Twixt Two Worlds: A Narrative of The Life and Work of William Eglinton.

London: The Psychological Press.. 1886.

The life of a chancer

First edition. 285x220mm. pp. [4], 196. Frontispiece portrait of William Eglinton, eight full page chromolithographs and thirty-three illustrations in the text. Original grey cloth, lettered and decorated in red and black and in gilt on the spine. Soiling to upper cover and spine. Head and foot of spine rubbed and corners a little worn. Some foxing and the occasional marking but otherwise in excellent condition and the chromolithographs are very good indeed. 
William Eglinton (1857-1933) was, even by the standards of the circles in which he moved, something of a chancer. With the assistance of Madame Blavatsky, he forged a number of letters claiming them to be by Mahatmas. He was rumbled by Eleanor Sidgwick (no less) for faking slate writing and his public demonstrations of "spirit materialisation" were shown to be fraudulent when an audience pulled the fake beard of the "spirit" known as Abdullah. Even though most of the psychical and spiritualist community distanced themselves from the roguish Eglinton, he did find a supporter in John Farmer (and, perhaps surprisingly, Charles Richet) who defended him enthusiastically in this book, providing evidence for his "direct writing", apparitions and materialisations. Farmer was, as the editor of the journals Light and Psychological Review, a serious figure in the spiritualist movement. He was also the author of a seven volume dictionary of slang.

Ref. 5336