Your hidden Skeleton. A novel Autograph Book which reveals the secret Skeletons of your Friends through their Handwriting.

[HENLAND, Cecil.]

Edité par Philadelphia, The John C.Winston Company, c.1910. 19??

12mo, ff.[2], [2, halftone plates with examples of ink blot signatures], [45] blank except for 'date' at head and 'name' at foot on recto of each leaf; all blank leaves have been filled with signatures, in either black or blue ink, often with names and dates added in the specific spaces, dates ranging from Christmas 1912 to April 1918; a couple of signature leaves seemingly excised but a very good copy, bound in the original green cloth, with halftone reproduction of George Washington's ink blot signature to front cover; presentation inscription dated Christmas 1912 to front flyleaf.Very rare first edition under this title of a popular novelty autograph book, effectively a parlour game making use of klecksography, the art of obtaining symmetrical images from inkblots.According to the instructions at the beginning of the book, one should sign one's name vertically on a page, with a pen with a stub nib, then fold the paper along the middle of the signature while the ink is still wet, making sure to do so quickly to obtain a good result, and being 'careful to dot the i, and to place the period at the end of the name'.This process would consequently create a symmetrical pattern, which would reveal the 'hidden skeleton' (and ultimately the personality) of the person signing. Klecksography had been popularised by the German poet Justinus Kerner (1786 1862) who, in 1857, had published a volume of poetry and klecksographs after an accident with fresh ink caused by his poor eyesight had led him to discover the phenomenon. Klecksography was at the root of what became known as the Rorschach test, a psychological exam making use of inkblots to determine the unconscious parts of one's personality, devised by the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach (1884 1922), which was being developed around the very same time of the publication of this book but formalized only in 1921. The author, Cecil Henland (1870 1960), relying on the turn-of-the-century popularity of autograph books, spiritualism, and parlour games, and merging the three into one, had compiled various similar books following the same concept although issued under different titles and with slightly different angles, such as The Ghosts of My Friends, The Mind of a Friend, The Book of Butterflies, The Christmas Book: Lest We Forget, and Hand O' Graphs. Your Hidden Skeleton was obviously produced for the American market, as the klecksograph of George Washington's signature at the age of twelve used both on the front cover as well as an example at the beginning of the book, clearly suggests. Aside from her novelty books, Henland was the founder, in 1906, of the National Society of Day Nurseries, an association aimed at improving standards for day care nurseries in England. OCLC finds only three copies, all in the US (Harvard, Manitoba, and Chicago). N° de réf. du vendeur A2494

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Your hidden Skeleton. A novel Autograph Book...
Éditeur : Philadelphia, The John C.Winston Company, c.1910. 19??
Reliure : Couverture rigide
Edition : First Edition.