The A. B. C. of Spiritualism

"Dr. Austin was a fine lecturer, and travelled extensively in the interest of Spiritualism. He gave class lectures in many cities, and was a favourite at the American Summer Camps. As a publisher of many Spiritualist books, he has left an enviable record, and was beloved and esteemed by all who knew him, and they were legion." -The Two Worlds (citation courtesy of Walter Meyer zu Erpen and Debra Barr (1954-2008), Directors, Survival Research Institute of Canada).

"Methodist minister, editor, author, Spiritualist lecturer, publisher and clergyman, Benjamin Fish Austin... upon leaving Alma College, moved to Toronto where he wrote Glimpses of the Unseen: A Study of Dreams, Premonitions, Prayers, and Remarkable Answers, Hypnotism, Spiritualism, Telepathy, Apparitions, Peculiar Mental and Spiritual Experiences, Unexplained Psychical Phenomena (1898). In this massive volume, based upon years of study and investigation, he was expressing already the conviction that there exists a great deal of natural phenomena that could only be explained as being 'caused by the spirits of the dead.' Over 32 years, Austin published at least 50 mostly Spiritualist or psychic titles by other authors, in addition to his reprints of a large number of works by the Poughkeepsie seer, Andrew Jackson Davis. The first book published was his friend Flora MacDonald's fictionalized biography of her psychic sister Mary Merrill, titled Mary Melville: The Psychic (1900). Another early title was The Angel and the Book (1902), authored by Herbert G. Paull who in 1908 joined Dr. John Sumpter King in the Canadian Society for Psychical Research. The books published reflect the progressive and esoteric nature of Austin's venture, including serious, romantic, and extra-terrestrial titles, some of which would today be considered fantasy or science fiction: John Maclean, Modern Science and the Christian Bible (1901); Sir William Crookes, Researches into the Phenomena of Modern Spiritualism (1904 reprint edition); Sara Weiss, Journeys to the Planet Mars (1905); Hiram Corson, Spirit Messages (1911); J. Ben Leslie, Submerged Atlantis Restored (1911); Annette Leevier, Psychic Experiences of an Indian Princess (1920); Reverend Andrew Malcolm Morrison, Efficiency of Life at 100 Years and More (1921); Professor G.E. Bartholomew, Reincarnation (1921); Charles Henry Taylor, By Wireless from Venus (1922); Cary S. Cox, The Cause and Control of Sex (1923); Ada White Taylor, The Mystic Spell: A Metaphysical Romance (1923); Julia A. Coe, Numerology: A Study in Self-Mastery (1924); James Joseph Fitzgerrell, Lincoln was a Spiritualist (1924); J.L. Dryden, Mona: Queen of Lost Atlantis (1925); Samuel A. Jacoby, The Immortality of the Soul (1931); and John Wesley, News from the Invisible World (undated, but while Austin was at Los Angeles, with an introduction by J.J. Morse; reprint of letters and other writings by John Wesley). Beginning with What Converted Me to Spiritualism: One Hundred Testimonies (ca. 1901), Austin Publishing Company became also the outlet for his own writings. Despite Austin's many titles expounding on various aspects of Spiritualism, few copies of his works have survived, probably due more to their softcover format than to the number of copies in circulation at the time." -Reprinted with permission of the authors Walter Meyer zu Erpen and Debra Barr (1954-2008), Directors, Survival Research Institute of Canada