Hypnosis and Related States…
Inscribed to Margaret Mead
[Mead, Margaret]. Gill, Merton M., M.D. and Margaret Brenman, Ph.D. Hypnosis and Related States. Psychoanalytic Studies in Regression. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., (1959).
8vo.; green cloth, spine stamped in black and silver; green and white dust-jacket; light wear to extremities.
First edition of this “contribution to the understanding of the variety of hypnotic phenomena… [and] to the nature of regression,” by Gill and Brenman, who had collaborated over a decade prior to this publication on Hypnotherapy (1947).
A presentation copy, inscribed to Margaret Mead by co-author Margaret Brenman: For Margaret, whose role in the completion of this book would probably astonish her – gratefully & affectionately, Margaret. Five pages of Mead’s pencil notes about the book, dated 1959, are loosely inserted, and Mead’s small library ticket is affixed to the front pastedown.
The warm inscription naturally leads one to speculate about the precise role Mead had in the completion of the book. Chapter Ten, “Trance in Bali,” draws its supporting evidence from Bateson and Mead’s Balinese Character, and the authors credit that work with drawing their attention to the phenomenon of trance states and their relation to hypnosis in Balinese culture. In a footnote to the chapter they extend their thanks to Mead and Bateson “for their helpful comments and suggestions concerning the chapter.” Clearly Mead’s contribution was both editorial and academic, as the added footnote makes clear. The tone of the inscription suggests that Mead’s role extended beyond these material contributions. It is not difficult to speculate that in 1959 Mead, whose own career in the social sciences was groundbreaking, would have acted as a beacon and inspiration for other women in the field.
A compelling association copy of two women working in a field historically dominated by men.
(#3572)
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