Books in the Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge series

First published in France in 1854, this highly popular two-volume treatise on ritual magic initiates the reader into the secrets of Western occult philosophy. This first volume, 'The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic', chronicles the philosophy of western magic and the esoteric.

Providing a thorough examination of Agrippa's life and works, Prost's biography follows its subject through his travels and teaching across Western Europe in the early sixteenth century. In addition to its discussion of Agrippa, Volume 1 provides an important history and discussion of the occult arts and sciences.

Confidence tricks and widespread delusions have gone in cycles throughout history, and the financial bubbles and illusions of haunted houses and popular manias are as relevant now as they were when Mackay published this book in 1852. A witty commentary with insights into human nature and the madness of crowds.

Edited by the writer and lecturer on spiritualism Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-99), this work purports to recount the spiritual experiences of the enigmatic 'Chevalier Louis de B.', allegedly a nobleman who was initiated into ancient occult mysteries. Britten translated and prepared the manuscript for publication in 1876.

Eliphas Levi (1810-75) was instrumental in the revival of Western occultism in the nineteenth century. This posthumous publication (1896), translated from an unpublished manuscript, outlines the meanings of the twenty-two tarot trumps and includes editorial notes on their iconography. It concludes with Kabbalistic prayers and occult and religious maxims.

Scottish philosopher and theologian James McCosh (1811-94) aimed in this work, which was published in 1862, to 'disentangle the confusion' about the relationship between the natural and supernatural. The book examines the question from both sides, discussing the laws of nature alongside apparently inexplicable phenomena such as miracles.

Printmaker James Caulfield (1764-1826) spent much of his career publishing books about 'remarkable persons'. This collection, done in collaboration with Henry Wilson (fl. 1820-3), was reprinted in 1869. It includes vignettes describing a wide-ranging and eccentric cast of characters and is accompanied by engravings of each person.

A tour of hoaxes, tricks and outrageous gimmicks, this book is the product of the American showman P. T. Barnum (1810-91), now famous for observing that 'every crowd has a silver lining'. First published in 1866, it provides an entertaining glimpse into the bizarre world of Victorian 'humbug'.

Intended as a companion volume to his bestselling Culpeper's English Physician, Ebenezer Sibly's 1795 work presents the body as a microcosm of all nature, its corruptions a result of imbalanced proportions of the four elements. Sibly draws upon Enlightenment science to try to prove an older, hermetically derived philosophy.

Martin Naylor (c. 1762-1843), a Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, was selected to give four annual sermons against witchcraft, following a tradition established in 1593 after the trial and execution of alleged witches in Warboys (Cambridgeshire). These sermons, and an account of the original events, were published in 1795.

Samuel Liddell Mathers' 1889 edition of this work introduces readers to a fascinating work of Renaissance occultism. Edited and translated from manuscripts at the British Museum, the text purports to disclose the secrets of history's wisest king, including how to summon God's power to create spells.

This extensive encyclopaedia, first published in 1877, is considered to be a classic Masonic reference work. It includes detailed information on the symbols, rites, legends, terms, people and places associated with Freemasonry. The author, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie (1833-86), was a nineteenth-century writer and Masonic scholar.

First published in French, this work by Eliphas Levi (1810-75) was translated into English by occult historian Arthur Waite in 1913. In this book, Levi traces Western magic from its origins in the ancient world to the nineteenth-century occult revival. Levi's French edition is also reissued in this series.

First published in 1902, this work by the mystic and historian Arthur Waite (1857-1942) establishes Kabbalah's significant influence on nineteenth-century occultism. The book chronicles the history of Kabbalist practice from its ancient Hebrew origins to its influence on other branches of the occult, including Rosicrucianism, freemasonry, hermeticism and tarot.

Lionel Weatherly (1852-1940) was an eminent British psychiatrist. In this work, first published in 1891, he examines a variety of supernatural phenomena, seeking scientific explanations for apparent apparitions and psychic abilities. The book also contains an entertaining chapter explaining magical illusions, written by famous stage magician J. N. Maskelyne.

The spiritualist and bookseller Frederick Leigh Gardner (1857-1930) privately published this three-volume catalogue (reissued here in a single volume) between 1903 and 1912. It contains detailed lists of books on Rosicrucianism, astrology and English freemasonry, with historical introductions by William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925), co-founder of the Golden Dawn.

Throughout his life, Frank Podmore (1856-1910) harboured a fascination for the supernatural. Published during a period of prolific writing and introspection, this 1908 work was the result of years of research, observation and analysis. It remains one of the most authoritative works on the phenomenon of spiritualism.

Bucke's account (1901) of his research and contemplation on the trend towards heightened intellectual awareness in man, through evolution, explaining his theory of the three stages of conscious development that culminate in flashes of understanding of the life and order of the cosmos, illustrated by his own and others' experiences.

Anna Kingsford (1846-1888) was a theosophist who campaigned passionately for women's rights and vegetarianism, and against vivisection. This book, first published anonymously in 1882, is a collection of lectures on theosophical topics including spirits, reincarnation, religion and myth whose author hoped to promote truth, liberty and reason.

This 1859 monograph revolutionised the scholarly understanding of the ancient Near East by producing evidence that a highly developed, literate civilisation had existed in Babylon long before the rise of the Greeks. Chwolson discusses a group of texts on agriculture, medicine and astrology that survive in tenth-century Arabic translations.

Sir Hermann Gollancz (1852-1930) was Professor of Hebrew at University College London and became the first English rabbi to receive a knighthood. This illustrated edition and translation of three Syriac manuscripts containing Eastern Christian charms against illness or injury was first published in 1912.

Harry Houdini (1874-1926), real name Erik Weisz, was one of the most famous magicians and escapologists of all time. In this book, published in 1924, he described the mediums and psychics whom he revealed as fraudulent, exposing the tricks by which they had convinced many notable scientists and academics.

Walter Scott (1779-1858), President and Theological Tutor at Airedale College in Bradford, delivered a series of lectures on the occult at the Congregational Library in 1841. This volume is a collection of those lectures which use scriptural and testimonial evidence to evaluate the existence of evil spirits and 'fallen angels'.