The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead

New York: University Books, 1964. First Edition. Hardcover. New. One of the more recognizable books on psychedelic drugs from the 1960s, a guide to navigating death of the ego by three of the most well-known early proponents of the use of LSD. The first printing was 10,000 copies and 60,000 hardcovers were eventually sold (Timothy Leary: A Biography by Robert Greenfield, p. 219)

"The authors were engaged in a program of experiments with LSD and other psychedelic drugs at Harvard University until sensational national publicity unfairly concentrating on student interest in the drugs, led to the suspension of the experiments. Since then, the authors have continued their work without academic auspices"-from the front cover.

"The Psychedelic Experience was taken so seriously by LSD users that when people failed to have the experience described within its covers, they blamed themselves. Somehow they had failed the acid trip."-Greenfield, p. 219.

159 pages. 8-1/4 by 9-1/2 inches. First edition (first printing, with no indication of later printings). A near fine copy in illustrated boards with minor wear to the spine ends; no dust jacket, as issued. This is a remarkable copy from the library of Ronald K. Siegel, a psychopharmacologist at UCLA and a major collector of drug-related books. It is inscribed by Leary, "Presented with deepest love to my mother. Tim 9-64."

"On October 17, 1978, Abigail Leary died in Springfield at the age of ninety-two...Although she had once been her son's foremost champion and protector, Abigail had had no real contact with him in more than a decade. In his writings, Tim Leary made no mention of her death. Nor did he attend her funeral."-Greenfiedl biography, p. 532.