The Kingdom of the Lost
London: The Bodley Head, 1947.
First edition. 256pp. Blue cloth with black lettering. Near Fine with cloth a little sunned along top edge, corners a little bumped. In Very Good unclipped dust jacket, a little toned, slightly chipped at extremities with some scuffs to back panel. Small envelope mounted on front free endpaper containing two page letter from author on his stationary, dated October 25, 1956. He addresses a Mrs. Jones whose husband apparently was exhibiting signs of paranoia and schizophrenia; the author (admittedly not a doctor) recommends one and proposes Jones meet with him at a cafe. An account of recovery from schizophrenia with the author's treatment-of-choice being yoga. A 1948 British Medical Journal review of the book states: "Mr. Ogdon believes he is almost unique among schizophrenics in having cured himself without medical aid. Of the reality of the cure there can be little doubt, although the selfconscious psychiatrist is likely here and there to pick on a sequence of thought or a mode of expression that bears a schizophrenic stamp. Nor can there be much doubt that Mr. Ogdon did a very great deal to help himself, though once again those who are not disciples of Yoga or of Baudouin will be unable to follow him all the way in what he says. The main help that these mental disciplines provided was probably not in halting the progress of the disease, which seems to have unldergone a spontaneous remission, but in enabling the patient to rid himself of residual symptoms." An uncommon book with an unusual Eastern medicine focus.
Price: $150.00