The Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Auto-Suggestion, Hypnosis, Self-Hypnosis
Bibliography is copyright 2023 by the
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Thanks to my Patreon Supporters
I am having a ball with this hypnotism book project. Yes, i know: "it's not
hoodoo." "It's not folk magic." "It's not fortune telling." "It's not
occultism." Sure enough -- but it is so much ME, my past, present, and future. I
am trying not to inflict it on my divination and magic fans in one huge lump,
but chipping at it in one-week-per-month increments.
I have TWO DOZEN uncatalogued books on my desk-side pull-out now ... and more
are on the way, intended to replace the library i lost during the Guerneville
flood of 1986. Rebuilding my lost libraries and lost museum of ephemera has
taken me many years, as i was also working on recovering from a financially
disastrous divorce, starting a new business, and embarking on a new marriage --
but recreating my old hypnosis collection brings up fond memories and special
delights. As a mature collector with some financial resources, i can now buy
fine condition examples of antiquarian rarities which in my youth i had only in
the form of thrashed and marked-up ex-libris copies.
Who am i building this new, improved, and restored hypnotism library for? My
daughter doesn't care. I doubt either of my grandchildren will. Many of the
titles have already been digitized and are available online. Few university
libraries are investing in rare books anymore.
I guess i'm just doing it for myself, to prove to myself that mass culture --
even niche mass-culture -- can be recreated if lost, and that someone,
somewhere, understands the value of the written word.
If you like what i do, buy a psychic reading from me, will you? Pretty much all
the money i make from reading tarot has been going into hypnotism antiquities
these days.
Compiler's Notes on the Contents of This Bibliography:
Books are listed alphabetically by author's surname, but if an author has more than one title,
the books for that author are in chronological order by publication date.
Hypnotism Bibliography Part One
Hypnotism Bibliography Part Two
Hypnotism Bibliography Part Three
Hypnotism Bibliography Part Four
Hypnotism Bibliography Part Five
Hypnotism Bibliography Part Six
For more information on hypnosis, click this link to read a brief article i wrote
about hypnotism for the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers in 2021:
"Hypnosis Coaching and Training" by cat yronwode
The URL you are reading this at now is TEMPORARY.
I will write several more parts to this bibliography for my Patrons on individual
pages like this, and these will open to the public after one year, thanks to your kind financial support.
I will then compile all of the pages into one long page and re-unveil it
to the public, with a new URL, at the Yronwode.org home page.
BOOK TITLES
Gindes, Bernard C. (M.D.) New Concepts of Hypnosis: Theories, Techniques, and
Practical Applications as an Adjunct to Psychotherapy and Medicine.
Foreword by Melvin Powers. Introduction by Robert M. Lindner.
Wilshire Book Company, Hollywood, California, 1951, 1979.
262 pages plus advertisements.
• Introduction
• 1. Why Hypnosis?
• 2. The History of Hypnosis
• 3. Theoretical Aspects
• 4. Mechanism of Hypnosis
• 5. Characteristics of Hypnosis
• 6. Necessary Conditions in Hypnotic Procedure
• 7. Objective Methods of Hypnotic Induction
• 8. Subjective Methods of Hypnotic Induction
• 9. Suggestive Therapy
• 10. Hypno-Analysis and Hypno-Synthesis
• Appendix: Case Histories
The cover shown here is from the 1979 edition of the book, when Melvin Powers had
discovered the wonders of Dover clip-art borders.
This is a dense text on clinical hypnosis, filled with bibliographic references and
ponderous instructions for the post-war doctor who wished to add hypnotic suggestion
to then-contemporary practices in psychotherapy, obsterics, dream interpretation,
and memorization. I cannot say that i
found it to be a fascinating read, but Grindes makes some good points, and i think that
Melvin Powers was right to publish it, even though it would not be of interest to his
pop-culture audience. If i were planning a career in clinical hypnosis, i would pick it
up and give it a read.
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Hutchison, A [Alice]. M. (M.D.) Hypnotism and Self-Education
T.C. and E.C. Jack, London; simultaneous release by Dodge Publishing Co., New York, 1915.
96 pages. (90 pages of text plus Bibliography and advertisements.)
Volume 18 in The People's Books series; cloth bound.
• Pregace
• I. History of Hypnotism
• II. Methods of Inducing Hypnosis
• III. Phenomena of Hypnotism
• IV.Suggestion
• V. Theories of Hypnotism
• VI. Self-Suggestion
• VII. Medical Treatment
• VIII. Education of Children
• IX. Education of Oneself
• Bibliography
• Index
This is a small, thin, hard-bound volume in the usual formal of The People's Books,
a library of almost 100 titles covering topics such as philosphy, religion, history,
literature, economics, and science, which were intended to reach aspirational lower-class or poor
people with the equivalent of a good education. The authors were progressive,
although more middle-of-the-road than those who wrote for the
American series of left-leaning Little Blue Books published by Haldeman-Julius in Girard, Kansas.
However, the publishers made up for this with their much more aesthetically pleasing
format, their sweet little cloth covers, and their tidy typesetting.
Alice Hutchison, being a medical doctor, takes a psycho-therapeutical approach to hypnotism,
including the use of suggestion to enable children to succeed in life, and the use of
hypnotism to address diseases of mental origin. There is a solid Edwardian acknowledgement of
life's many causes for suffering, and a hope that self-suggestion and thought-control
may lead the wounded and sorrowful away from depression and into a second chance for happiness.
Stopping just short of self-affirmation techniques or the New Thought Movement, and giving
very few hints at how to induce a hypnotic trance or auto-hypnosis, the author
presents her best case for working on the mental health of the masses, by every means possible.
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Lustig, David J. (La Vellma). Dunninger's Master Methods of Hypnotism.
Dunninger Enterprises, New York City, nd, after 1926 -before 1930
25 oversizes pages, on slick paper with blank versos, in paper wraps; two printings exist, identical except for
cover colur: one is greenish and the other is pinkish.
• Introduction - La Vellma
• A Twentieth Century Miracle Man Who Has Astounded Millions - D.J.L.
• Hypnotism: A Vital Force ... A Means of Self-Improvement ... A Science That Has Shaken the World
• The Dunninger Methods of Hypnosis Have Been Tested and Proven
• Interlude [Various "Test" or stage presentations]
• Hypnotizing ... Via Radio
• Behind the Veil of Natural Laws, Disclosing Inner Secrets
• Mind Reading and Mental Telepathy Aided by the Powers of Hypnotism
• The Successful Hypnotist Must Have an Abundance of Self-Confidence
• Hypnosis and Animals
• Important Memorandums
• In Passing ...
• Final Comment
• Newspaper Clippings
Joseph Dunninger (1892 - 1975, was a famous American stage magican, mentalist, and hypnotist.
He had a regular radio show in 1929 and again
from 1943-1944. In the 1950s his show was televised, first on the NBC network and later
on ABC. Both the radio and television versions featured Dunninger reading the minds of
audience members and his visiting celebrity guests.
David J. Lustig (1893 - 1977), performed as a stage magician from 1910 onward
under the name La Vellma, and wrote books
on stage techniques and presentation methods for his colleagues in the fields of
mentalism, ventriloquism, and hypnotism. He also functioned
as a press agent, advance man, and publicist for many of the best known stage magicians of
the 1920s and 1930s. He designed Dunninger's "tests" or stage presentations of hypnotism,
and he also wrote his own book on "Vaudeville Hypnotism" in 1930. In his later life he was
a publicity agent for Columbia Pictures, setting up studio tours for the press
and arranging media interviews for their movie stars.
The oddities of its printing format aside, this is still an odd book, and not quite like
any other Lustig book on stage magic. It consists in part of one-sheet press
releases extolling Dunninger's talent to the skies, with the final page a publicist's
scrap-bok, showing the many articles written about Dunninger's skill at hypnotism, particularly
via the then-new medium of radio. But still, the core of the text is gold, as Lustig
describes Dunninger's hypnotic techniques in detail, and gives ectensive performance
notes on how it is to be done.
The nice thing about Lustig's preparation of Dunninger's hypnotism stage act is that he
really did good research in legitimate hypnotism. The twelve methods of hypnotic induction
he ascribes to Dunninger are a catalogue of the best 19th and early 20th century methods in
use by clinical hypnotherapists, and his "tests" or stage demonstrations are adapted from earlier
routines found in the classic books of Xenophon Lamotte Sage and Lou Ella Young. All quirkiness
aside, this is a vry good look at stage hypnotism from the point of view of an actual hypnotist,
and i recommend it to those who have an interest in that facet of the work.
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Sextus, Carl. Hypnotism: Its Facts and Theories and Related Phenomena, With Explanatory Anecdotes,
Desctiptions, and Reminiscences
Publisher Unknown, c. 1893 [date is from the foreword; i have never seen a first edition].
278 pages, heavily illustrated; presumed to have been issued in hardcover.
Reprinted in facsimile as
Hypnotism: A Correct Guide to the Science and How Subjects Are Influenced
With a Foreword by Melvin Powers
Wilshire Book Company, Hollywood, California, 1957, 1968
278 pages, heavily illustrated; trade paperback.
• Foreword
• I. Puysegurian Somnambulism
• II. Hypnotism as a Remedy
• III. Hypnotism, Also Called Mesmerism
• IV. Hypnotic Methods and Conditions
• V. Hypnotism Defended
• VI. Hypnotic Clairvoyance
• VII. Crystal Visions
• VIII. Magnets and Od
• IX. Hypnotism and Animals
• X. Hypnotic Miscellanies
• XI. Natural Somnambulism or Sleep-Walking
• XII. Introduction of Hypnotism in Chicago
I can definitely see why Melvin Powers chose to reprint this rare old book: it is
illustrated with dozens and dozens of charming late Victorian pen-and-ink illustrations,
the material is unique to this author, and it was in the public domain, with no royalties
to pay. He must have had good sales with it, for i have found two paperback printings, one from
1957 and the other from 1968 -- and there may have been more, as Powers made a practice of
keeping every book he ever published in print.
On the other hand, this is a strange mish-mash of a text. It begins smoothly enough, with
the standard recapitulations of French experiments in hypnotism, and their results. It
defends hypnotism against charges of danger, and preaches the avoidance of misuse.
But then, with Chapter VI, a mere 86 pages into the book, the author
commences writing what seems to be a very different work indeed.
He begins with accounts of crystal gazing and magic mirrors, gives a nod to the priests of
ancient Egypt and the fakirs of India, with their elephants and their trances, and then
swan-dives into seances, experiments in clairvoyance, and the use of lodestones and steel
magnets by Jewish rabbis and the sorcerers of Arabia, Palestine, and China.
The tone changes too -- what began as a review of previous literature becomes a wild
travelogue, filled with fascinatingly exotic anecdotes.
With Chapter IX. on page 125, we return again to Hypnotism -- this time on animals -- but
the exoticism continues, and now we read tales of Native American snake-charmers and the
Texas cowboy, Frank Kerr, who entrances copperheads and rattlesnakes by playing on his flute.
Then follows a chapter
on "Miscellanies," and a chapter on somnambulism, told through anecdotes written
in the style of a dime bovel. The last chapter
concerns the author's own life, attending Spiritualist seances and hypnotising an assortment
of Theosophists and prominent businessmen in Chicago during the era of the
World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It's a wild ride, and a great advertisement for
the stage performances and private consultations of Mr. Sextus.
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Shipley, Maynard. Hypnotism Made Plain
Haldeman-Julis Company, Girard, Kansas, 1934.
64 pages, paper wraps. No 92 in The Little Blue Book series
• Introduction
• 1. A Retrospect
• 2. Modern Hypnotic Methods
• 3. Phenomena of Hypnotism
• 4. Hypnotism nd Psycho-Analysis
• 5. Suggestion and the Masses
• 6. Hypnotism and Personality
This is No. 92 of more than 2,000 miniature, paper-wrapped, saddle-stitched Little Blue Books
published from 1919 through 1978 by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius and his wife, Marcet.
At a mere 64 pages in length, it is little more than an introduction to the subject.
Like the similar People's Book No. 18 by Dr. Alice Hutchison, this book begins with the
obligatory history of hypnotism from Mesmer and Braid to Liébault and Coué, and then
posits a scientific, rather than a mystical, basis for its operation, while
making a call-out to Christian Science and the New Thought Movement.
During the second part of the book, Shipley
sails off into a discussion of Sigmund Freaud, states that all mental approaches to
healing are essentially faith healing, and then takes a sharp turn to the left to
describe the dangers of mass hypnosis by orators and the press, from the Crusades
of the Middle Ages through William Jennings Bryan and Billy Sunday. Given the date
of publication, just as the Volkishe Movement had given rise to the Nazi Party and
Adolf Hitler was about to turn Europe into a charnal house, i would say that Maynard
Shipley was prescient. He shouted out a warning about the looming disaster of a
magnetic leader who could hypnotize the masses that, alas, fell on deaf ears. I bet
that by the time the Manchurian Candidate came around, he was muttering, "I told you so."
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to nagasiva yronwode for above-and-beyond scanning and organizational help.
