A Private Collection

The Origins of Hypnosis

Twenty primary sources tracing the birth and evolution of hypnotherapy, from Mesmer to the modern era

Autograph Letters · First Editions · Signed Books · Royal Documents · c. 1720–2016
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In 1779, a German physician living in Paris sent a memorandum to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, seeking official endorsement of a discovery he called animal magnetism. The faculty refused. He published the book anyway. That physician was Franz Anton Mesmer, and his rejected theory would ultimately give rise to hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, and the modern understanding of the unconscious mind.

This collection of twenty items—autograph letters, first editions, inscribed books, and official documents—traces that story from its beginning to its present form. Each piece marks a turning point: the mentor whose magnets inspired the theory, the royal commissions that denounced it, the Scottish surgeon who renamed it hypnosis, the neurologist at La Salpêtrière whose demonstrations drew a young Sigmund Freud to Paris.

Together they constitute what is believed to be the most complete privately held primary source narrative of the history of hypnosis in existence.

The Collection

Listed in Chronological Order
I · Origins — The Age of Magnetism
c. 1720

Maximilian Hell — Tabulae Solares

Printed Work
The Jesuit astronomer whose magnet experiments directly inspired Mesmer. Hell accurately measured the distance to the sun. Mesmer later claimed the magnetic healing idea as his own.
c. 1777

Almanac Under Glass — First French Mention of Mesmer

Printed Almanac
The earliest known French-language reference to Mesmer’s magnetic cures, published months before his arrival in France. Describes his demonstrations before the Elector of Munich.
II · The Discovery — Mesmer in Paris
1779

Franz Anton Mesmer — Autograph Letter Signed to Jean-Charles Desessartz

Autograph Letter Signed · Vienna, 18 August 1779
Mesmer writes to the Dean of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, enclosing his memorandum on “the discovery of animal magnetism” and seeking endorsement before publication. The Faculty refused. He published his landmark treatise later that year without their approval. A pivotal document in the history of medicine.
Signed “Mesmer” · 1½ pp. on bifolium
1779

Franz Anton Mesmer — Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal

First Edition · Fine Condition · PMM 225
The foundational text of animal magnetism. Mesmer presents for the first time his theory of an invisible universal fluid and its therapeutic applications. Contemporary marbled calf binding. Printed on heavy paper with wide margins.
Printing and the Mind of Man, 225
1780

Charles D’Eslon — Observations sur le magnétisme animal

First Edition
D’Eslon was Mesmer’s most prominent Parisian disciple. This work promoted animal magnetism to the French medical establishment and expanded Mesmer’s audience beyond his own practice.
III · The Crisis — Royal Investigation & Somnambulism
1784

Marquis de Puységur — Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire du magnétisme animal

First Edition · Author’s Signed Copy with Autograph Corrections
Rare first edition bearing Puységur’s signature and his autograph corrections in the margins, later incorporated into the 1786 edition. Puységur discovered artificial somnambulism and shifted mesmerism from physical to psychological—the conceptual foundation of modern hypnosis.
Signed by Puységur · Autograph marginalia · Ex-libris Dr. Bogousslavsky
1784

Royal Commission — Rapport des commissaires (King’s Press)

Official Document · Printed on the King’s Press
The official report of Louis XVI’s Royal Commission investigating animal magnetism, with Benjamin Franklin and Lavoisier among the commissioners. Concluded that mesmerism had no basis in reality.
1784

Royal Commission — Rapport des commissaires (Queen’s Press)

Official Document · Printed on Marie Antoinette’s Press at Versailles
The separate secret report addressing the moral dangers of mesmerism, particularly the intimate physical contact between male practitioners and female patients. Extremely rare.
1792

Louis XVI — Document Signed

Royal Document · 5 May 1792
Commission of the National Gendarmerie signed by Louis XVI, dated “the fourth year of liberty and of our reign.” Contextualizes the political environment of the era.
Signed by Louis XVI · Printed and handwritten on vellum
1795

Franz Anton Mesmer — Autograph Letter Signed to Madame Cardon

Autograph Letter Signed · 3 October 1795
A personal letter expressing Mesmer’s desire to flee the “boredom” of post-Revolutionary Paris. Written during the obscure final decades of his life, after the Revolution destroyed his reputation and fortune. Described by RR Auction as “excessively rare.”
Signed “Mesmer” · One page, mild foxing
IV · The Transformation — Birth of Hypnosis
1823

Rev. James Esdaile (father) — Christian Theology

Signed Book
Signed volume by the father of James Esdaile, the surgeon who performed over 300 operations using mesmeric anesthesia in India. Family provenance for the Esdaile surgical lineage.
1842

James Braid — Autograph Letter Signed

Autograph Letter Signed · Manchester, 25 August 1842
Braid invites an unnamed recipient to a conversazione at his home to witness “Neuro Hypnotic operations” and meet patients cured by his methods. Written approximately two months after Braid coined the term “hypnotism” in his landmark pamphlet Satanic Agency and Mesmerism Reviewed (June 1842, only two copies known). A primary source document of the birth of modern hypnosis.
Signed “Jas Braid” · 22 lines, old folds
c. 1840s

Joseph-Claude-Anthelme Récamier — Patient Report Signed

Medical Document · Signed
Signed medical report by Récamier, the founder of modern gynecologic surgery who coined the term “metastasis” and was the first person to use hypnosis for surgical anesthesia.
Signed by Récamier
1850

Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault — Medical Dissertation

First Edition · Inscribed & Signed
Extremely rare first edition of Liébeault’s medical thesis with his signed autograph inscription. The father of modern hypnotherapy and founder of the Nancy School. Sigmund Freud visited Liébeault in 1889 to study these techniques, which became instrumental in his development of psychoanalysis.
Signed autograph inscription · 32 pp. · Contemporary blue wrapper
V · The Science — From Charcot to Freud
c. 1883

Jean-Martin Charcot — Autograph Letter Signed

Autograph Letter Signed · Embossed Personal Stationery
Charcot invites a colleague to visit La Salpêtrière, the Paris hospital where he conducted groundbreaking research linking hypnosis and hysteria. “Perhaps you will see something worthy of interest.” Charcot’s work directly influenced Sigmund Freud’s development of psychoanalysis.
Signed “Charcot” · 1½ pages
VI · The Modern Era — Clinical Hypnotherapy
c. 1970s

Milton Erickson — Hypnotic Realities

Inscribed to Nephew · Signed
Presentation copy with a personal note to Erickson’s nephew. The founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and the most influential hypnotherapist of the twentieth century.
Inscribed and signed by Erickson
1964

Dave Elman — Findings in Hypnosis

Signed · Second Printing
Signed by Elman, whose rapid induction technique remains the most widely used method in clinical hypnotherapy today.
1987

Erika Fromm — Hypnotherapy and Hypnoanalysis

First Edition · Inscribed & Signed
Inscribed by Fromm, co-founder of hypnoanalysis and a bridge between psychoanalytic tradition and clinical hypnosis.
20th c.

Ormond McGill — Signed Book

Signed
Signed by McGill, known as the “Dean of American Hypnotists.”
2016

Richard Bandler — Teaching Excellence

First UK Edition · Inscribed & Signed
Inscribed by Bandler, co-founder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The most recent item in the collection, extending the lineage into the twenty-first century.