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Libra Esoterica

Psychology as a natural science applied to the solution of occult psychic phenomena

Also known as Cock Lane and Common-Sense; Cock Lane and Commonsense 1896

by Charles Godlove Raue, Harry Houdini Collection DLC, Harry Houdini Collection & Andrew Lang

  • First published:
  • 19th century
  • Language: English
  • Content type: Primary source

Written by folklorist Andrew Lang (1844–1912), this 1894 publication examines the ambivalent relationship the living have attempted to forge with the dead throughout history. Nicknamed 'the Wizard of St Andrews', this prolific polymath also worked as an anthropologist, classicist, historian, poet, mythologist, essayist and journalist, producing over a hundred publications in his lifetime. Largely ignored by scholarship, this book suggests expanding the study of folklore to include contemporary narratives of supernatural events. Taking its title from the legends of the notorious Cock Lane ghost, the work considers the survival of ancient beliefs such as hauntings, clairvoyance, and other phenomena believed to transcend the laws of nature, and how such beliefs have persisted through great social upheaval and change. It includes chapters on savage and ancient spiritualism, comparative psychical research, haunted houses, second sight, crystal gazing, and Presbyterian ghost hunters, among others.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Divination and oracles, Ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists, Occultism and esotericism, Parapsychology and psychical research, Spiritualism, mediumship, and channeling, Telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition, and Witchcraft and folk magic.

  • Retained metadata contains “occult” in the title, “supernatural” in the description, and “occult” in the edition title.

    • occult· in title
    • supernatural· in description
    • occult· in edition title
  • Witchcraft and folk magic

    A contributing source assigned this topic during controlled cataloging, but the exact triggering term is not present in the merged metadata.

  • Divination and oracles

    A contributing source assigned this topic during controlled cataloging, but the exact triggering term is not present in the merged metadata.

  • Controlled discovery queries from internet-archive and openlibrary-historical matched “Spiritualism”. Retained metadata contains “Spiritualism” in the description and “Spiritualism” in the subject metadata.

    • Spiritualism· via Internet Archive
    • Spiritualism· via Open Library
    • Spiritualism· in description
    • Spiritualism· in subject
  • Controlled discovery queries from internet-archive, openalex, and openlibrary-historical matched “Ghosts” and “ghosts hauntings”. Retained metadata contains “ghost” in the description, “haunted” in the description, “Haunted houses” in the description, and 1 additional metadata match(es).

    • Ghosts· via Internet Archive
    • ghosts hauntings· via OpenAlex
    • Ghosts· via Open Library
    • ghost· in description
    • haunted· in description
    • Haunted houses· in description
  • Controlled discovery queries from global-grey, harvard, internet-archive, library-of-congress, openalex, openlibrary, openlibrary-historical, and project-gutenberg matched “Paranormal and Mysteries”, “parapsychology”, “Parapsychology”, and 2 additional term(s). Retained metadata contains “Psychical research” in the description, “Paranormal and Mysteries” in the subject metadata, “Parapsychology” in the subject metadata, and 1 additional metadata match(es).

    • Paranormal and Mysteries· via Global Grey ebooks
    • parapsychology· via Harvard LibraryCloud
    • Parapsychology· via Internet Archive
    • Psychical research· via Internet Archive
    • psychical research· via Library of Congress
    • psychical research· via OpenAlex
  • Controlled discovery queries from openalex matched “clairvoyance”. Retained metadata contains “Clairvoyance” in the description and “Second sight” in the description.

    • clairvoyance· via OpenAlex
    • Clairvoyance· in description
    • Second sight· in description

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

Read & download

Free, public copies reported by our sources. Links open the source directly.

marks a direct file download. Rights vary by country; each source states its own terms.

Buy or borrow

Links to ISBN 0404038468; other editions may be cheaper. WorldCat shows libraries near you that hold a copy.

Editions

Open Library reports 80 editions; 7 cataloged here.

Cock Lane and Common-Sense

Global Grey ebook edition (available formats vary by title)

Global Grey ebooksEnglishPublic download

Cock lane and common-sense

Internet Archive unrestricted pre-1900 PDF scan

1894-01-01T00:00:00ZLondon,New York, Longmans, GreenEnglishPublic digitized item

Cock Lane and common sense

Internet Archive institutional pre-1900 scan

1894-01-01T00:00:00ZLondon, LongmansEnglishPublic digitized item

Subjects

37 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Identifiers

Global Grey
  • cock-lane-and-common-sense
Harvard
  • 990063957720203941
Library of Congress
  • 10029935

Cataloged from

Cataloging notes

  • Contributing institution: Cornell University Library
  • Contributing institution: Indiana University
  • Contributing institution: New York Public Library
  • Contributing institution: Robarts - University of Toronto
  • Contributing institution: The Library of Congress
  • Contributing institution: University of California Libraries
  • Contributing institution: unknown library
  • Digitization sponsor: Google
  • Digitization sponsor: Indiana University
  • Digitization sponsor: MSN
  • Digitization sponsor: The Library of Congress
  • Discovery required Internet Archive search metadata to report a PDF format; the exact direct-file URL is added only after the item's file listing confirms an unrestricted PDF filename.
  • Internet Archive institutional collection: americana
  • Internet Archive institutional collection: toronto
  • Open Library reports 2 editions; this snapshot catalogs one representative edition and preserves work-level ISBN, date, and publisher aggregates.
  • Open Library reports 80 editions; this snapshot catalogs one representative edition and preserves work-level ISBN, date, and publisher aggregates.
  • Original print publication date and source edition are absent from Project Gutenberg metadata.
  • Scanner: google
  • Scanner: Kirtas APT 2400
  • Scanner: rich1
  • Scanner: rich2
  • Scanner: scribe10.capitolhill.archive.org
  • Scanner: scribe16
  • Scanner: scribe7.indiana.archive.org
Catalog id
openlibrary-work:OL10333603W
Edition coverage
Multi source partial
Retrieved