Doyle (Sir Arthur Conan, author)

Doyle (Sir Arthur Conan, author, 1859-1930) [Preface to Marjorie Livingston's "The New Nuctemeron (The Twelve Hours of Apollonius of Tyana)],

autograph manuscript signed, 1p., a few words crossed out, browned, framed and glazed, [see Green & Gibson C66], 270 x 215mm., [c. 1930].

***Marjorie Livingston claimed that as a medium she had taken dictation from Apollonius of Tyana and that the resulting book, Nuctemeron was his creation, not hers. "The book [Nuctemeron] can I think stand or fall on its own internal evidence of authorship. We may fairly ask 'If it is impossible that this scribe [Marjorie Livingston] really wrote it, then who did?' Vague talk of the Unconscious self will not help us. There is the document. Does it correspond with the alleged author; or is it the unaided work of an English lady? There is I am told some extraneous corroboration, messages received independently through other mediums. But the book itself is its own best proof of a high external imperative. Arthur Conan Doyle." "Marjorie Livingston had the help of both Conan Doyle and John Lamond in completing this book. It was written in six weeks and purports to be directly inspired by Apollonius of Tyana." - Green & Gibson. A Bibliography of Conan Doyle, 1983..