Parkstone, Dorset.
July 12th. 1896
My dear Flürscheim1
As old friends & fellow workers we need have no ceremony in addressing each other. I was much pleased with your letter in "Brotherhood" & also that in "Land & Labour" & trust that you may be able to convince the Trades ? &c to adopt the tactics you suggest.
You must have misunderstood about Mrs. Swinton2 being a medium, I only mentioned, incidentally, that she has ? phenomena. [2] But I suggested that you should call on my old & most valued friend — A. C. Swinton3 — at Channel View, Grove Road, Hastups, — on L.N.4 & Social Reform matters. He is a gentleman in every sense of the term, — birth, manners, feeling, & education — He was the founder & originator of the L.N. Society, & it was solely at his request that I undertook the PresidentShip from the first.
I enclose a note of introduction. Go to him solely as a Social Reformer. Afterward you may [3] mention Spiritualism, & tell him how you have been converted &c. His wife is a great invalid, & even I, who have known him 20 years & have staid frequently in his house, have never suggested even a séance. What they get comes spontaneously when they are alone, — & I never heard of anything when others were present.
As you pass through or stay in London, I can recommend you a good Trance Medium — Madame Greck, 46, Finborough Rd South Kensington — You will see [4] her advertisement in "Light" — Her usual fee is a pound for a private séance, & I feel sure of her honesty & of the genuineness of the communication through her. For a private séance you must make an appointment, & as you are a perfect stranger you will probably get some good tests. She is especially good for medical advice, but that probably you do not want.
To make sure of finding Mr. Swinton you had better write first enclosing my note.
Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace — [signature]
M. Flürscheim Esq,
After the séance you can say I suggested your calling on her.
[5]P.S. I had almost forgotten about Dr Du Prel. You cannot do better than call on Mr. George Redway 9, Hart Street, Bloomsbury, who published the new ed. of my Spiritualism, and who would, I think, be glad to publish Du Prel’s works. I think however for the English public, it would be well to condense them, if they are all as long and elaborate as his "Philosophy of Mysticism"—
A.R.W. [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3706.3613)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP3706,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3706