1870 SPIRITISM - LIFE AFTER DEATH. Spirit Life of Theodore Parker - Rare Boston Fire Survivor.

A very scarce primary document intersecting the surge in post-Civil War American Spiritualism, radical social reform, and the enduring legacy of the abolitionist movement.

Theodore Parker, who died in 1860, was one of the most influential and radical Transcendentalist ministers, theologians, and militant abolitionists of the antebellum era. Following the trauma of the Civil War, Spiritualism exploded in popularity, including among some quarters of Christianity. Its adherents frequently positionied deceased reform icons like Parker, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln as "spirit guides" who continued to direct the nation's moral progress from beyond the grave. By claiming to channel Parker, Sarah A. Ramsdell was utilizing his immense moral authority to legitimize both her own mediumship and the ongoing theological evolution of radical religion in New England. 

William White and Company and the Banner of Light office served as the de facto institutional and media hub for the American Spiritualist movement. The present work demonstrates how 19th-century Spiritualists saw their work as a direct, progressive continuation of the pre-war reform crusades for human rights, universal liberty, and free thought. The engagement of a Christian minister as a voice from the grave also served to help soften the ongoing criticisms from most quarters of Christianity that the practices were not sanctioned by Scripture. 

The imprint's scarcity, in light of the publisher's significant influence, is difficult to understand. It is likely explained by the stocks having been destroyed in The Great Boston Fire. The premises of The Banner of Light were completely destroyed by the fire and the publisher never made a recovery. This copy must have snuck out in advance of the conflagration. It would provie to be one of the last works the Banner of Light office would ever publish.

We trace no examples in the auction record or in the trade at the time of cataloging. 

Ramsdell, Miss Sarah A. Spirit Life of Theodore Parker, as Narrated by Himself, through the Mediumship of Miss Sarah A. Ramsdell. Boston. William White and Company. Banner of Light Office. 1870. 84pp.

Good to good + in original salmon wraps, some losses at spine and rear wrap torn at bottom half of hinge. Textually very good save three corners which have been turned.