The secret book of the black arts : containing all that is known upon the occult sciences of daemonology, spirit rappings, witchcraft, sorcery, astrology, palmistry, mind reading, spiritualism, table turning, ghosts and apparitions, omens, lucky and unlucky signs and days, dreams, charms, divination, second sight, mesmerism, clairvoyance, psychological fascination, etc. ... : together with a mass of other matter, giving inner views of the arts and sciences, whether recondite and obscure, or plain and practical
A popular American compendium of occult lore — demonology, spirit rapping, palmistry, mesmerism, dreams and omens — compiled by Henry T. Williams and published by Hurst & Co. in New York in 1878 for a general reading public. The wood engravings are small, hatched line vignettes demonstrating mesmeric practice: a bearded operator making passes over a seated woman, hands held to a face or forehead, and close crops of gripped hands labelled by nerve, useful as instructional diagrams, gesture studies, or period spot illustration.
