WITH STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT, LIFE-IN-DEATH, AND MONOMANIA. London: Charles Ollier, Southampton Street, Strand, 1848. Small octavo, pp. [1-4] [1-3] 4-251 [252: printer's imprint], three inserted plates with engravings after drawings by George Measom, publisher's decorated plum cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold and blind, top and fore edges untrimmed, light yellow coated endpapers. First edition. "With one exception, the following papers appeared four or five years ago in successive numbers of 'AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE.' They are now collected and reprinted (after revision and enlargement) by the courteous permission of William Harrison Ainsworth" (note on verso of title leaf). This book belongs to that shadowy genre popular in the early nineteenth century that exploited curiosity about the occult at the same time that it appeared to reprimand such an attitude. The first half of the book is arranged thematically, with chapters on the fallacies of dreams, spectral appearances, and night noises, with many short examples in each. The second half has four well-developed (though ultimately rationalized) stories of witchcraft, premature burials and haunted houses. Allibone II, p. 1456. Not in Sadleir or Wolff. Eaton Catalogue II, p. 516. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978) or Reginald (1979; 1992). Slight spine lean, cloth lightly worn at spine ends and corner tips, a very good copy. (#168374).

Price: $875.00

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