VERY PECULIAR PEOPLE - DIngwall 1st 1950 ABNORMAL UNCANNY PERSONALITIES - SIGNED

VERY PECULIAR PEOPLE - PORTRAIT STUDIES IN THE QUEER, THE ABNORMAL AND THE UNCANNY

Book Details + Condition: Rider and Company (London). First Edition, 1950. 224 pages, with 11 plates. Signed and inscribed by the author, E.J. Dingwall, on a piece of paper attached to the front endpaper ("With the compliments of the author.") Five studies of unusual individuals: Hadrian Beverland, a Dutch savant of the late seventeenth century who was persecuted for his heretical opinions on sex and religion and eventually fell into psychosis; Emanuel Swedenborg who in late middle-age began to experience visions which led him to set down a complex mystical philosophy; Johann Jetzer, a Dominican whose embrace of heretical views led to his being burned on Inquisatorial pyres; St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, whose religious fervor peaked when flogged or humiliated, and Eusapia Palladino, one of the most famous of the physical mediums of her day. Tight binding; bumped and rubbed corners and edges; moderate shelf wear to boards; bookplate on front endpaper; text is clean and unmarked.