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This mysterious volume was discovered in a tiny bookstore in Whitby, England. It appears to have been methodically coated with a gold-based substance, perhaps a wax filled with gold dust, concealing the majority of the printed text in order to reveal a mystical “trance verse” poem embedded in the original language of the book. Though research revealed nothing of the history of the book or the diviner of the poetic verse, it is purported that other examples of this refined art of verse divination had been discovered over the years in this tiny coastal town, best known as the setting of part of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

Beverly Rayner,  Book of Trance Verse, Museum of Mesmerism
Book of trance verse
English, 1812, author unknown
Accession No. 2011-3-en
30.5” x 10.75” x 1”