Hell Per a Spirit-Message Therefrom - A Study in Graphic-Automatism

This is a scarce, signed/inscribed copy of "HELL Per a Spirit-Message Therefrom - A Study in Graphic-Automatism" by John Armstrong Chaloner (an "Astor Orphan" relative of the prominent Astor family of New York). 1912; The Palmetto Press; Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. This copy is signed/inscribed by Chaloner on the Dedication page with the date "December 19, 1925." The inscription also includes a reference to "The Merry Mills," Chaloner's country estate and farm located in Albermarle County, Virginia. The inscription is written to Bernard P. (Peyton) Chamberlain, the founder and President of the Albermarle County Historical Society. In the book, Chaloner transcribes a message he claimed to receive from a deceased friend describing hell as a surprisingly comfortable place. The self-published volume serves both as a supernatural narrative and an exploration of automatic writing (psychic text generated unconsciously). Chaloner claimed the message was dictated via automatic writing by his late friend Thomas Jefferson Miller, a former Confederate officer and member of New York's Manhattan Club. Rather than a pit of eternal, fiery torment, Miller's spirit describes a version of Hades that is "not such a bad place." The text depicts Satan ruling over his domain from a magnificent, massive grand hall constructed entirely out of precious gemstones, specifically rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. Chaloner used the book to meticulously document and analyze the physical and psychological process of automatic writing. He examined changes in his handwriting style, tone, and pacing to argue that the messages were coming from an external spiritual source rather than his own mind. Chaloner believed he possessed a distinct psychological sub-conscious power he called the "X-Faculty," which allowed him to act as a medium and receive transmissions from the afterlife. He wrote the book during a period when he was fighting a massive legal battle to overturn a New York ruling that had declared him legally insane. He had previously escaped from the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum in New York and moved to Virginia, where courts declared him sane. Chaloner published books like Hell largely at his own expense to demonstrate the clarity of his mind and validate his psychological theories to a skeptical public. Condition: Light soiling and foxing to the covers. The top-right corner of the front cover and the first few pages have torn away. There is a 1" tear at the outer edge of the front cover. The front cover is attached, though it has pulled from the spine 1.5" up from the bottom edge. The back cover and all internal pages are securely attached. Page 109 has a 3/4" tear at the outer edge. Page 45 has a 1" tear at the outer edge. The text pages are clean with only some mild foxing at the bottom of pages 76-79. Author's inscription/signature written in blue pencil on the Dedication page. At the bottom of the title page, "Twenty-Five" has been stamped-out in purple, with "Thirty-Five" stamped in purple above it. The 1st Index page has an arrow written in blue pencil (presumably made by Chaloner) at the top. Overall the book is in Good- condition.…