This title is now out of print and we have no remaining stock.
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J.H. Pepper, The True History of Pepper’s Ghost
London: The Projection Box, 1996
ISBN 978-0952394-17-4
60 pages, 8 illustrations, paperback, 15 x 21cm
The theatrical illusion known as ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ was a successor to the Phantasmagoria magic lantern show, and a key precursor of the cinema show on the British fairgrounds. It remained a recurring inspiration both to film-makers and those engaged in the timeless search for more sensational forms of public picture exhibition and portrayals of things beyond the natural and mundane.
This is a facsimile edition of Professor John Henry Pepper’s own account of the creation and development of the 1860s illusion that bore his name, first published in 1890 as The True History of the Ghost and All About Metempsychosis. Covering technical aspects (including the original patent for the illusion, in the name of Henry Dircks), contemporary responses, and personal recollections of the illusion’s use at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, Pepper’s story is presented here with an introduction by Mervyn Heard, one of the leading modern authorities on Victorian optical entertainments.