The Wonders of Magnetism and the Mysteries of Turning and Talking Tables, by J. Trismégiste, Paris 1854
I enjoy digging through old online archives and republishing forgotten books for my personal collection, and sharing them with others along the way. In English, pretty much everything already exists, but many occult works originally written in French have never been published in English. What a shame! Since French is my native language and I'm bilingual, I figured I could translate these works and bring them back to life in the language of Shakespeare.
So here is one of these rather strange works: The Wonders of Magnetism and the Mysteries of Turning and Talking Tables, by J. Trismégiste, published in Paris in 1854 by L. Passard. The pseudonym is obviously a nod to Hermes Trismegistus. The book came out at the height of the table-turning craze, which had swept through all the Parisian salons.
The first part deals with animal magnetism. The author traces its history through the centuries, presents Mesmer's propositions and Deleuze's principles, then explains in very practical terms how to magnetize someone and how to wake them up. He then describes the "phenomena" obtained. Somnambulists travel at a distance to visit the sick, and some supposedly even went all the way to the Moon. You'll also find Du Potet's famous "magic mirror."
The second part is devoted to turning and talking tables. The author recounts their American origins. He then gives a genuine how-to guide. He also explains how to build your own "zoo-magnetoscope" at home.
Available on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/0bySciA0
If you have suggestions for French books you'd like to see translated, let me know. If the subject interests me, I might translate it :P
