Conjuring Up Philip: An Adventure in Psychokinesis
Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1976.
First edition. (Issued same year as the American edition, quite possibly preceding it.) [xx], 217 pp. Original black cloth with green spine lettering. Very Good with slight perfume smell, a little bowing to boards, former owner's name on front free endpaper, a few reading smudges. In Very Good+dust jacket with wear at head, scuffing along fore edge. Uncommon.
This book is the most thorough, best-known account of the "Philip experiment,"an attempt in 1972 by a number of Canadian intellectuals to conjure up a spirit entirely of their own design. The spirit's name, Philip Aylesford, and backstory (suicide, witchcraft, and betrayal in early 17th-century England) were fabricated by the participants together. They then had a seance to reach this fictional character. Their results were intriguing, begging the question of co-creation, of whether or not people are partially inventing or facilitating their own paranormal experiences.
Price: $200.00