Apr 12, 2018 - Sale 2473

Sale 2473 - Lot 123

Price Realized: $ 531
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
WITH A GHOSTLY SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPH OF LINCOLN TAKEN IN 1872 (LINCOLN, ABRAHAM.) Human Nature: A Monthly Journal of Zoistic Science and Intelligence. 4 mounted albumen spirit photographs, 2 engraved plates, text illustrations. 12 issues in one. vii, 544 pages. 8vo, contemporary 1/2 calf, boards present, needs binding; full closed tear across title page, minor toning and staining, border of Lincoln photograph imperfectly printed. London, January to December 1874
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Spiritualism was a popular religious movement in late 19th-century America, and is still practiced today. A central tenet is the ability of the living to speak directly with the dead. This English spiritualist monthly made an innovation in its September 1874 issue with the publication of two "spirit photographs" taken by mediums. They boast that "it was the first time that Spirit Photography had been thus adapted in the history of our movement, with the exception of . . . one or two occasions" (page 431). Further examples were published in the November and December issues.
The December 1874 frontispiece is "Photograph of Mrs. Lincoln with Spirit of Abraham Lincoln and Son." It documents her visit to the Boston spirit photographer William H. Mumler. Though we can't make out the young boy, the faint outline of a shoulder and bearded jaw can be seen hovering over Mrs. Lincoln in the upper right, and translucent hands rest upon her shoulders. The accompanying article begins on the facing page, and describes how Mrs. Lincoln visited Mumler incognito. When told that the ghost resembled Lincoln, she announced "Yes, it does, and I am his widow."
The Mumler carte-de-visite of the Lincolns has appeared occasionally at auction, but we are not aware of any other examples offered as issued in Human Nature.