1917 PARANORMAL & MIRACULOUS. Stanford University Experiments in Psychical Research - Foundational 641pp Research

A very rare first edition of John Edgar Coover’s 1917 landmark monograph, detailing the first major, rigorous statistical study of psychical phenomena conducted within an American university laboratory. Supported by Stanford University’s Thomas Welton Stanford Fund for Psychical Research, the massive 641-page volume applied strict scientific protocols, such as randomized card-guessing, blind controls, and probability analysis, to evaluate telepathy, clairvoyance, and mental telepathy.

Its immediate effect was a sobering blow to mainstream parapsychology, as Coover concluded that his extensive statistical data yielded no evidence of extrasensory perception or supernatural mental influence beyond mere chance. While spiritualists and psychical researchers criticized his methodology and interpretation, the work set a vital precedent for experimental psychology by establishing how probability theory, experimental controls, and quantitative statistics could be systematically applied to test fringe human claims.

Though later parapsychologists like J. B. Rhine would re-analyze Coover’s raw data and argue that subtle statistical anomalies were present, the monograph fundamentally raised the standard of evidence required in parapsychological research and remains a foundational historical text in the methodology of experimental psychology and skepticism.

Exceptionally rare on the market. 

Coover, John Edgar. Fellow in Psychical Research and Assistant Professor of Psychology. Leland Stanford Junior University Publications Psychichal Research Monograph No. 1. Experiments in Psychical Research at Leland STanford Junior University. With a Foreward by David Starr Jordan, Chancellor Emeritus; an Introduction by Professor Frank Angell, Head of the Department of Psychology; and a Part by Professor Lillian J. Martin, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, from the Division of Psychical Research. Stanford University. 1917. First Edition. 641pp. 

A very handsomely preserved example in half leather, rubbed, front board completely detached, the front matter previous to the title attached to front board. Otherwise, exceptionally crisp and clean.