THE FIRST MODERN GHOST STORY
A True Relation of the apparition of one Mrs. veal, The next Day after her Death, to one Mrs. bargrave, at canterbury, The 8th of September, 1705. Which apparition recommends the Perusal of drelincourt's Book of Consolations against the Fears of Death.
London.
Printed for B. Bragg, 1707.
Third edition.
8vo.
[4], 12pp. Disbound. Some short marginal tears, scattered spotting.
A rare apparition narrative, first published anonymously in 1706, commonly attributed to Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731), that has often been credited as the first modern ghost-story.
Although the proto-Gothic narrative is not original, with the tale possibly circulating as popular myth, this pamphlet's emphasis on its own textuality makes Defoe's rendition stand out. The preface, in which the author recounts the passing of the tale through a great many hands, seeks to emphasise the physical movement of the story across England and between social classes.
The work, as with other contemporary apparition narratives, presents Mrs. Bargrave's account of her spectral visitation as genuine; the intention to counteract materialistic philosophy and persuade those who readily dismiss such accounts as mere mental delusion both that the story is credible (and verifiable), and 'that there is a life to come after this'.
ESTC locates just three copies in the British Isles (NLS, Oxford, and Roderic Bowen), and only three further in North America (Philadelphia, Rosenbach, and Yale).
Although the proto-Gothic narrative is not original, with the tale possibly circulating as popular myth, this pamphlet's emphasis on its own textuality makes Defoe's rendition stand out. The preface, in which the author recounts the passing of the tale through a great many hands, seeks to emphasise the physical movement of the story across England and between social classes.
The work, as with other contemporary apparition narratives, presents Mrs. Bargrave's account of her spectral visitation as genuine; the intention to counteract materialistic philosophy and persuade those who readily dismiss such accounts as mere mental delusion both that the story is credible (and verifiable), and 'that there is a life to come after this'.
ESTC locates just three copies in the British Isles (NLS, Oxford, and Roderic Bowen), and only three further in North America (Philadelphia, Rosenbach, and Yale).
ESTC T175037.
£ 2,500.00
Antiquates Ref: 19759
