On this day in 1857 - The Spirits Book.

On this day - April 18th in 1857 - the famous book, regarded as the most important in the spiritist movement was published, The Spirits Book by Allan Kardec.

It is composed mainly of a collection of questions about the origin of spirits, what the afterlife entails, the concepts of good and evil and ultimately the purpose of life. The answers were provided by a group of spirits who called themselves 'The Spirit of Truth' and he communicated with them in many sessions during the 1850's.

It contains many concepts that we still grapple with today, and is still available (on Amazon would you believe it?! See link below) including do spirits pre-exist and survive physical matter, are there good and evil spirits, reincarnation and guardian 'angels'. Fascinating stuff, and groundbreaking especially for the time.

Book find...'Fifty Most Amazing Crimes of the Last 100 Years'

Sometimes these books just find you don't they, and this one...THIS one is fantastic. It dates from 1936 and as the title suggests it chronicles 50 of the most 'amazing' crimes of the 100 years previous to that date. There is no author name, but it was edited by J.M Parrish and John R. Crossland, Published by Odhams Press Ltd.

From the first case - Landru: A Real Life Bluebeard by H Russell Wakefield which is described as "Dark, bearded, sinister, urbane, greatest 'lady-killer' - in the most terrible sense - of all time" to the final one - Fritz Harman: Terror of Hanover by F.A Beaumont, this book drips intrigue, I can't wait to delve into it and see what it brings. I will keep you updated as I go!