The Varieties of Religious Experience. A Study in Human Nature. Being the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at Edinburgh in 1901-1902.

First American edition, first issue. 8vo. xii, 534, [2] pp. Original blue cloth, printed paper label to spine, top edge in gilt, fore and bottom edges untrimmed (neat ex-libris of 'William Greenough Wendell' to front pastedown, otherwise internally clean and unmarked; spine slightly faded with some light wear to head and tail, front joint just starting to split but holding firmly, otherwise a very good, notably bright and clean copy). New York, Longmans, Green and Co. One of the principal works by the American Pragmatist philosopher and psychologist William James and surely one of the most influential studies of religious phenomena. The study adopts an individual psychological approach to the personal experience of religion and mysticism and focuses on four central themes: the 'experiential approach and the generic meaning of religion; the sick soul, the divided self, and the process of regeneration; saintliness, or the concrete fruits of religion and their value; and the bearing of mysticism on the truth of religion. Few books written in this century on the subject of religion have had an initial impact and a continuing influence equal to that of William James?s Varieties of Religious Experience' (Smith, p. xi-xxiii). The correct first issue with 'Nietsche' misspelled on line 11 of page 38. The present American edition is generally considered to have been preceded by the British edition, which was published from the American sheets with a cancel title page on June 9, 1902, the date of James's final Gifford lecture. However, there remains some uncertainty regarding the precedence between the two editions. See: John E. Smith, Editor, The Works of William James, Vol. 5. McDermott, 1902-1.…