1856 SPIRITUALISM. Full Year of Tiffany's Monthly, Devoted to the Investigation of Spiritual Science.

A very rare full year of Joel Tiffany's significant periodical which attempted to legitimize spiritualism theologically [as consistent with Christianity], philosophically, and scientifically. He was perhaps the most ambitious advocate for the naturalness, reality, and authenticity of the spiritual movement. 

And this fit right in for Tiffany (1811-1893). He was a typical man of the American Renaissance, busily plying away as a lawyer, a scholar, an inventory, sometime theologian, and then addition apologist for the Spiritualists to his resume. 

He became widely known for defending the Fox Sisters (early mediums) and contributing to the intellectual framework of Spiritualism, positioning it as a rational, philosophical pursuit of survival beyond death, not just magic, resonating with broader cultural debates on individualism and authority during that era.

Signed on the ffep by Dr. Charles H[artwell] Cragin, who was himself a speaker at Spiritualist conferences, etc., again, melding the sciences together with an attempt to under spiritualism as something more than superstitious hokum. Fascinating intersection of the medical sciences and pseudosciences of the era. 

Contents include extensive articles: Finite and Infinite; Modern Spiritual Manifestations; Free Love [Polygamy, Polyamory, etc.]; Spiritualism and its Opponents; Modern Mysteries Explained and Exposed; Spiritual Manifestations not Incredible; Modern Spiritual Developments; A Record of Wonders; Evidences of Spirit Activity; Loss and Recovery of Spiritual Intercourse; etc. etc. 

Very scarce, with none on the market at the time of cataloging and none in the auction record. Self-published. 

Tiffany, Joel. Tiffany's Monthly. Devoted to the Investigation of Spiritual Science. Volume I. 1856. 574pp.

Good + in original quarter calf, rubbed as shown, but very solid and generally clean with only minor foxing. Two early signatures of Dr. Cragin and a later ballpoint inscription on the ffep facing the title.