Thirteen for the Thirteenth

We honor Friday the 13th with thirteen works from Special Collections, replete with examples of horror, mystery, spirits, and luck (bad or otherwise). The links below bring up the full bibliographical records in the UW-Madison online library catalog.

Dee, John, 1527-1608. A true & faithful relation of what passed for many yeers between Dr. John Dee (A mathematician of great fame in Q. Eliz. and King James their reignes) and some spirits: tending (had it succeeded) to a general alteration of most states and kingdomes in the world: his private conferences with Rodolphe Emperor of Germany, Stephen K. of Poland, and divers other princes about it: the particulars of his cause, as it was agitated in the Emperors court; by the Pope’s intervention: his banishment and restoration in part: as also the letters of sundry great men and princes (some whereof were present at some of these conferences and apparitions of spirits:) to the said D. Dee. 1659. Call number: BW D36 Cutter oversize.

Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius, 1486?-1535. Henry Cornelius Agrippa his Fourth book of occult philosophy: Of geomancy. Magical elements of Peter de Abano. Astronomical geomancy. The nature of spirits. Arbatel of magick. 1655. Call number: Thordarson T 38.

Ildefonzo & Alberoni, or Tales of horror. 1803. Call number: PZ1 G66.

Neptune. The great sea-serpent: Upon the coast of New-England in 1817: with a portrait of his majesty. 1818. Call number: Thordarson T 1825. Our copy is mysteriously damp-stained.

Connoisseur, Madam [sic]. Complete fortune-teller and dream-book, or, An infallible guide to the hidden decrees of fate. [After 1829.] Call number: Cairns BF1091 C65 1829.

Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878. A discovery concerning ghosts: With a rap at the “spirit- rappers.” 1863. Call number: CA 8910.

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. Mark Twain’s Nightmare: A story of haunting horror; with tales, sketches, and poetry. [1879?] Call number: 1062045 noncurrent.

Echoes from the spirit world. 1899. Call number: Cairns BF1301 T56 1899.

Judson, Abby Ann, 1835-1902. Why she became a spiritualist: Twelve lectures delivered before the Minneapolis Association of Spiritualists. 1891. 2nd ed. Call number: Cairns BF1261 J9 1892.

Derleth, August, 1909-1971. Someone in the dark. 1941. Call number: Private Press Collection. Press Arkham House.

The Spirit that moves us. 1976-. Call number: Little Magazines Spirit that moves us.

Poems that thump in the dark. 1995-. Call number: Little Magazines Poems that thump in the dark.

Atwood, Margaret. Strange things: The malevolent North in Canadian literature. 1995. Call number: 20th Century Atwood.