The Cellular Cosmogony: or The Earth a Concave Sphere
Estero, FL: Guiding Star Publishing House, 1905.
Estero Enlarged Edition. 212 pp. with fold-out charts. Gray wraps over staples. Very Good with light wear to edges of wraps, tiny stain on fore edge, staples a bit rusted, hinge at front a little free. Internally clean, all fold-out charts in great shape. Published during the lifetime of Cyrus Reed Teed, who adopted the name Koresh, founded a religious commune in the Florida Everglades, and preached an unusual gospel of a concave earth: that we live on the inside of a sphere with the stars and sun occupying the center of the sphere. One of the most interesting endeavors of the Koreshans was the attempt to prove their theories scientifically; they would use lengths of wood along land and sea to "prove" that the apparent convexity of the earth was an optical illusion. With the death of Teed in 1908 the commune declined swiftly.
Includes illustrated "Koreshan Integral Cosmogony" pamphlet, single small sheet folded in half, b/w photo of Koreshan geodetic survey along coast. Also includes later commemorative pamphlet "A Gift to the People" by Hedwig Michel with early '60s Florida governor Farris Bryant's blurb, circa 1961.
A great example of weird Americana. Cellular Cosmogony is rare nowadays in its early editions.
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