A WONDERFUL NEW EDITION OF MY FIRST BOOK IS COMING SOON!
My first book The Link was first published in 1974, unbelievably almost 50 years ago, and it remained in print until fairly recently. However, public interest in it has never waned and a new generation is interested in my story.
I am about to publish a new edition for everyone who has found that even battered old copies on eBay are no longer available - or for those who would simply like an updated 21st century copy!
Initially we are producing a special high-quality limited hardback edition of only 250 copies, each of which I will sign and number. Printed on 115 gsm paper, complete with a marker ribbon, it will contain over 40 illustrations many of which are previously unpublished. Half of these will be in colour - the original copies of The Link originally had only black and white photographs some of which, although of their time, were poor quality.
I’m indebted to Abby Freeley (a follower of my Facebook page) who gave her time to completely transcribe the book so that we could start afresh with a newly typeset text which now looks much more up to date.
We hope to have the new limited edition ready at the end of November/ early December. A high quality book is costly to produce and although it would have been cheaper to have printed it in China, we’ve kept the whole project in this country. It will have a price of £25.
You will only be able to purchase from this website as the special edition will not be sold anywhere else. If you would like to be notified when it becomes available please leave your name and email address below.
(At some point next year we will be releasing it as both an ebook with Kindle, and as a paperback.)
SOME OF MY ARCHIVES HAVE FOUND HOMES IN SURPRISING PLACES
As I searched out new illustrations for the forthcoming updated edition of The Link, I discovered how far and wide some of my archives have become distributed.
For example, in early 1974 I had a photo shoot with a long-established and old-fashioned photographic studio in Cambridge - Ramsey and Muspratt - but none of the original images were in my own archives. The studio has long gone but a bit of research led me to the Cambridgeshire Collection of the Cambridge Central Library who are now custodians of these photographs.
The Senate House at the University of London hold the majority of my automatic writing and drawings, together with much other archive material, and if you’re interested in looking at my early work it can be viewed by appointment.
I then learned that unbeknownst to me, Cambridge University Library also hold extensive archives including a full photographic record of the signatures on the walls of our former family home, Queen’s House. They also have copies of many of the reports of scientific research in which I was involved, together with numerous press cuttings. These too can be viewed by prior appointment or accessed online.
The College of Psychic Studies in London were gifted the door panel covered in signatures around a poetic verse (top right corner of the accompanying image for this post) and it is on display there for anyone to inspect.
I’m quite flattered that so much of my archive material is held by two prestigious universities and is available to the public.
However, I have enormous personal archives comprising of thousands of photographs many of which are now stored on our computer and on memory sticks. I’ve got reams of press articles from around the world dating back to the early 1970s together with old TV footage of programs on which I appeared. I also have original copies of dozens of recordings and video material made for my early self-help cassettes. Everything is currently stored in large plastic boxes and held in a secure storage container for safety.
One day, when I’ve shuffled off this mortal coil, I’d like these various archive collections to be held in one place so that in the future everyone can access them. Sixty years or more of archives would be a fascinating insight into the experiences I’ve had in my life. In the coming months I hope to talk to both London and Cambridge Universities with a view to all this material ultimately being held in one location.
I’ve enjoyed finding material that I’d long-forgotten, some of which has not been previously published, but will now be included in The Link. It’s been a trip down memory lane.