Sleepwalking

1837 · ref. 195561 — Philadelphia: Printed for Vollmer and Haggenmacher 1837. A somnambulist among the inhabited worlds First edition in English translated from the German Reisen in den Mond in mehrere Sterne und in die Sonne first published at Augsburg in 1834. The work records the visionary experiences of Philippine Demuth Bäurle a young somnambulist from Weilheim an der Teck in Württemberg during 1832 and 1833. While in a state of somnambulism Bäurle claimed to undertake journeys with a spiritual guide to the Moon Mercury Venus Jupiter Ceres Saturn Uranus and the Sun describing their landscapes inhabitants cities and spiritual realms. Her visions combine contemporary astronomical ideas with a strongly Christian conception of the afterlife. Bäurle's case belonged to a wider early 19th-century fascination with animal magnetism and clairvoyant somnambulism particularly pronounced in Württemberg. The account circulated widely: by 1837 it was already sufficiently well known to influence the case of Sara Gayer the "seeress of Großglattbach" Sawicki whose visionary journeys and medical revelations increasingly followed the model presented in Bäurle's book. Small octavo 175 x 102 mm. Contemporary red quarter roan smooth spine lettered in gilt and divided by gilt fillets marbled sides edges sprinkled brown. Contemporary pencil drawing on tipped-in leaf at front with ink inscription of "Mrs M E Gooding Bristol". Binding rubbed extremities worn with leather retouched title page trimmed at foot with loss of date tear to corner of pp. 109/110 affecting one letter internal foxing. A very good copy. Diethard Sawicki "Clairvoyance and Commotion: The Making of a Lay Prophetess in the Era of the German Revivalist Movement" in Revival Movements as Conflict Agendas of the Popular in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 2025 pp. 89-111. hardcover