A LECTURE ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPECTRAL APPEARANCES, DELIVERED AT THE TOWN HALL, WINDSOR, BEFORE THE MEMBERS OF THE WINDSOR AND ETON MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY; AND AT THE LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION, WOODBRIDGE, SUFFOLK by Stock, John - 1840

Windsor: Printed and Published by G. McArthur, [ca. 1840]. 45,[3] pp. Later three-quarter red polished calf and decorated boards, spine titled in gilt, marbled endpapers. t.e.g. Erratum slip tipped in. Armorial bookplate of F. Manley Sims on front free endpaper verso; inkstamp of Manley Sims Eton Collection on flyleaf verso and title page. Extremities rubbed, calf lightly stained; endpapers foxed; toning in gutter of several leaves from old ribbon. Good.

Rare printed lecture on ghosts by English Baptist minister and liberal activist John Stock (1817-1884). Stock offers five arguments, theological and philosophical, against the reality of "spectral appearances" and five "natural and physical" explanations for them. The latter section includes several recent accounts of apparitions and their possible physiological, psychological, or atmospheric causes.

This volume comes from the collection of the prominent British physician and surgeon Francis Manley Sims, F.R.C.S. (1841-1902). A Suffolk native and son of an Anglican minister, Manley Sims operated one of the largest medical practices in London's West End and served for more than twenty years as physician to Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. His biography in PLARR'S LIVES OF THE FELLOWS notes, "It is to his credit that he was very helpful and generous to poor patients, and possessing, as he did, the ear of a wealthy and influential clientele, he could often contrive a scheme of assistance in cases of sickness and misery that was practical besides being well meant. To do so was the greatest possible source of pleasure to him. He was a firm and generous friend, an interesting companion, full of reminiscences and experiences, and well read."

OCLC locates two copies, at Oxford and the British Library.