OAHSPE Rare First Printing - 1882

 An extremely rare and sought after first printing of the 1882 book OAHSPE by John Ballou.  This book has some writing on the inside cover and along the outside edges of pages (seen with book closed only).  Otherwise, this book is in pristine conditon and an excellent find.

--------------- SOLD -----------------

 

Sold for $250  

Rebound in Library Binding. Some writing on outside of pages and on inside cover.

A further description of the book from some internet sites:

From: http://www.sacred-texts.com/oah/index.htm
Oahspe is a book written in 1880 by an American dentist named John Ballou Newbrough [1828-1891]. He claimed that it was the result of automatic writing, dictated to him by spirits in a trance. In this trance he wrote the entire book on a very early typewriter (possibly the first such book ever written on a machine!). The spirits were very profilic; Oahspe is about four-fifths the size of the King James Bible, and more than twice the size of the Book of Mormon.
Oahspe appeared in the context of the Spiritualist movement, the Victorian predecessor of the "New Age" channelling and past life regressions. It has similarities to Theosophy, and, strangely enough, to the rumored science-fiction Scientology mythology (which, of course, has no relationship whatsoever to Oahspe or its adherents). Oahspe inspired a radically different set of spiritual beliefs, called Faithism which has a small following even today. The Faithists do not consider Oahspe the literal truth; instead they find inspiration in its many ethical and spiritual passages.

From: http://archives.nmsu.edu/exhibits/shalam2/shalam2.htmlIn the 1870s, John Newbrough made earnest efforts to improve his ability to receive spirit communications. He believed that he must purify himself physically and spiritually, so he further simplified his vegetarian diet, bathed twice daily, and rose every morning before dawn to meditate. Newbrough then says that he was instructed by spirits to purchase a typewriter, which he described as "a new invention that writes like the keys of a piano." He tried to learn to use the machine but had only "indifferent success."
However, at the beginning of the year 1881, Newbrough sat at the typewriter and, with lines of light resting on him, his hands began to fly over the keys. He typed every morning in this manner for fifty weeks. He was instructed not to read what had been written but just to turn the pages down as they were finished. At the end of this time he was told to have the pages published, and to call the book Oahspe.
Oahspe means "earth," "sky," and "spirit" in the language of the sunken continent of Pan. Oahspe is a book of some 900 pages. According to the title page it is "A New Bible in the Words of Jehovih and His Angel Embassadors. A Sacred History of the Dominions of the Higher and Lower Heavens on the Earth for the Past Twenty-Four Thousand Years." Like the Christian Bible, Oahspe is arranged in books, chapters and verses. One of the books is called, "Book of Jehovih's Kingdom on Earth which containeth within it The Book of Shalam, all of which is ante-script."