Exploring Inner Space: Personal Experiences Under LSD-25

One of the earliest personal LSD narratives,  generally acknowledged as the first written by a woman. Dunlap was a pseudonym used by the influential (but frequently misinformed) American nutritionist Adelle Davis, who voluntarily underwent a series of five LSD experiments starting in late 1959. During the first, described in the chapter “I Lived Billions of Years in Eight Hours,” she experiences the evolution of life on earth. In the second, she turns into a “gorgeous Pegasus galloping through space.” Subsequent sessions involve further transpersonal and out-of-body experiences, while her later trips take on themes of religion and “selfless love.” Engagingly written and full of colorful detail.

NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961. First edition. Octavo (5.75 x 8.25 in.); 216pp.; black cloth boards with metallic purple embossing on front board and spine, silver spine lettering, in dust jacket. Light toning to textblock edges, minor offsetting to pastedowns. Else fine in a near fine, unclipped (“$3.75”) jacket, moderately toned to rear panel and flap edges, with dulling/fading to spine. An attractive copy.