32
●
(SPIRITUALISM)
Group of 10 cartes-de-visite of the famousVictorian-era British medium Georgiana Houghton by
Frederick Hudson. Albumen prints, each with Houghton’s copious handwritten observations, in
ink, on mount verso. 1875-1876
[4,000/6,000]
33
●
(SPIRITUALISM)
Group of 8 photographs of séances in which all sorts of spirits and ectoplasm make an appearance;
includes a picture of automatic writing. Silver prints, various sizes from 1x7
1
/
2
to 2x3
1
/
4
to 3x3
1
/
2
inches (2.5x191 to 5.1x8.3 to 7.6x8.9 cm.). 1930s
[1,000/1,500]
Many of these photographs are credited to Craig and George Falconer, who conducted séances in which
spectators were not only invited to watch a medium at work, but also the photographic process (loading
film, shooting pictures, processing prints) and recording the visitation of a spirit.The brothers were arrested
and convicted, in 1931, when two plainclothes policemen, who were posing as sitters, charged that
“extras” (spirits) were actually photomechanical images and the cloudy ectoplasm was manipulated.
32
