PSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL MEDIUM PHOTOGRAPHY A fine archive, with exceptional provenance, of photographic and other materials relating to the spirit mediumship of Jack Webber, comprising: A collection of approximately 90 vintage gelatin silver print Psychic or Infra-red photographs taken of Webber during his séances (roped to a chair, with ectoplasm, trumpets and tambourines, levitating tables, his coat being removed by spirits, apporting objects from his body, voice boxes, etc.), often with other circle members (including the vendor's grandparents, see footnote), several with some white gouache amendments, one with the trumpet inked in as it was moving 'so rapidly that in a 75th second exposure a precise image was not secured', 74 pasted into an album by Edwards (a few loose), with printed captions and ink annotations on mount; others mounted and framed (by 'C.E. Ponsford, Fine Art Dealer, 240 Balham High Road'), typically approx. 150 x 200mm., some smaller; and approximately 60 later printings, and copper metal plates for use on Edwards' book. Two of Webber's trumpets, believed to have been used during his seances for transmitting either voices of his spirit guides, apporting spirit objects, or channelling and supporting ectoplasm, one 2-part metal, with luminous tape decorations for use in public dark séances, height 655mm.; one 3-part thick silver card for red light seances, height 805mm. Album of newspaper cuttings and promotional material compiled by Harry Edwards, relating to Jack Webber, the Balham Psychic Research Society and Arnold Clare, including articles and correspondence from Psychic News, The Daily Mirror, The Two Worlds, Sunday Pictorial, etc.; printed materials including booking forms, and rules for the booking of Webber, flyer for Edward's book on Arnold Clare, yellow record label for the Decca recording of Webber's spirit guide Reuben singing, typed declarations signed by six attendees at a séance held by Clare on 20 July 1940 during which they 'distinctly recognised beyond all doubt the materialised dorm of Jack Webber', etc., all pasted onto approximately 40 sheets (some loose) in cloth portfolio, folio, [c.25 November 1938-November 1942] Webber's Rent Book for his Balham home at '13 Childebert Road', issued 14 October 1938; Harry Edward's 'Fellowship of Spiritual Service' visiting card with 11 Childebert Road address; 'Mr. Jack Webber', 4-page promotional pamphlet issued by Edwards, with full-page image of 'Black Cloud', short tears and repairs, 8vo, [1938] First edition of Harry Edwards' book 'The Mediumship of Arnold Clare', plates (many photographic depicting Webber), publisher's boards, The Psychic Book Club, [1941]; with a group of 5 original pen and ink drawings used as illustrations in the book, each laid down with editorial annotations on mount; photo of Arnold, and a printed one-page prospectus/order form Harry Edward's Account book relating to the Jack Webber Memorial Fund, the sale of of his books on Webber and Arnold Clare, listing his expenses, payments made to Jack's widow Rhoda, who contributed and how much etc., mostly ink, many blank leaves, some loose insertions, cloth, small folio, [1940-1941] A collection of approximately 55 autograph or typed letters addressed to Harry Edwards, ordering his books on Jack Webber or on Arnold Clare (through whom Webber communicated after his passing), and sending contributions to the Webber Memorial Fund, many adding a note such as Mrs Eve Vowell of Lower Sydenham ordering for her husband who 'set his heart on having a copy ever since they were first advertised, as he attended a materialisation séance of the late Mr. Webber... Both my husband & I are new but keen spiritualists'; a Mr. Eastman from Salisbury (just about to start up his own spirit circle) mentions 'I was privileged to sit in one of Jack Webber's circles at Corona House, the only circle of its kind I have attended, & I often think of all that occurred there', and J.H. Pratt of the Darlington Spiritualist Church notes in 1942 'that Jack Webber has twice paid us a visit at our private circle, both showing himself & speaking thro. Mrs Elsie Smith', mostly 1 or 2 pages, 8vo, [c.1940-1942] Portrait of Jack Webber [after a photograph] by Christopher Smith, oil on canvas, framed, 295 x 295mm. [early 20th century]. This was used as the cover illustration to Fairbairn's Jack Webber Physical Medium (2020) (collection) Footnotes: 'ECTOPLASMIC ARM', 'TRUMPET PHENOMENA', 'ASTRAL HEAD AND DEMATERIALISATION OF COAT', 'TABLE LEVITATION' - AN EXTRAORDINARY ARCHIVE INCLUDING PSYCHIC AND INFRA RED PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE PHYSICAL MEDIUM JACK WEBBER, once belonging to Jack's mentor and promoter Henry Edwards. Many of the photographs were taken during seances held at his home, from where he established the Balham Psychic Research Society. Webber, having established his reputation in Wales, arrived in London in April 1938 whereupon he immediately established his reputation as perhaps the most celebrated physical medium of his generation. Photographs include circle groups in which ectoplasm emerges from Jack's body, covers his head, forms voice boxes, transports through spirit trumpet; Jack levitates a 45lb table; apporting from his body a brass bird, a ectoplasmic arm, and a white hand; with an 'Astral head... the outer face is the astral head, the inner face being transfigured by the guide in control', etc. The photographs were mostly taken by Leon Isaacs (shown in one image with his infra-red camera), with others by Edwards himself, circle members J. McCulloch and Stanley Croft, and photographers from the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Pictorial. The archive also includes Harry Edwards's account books, and printed and manuscript materials relating to his close association with Webber, in life and death. Provenance: Henry Edwards (1893-1976), 'The Great Healer'. Edwards was the chief promotor for Webber's mediumistic skills, bringing his talents to a wider audience through his Balham Psychic Research Society and, after his untimely death, publishing The Mediumship of Jack Webber (1940). He both features in, and took many of, the photographs taken during Webber's seances. After the war he established a spiritual healing sanctuary; Denzil Fairbairn, author of Jack Webber Physical Medium: The Back Story (2020). His grandparents, Jim and Nellie Evans, were members of the Balham Circle and feature in several of the photographs. Jim had been Jack's home circle leader (and according to the vendor 'it was he who salvaged the trumpets for the family'), whilst Nellie was Webber's mother-in-law. Her daughter Rhoda, from her first marriage, was Jack's wife, and it was largely through her own association with spirit circles that Jack discovered his extraordinary talents. Denzil's mother Joan, Jack's sister-in-law, was a trance healer. 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