14 h 43 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the ghost you see begins not in a haunted room, but in your own mind?
In The Philosophy of Mystery, Walter Cooper Dendy brings a London surgeon’s curiosity to dreams, visions, omens, and trances. He treats reports of the uncanny as experiences worth studying, rather than proof of a hidden world or simple lies. His question draws you in: how might the body and mind account for what seems beyond explanation?
Dendy explores sleep, imagination, and the feelings that keep haunted tales alive. Fear, grief, wonder, and inherited stories all shape belief. Along the way, you meet a Victorian physician trying to bring faith, medicine, and curiosity together. The appeal lies in watching him search for natural causes without dismissing the experiences that make people reach for stranger answers.
What you’ll discover
- The uncanny under examination Look at apparitions as experiences to investigate, not claims to accept or dismiss.
- Dreams and the wandering mind Explore sleep as a state where the will loosens and imagination moves on its own.
- Pictures beyond the eye Consider how imagination can create sights and sounds that feel entirely real.
- The feelings behind belief Trace the fear, grief, and love of wonder that give haunted stories their hold.
- A Victorian search for causes Follow a physician’s effort to connect medicine, faith, and curiosity about the unexplained.
Who will love it
Readers who love ghost stories, strange old anecdotes and the history of the mind will enjoy this book, as will anyone curious about how a physician explained the supernatural.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two friends at Tintern Abbey stage a contest
- Old ghosts return for burial, justice and warning
- Prophetic apparitions seem strong until you count the failures
- A ghost is an intense idea in the mind
- The body and the eye make spectres of their own
- Nature and human craft explain many haunting wonders
- Mind and brain work together but are not the same
- Dreams are memory rearranged while judgment sleeps
- Nightmare, sleepwalking and trance are sleep out of step
- Mesmerism and expectation do much of the work
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
La Philosophie du mystère
by Walter Cooper Dendy · 1841
Friends drifting past Tintern Abbey on the Wye argue whether ghosts are spirits or tricks of the brain.
Challenging10–20 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Is a ghost a visitor from the grave, or a picture painted by your own brain? Two friends meet that question on a midsummer night at Tintern Abbey, and neither will give way.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two friends at Tintern Abbey stage a contest
The book opens in a small boat on the river Wye. Castaly, Ida and Evelyn sail toward Tintern Abbey on a midsummer evening. Their friend Astrophel has gone ahead to walk among the ruins, and the women tease him as a moon-struck student.
Astrophel appears and begs them to tread softly, because this is haunted ground. His argument is plain. Every age and nation has believed in spirits, so so universal a belief must rest on something real. Evelyn answers that a shared belief proves only that human minds are built alike.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1841
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 9 h 30 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Dendy, Walter Cooper. The Philosophy of Mystery. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-philosophy-of-mystery.
Dendy, W. C. (2026). The philosophy of mystery. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-philosophy-of-mystery (Original work published 1841)
Dendy, Walter Cooper. The Philosophy of Mystery. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-philosophy-of-mystery.
@book{dendy2026philosophy,
author = {Dendy, Walter Cooper},
title = {The Philosophy of Mystery},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-philosophy-of-mystery},
note = {First published 1841}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about La Philosophie du mystère
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Philosophy of Mystery about?
It is a conversation among four friends at Tintern Abbey about ghosts, omens, dreams, trances and mesmerism. One believes in spirits, and a physician explains each marvel through the eye, the brain, memory and the power of belief.
Who are Astrophel, Evelyn, Castaly and Ida?
Astrophel is the dreamy student who believes in spirits and prophecy. Evelyn is the physician who seeks natural causes. Castaly and Ida are the two women who judge their contest, with Castaly loving poetry and Ida holding a devout faith.
Does the book say ghosts are real?
Evelyn argues that ghosts are intense ideas, optical effects or products of fear, fever and expectation. He keeps religion and the soul's immortality apart from this, and Astrophel and Ida keep the other side of the question alive.
The author
Walter Cooper Dendy
1794–1871 · English surgeon and writer
Walter Cooper Dendy was a British surgeon and writer who lived from 1794 to 1871. He was born in Horsham, Sussex, and worked in London. His writings included The Philosophy of Mystery, published in 1841. He also wrote works on medicine during the nineteenth century.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
