London: Macmillan and Co., Limited,, 1911. An unsolved Victorian temporal mystery First edition, first impression, of perhaps the most famous "time slip" case in the literature. The first impression is rare in commerce; the book was an unexpected sensation, and the initial print run sold out quickly. It consequently ran to four impressions in three months. The identities of the anonymous authors were not made public until 1931. The work explores in detail the mysterious events that occurred to two learned women while visiting Versailles in the summer of 1901. In August of that year the Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, Charlotte "Annie" Moberly (1846-1937) and Eleanor Jourdain (1863-1924), who was about to take up the position of Vice Principal at the college, went on holiday to cement their personal and working relationship. On 10 August they visited Versailles where they experienced unexplained physical and mental symptoms and met a host of strange characters. Their experiences led them to later see the trip as one not to contemporary Versailles, but instead a Versailles just prior to the execution of Marie Antoinette. The pair became lost while crossing the palace's gardens to visit the Petit Trianon, a farmhouse where Marie Antoinette played at being a milkmaid. As they walked, both women became overcome by a strong sense of depression, although neither admitted this to the other until days later. The women kept going despite their discomfort, until one of the passers by they asked for directions (all of whom they noted were in historical dress) implored them to turn back - unable to find their way forward they did so and found themselves surrounded once more by modern-day tourists. Neither woman spoke of their afternoon at Versailles until a week later, when Moberly asked Jourdain if she believed the Petit Trianon to be haunted, which Jourdain confirmed she did. It was not discussed again until back in Oxford in November, at which point they decided to write separate accounts of the afternoon, to rationally compare their experiences. This began a process of intense and meticulous research into the grounds and history of Versailles, culminating in the present work. The research included two further trips to the palace and many days in the archives, during which they confidently identified all the people they had met in the grounds as members of the court or staff of 1792. The work prompted intense scrutiny upon publication and was investigated in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. Several attempts were made to debunk the women's story, with some posing explicitly homophobic arguments when the authors' identities were revealed, claiming that the two women were in a sapphic daze or folie à deux caused by an alleged romance between the two. Since the works publication many key psychical researchers have given their opinion upon the events in question and it has become a long-lasting and influential point of paranormal discussion. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, gilt fleur-de-lys on front cover. Bookstamp of Combridge & Co., Bombay, at head of front pastedown, ink inscription to head of front free endpaper. Spine lightly browned, rubbing to extremities and cloth of rear cover, scattered foxing; a very good copy.
