num_pages: 252
description: The word "Etidorhpa" is the reverse spelling of the name "Aphrodite". The first editions of Etidorhpa were distributed privately; Subsequent editions of the book feature numerous fantastic illustrations by John Augustus Knapp. Eventually a popular success, the book went through eighteen editions and was translated into seven languages. Etidorhpa literary clubs were founded in the United States and some parents named their young daughters Etidorhpa.
  The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey
 as communicated in manuscript to Llewellyn Drury who promised to print the same, but finally evaded the responsibility which was assumed' is the title of a scientific allegory or science fiction novel by John Uri Lloyd, a pharmacognocist and pharmaceutical manufacturer of Cincinnati, Ohio.¶ A bizarre 19th-century American fantasy novel with secret occult societies and hallucinogenic drugs; a voyage to an inner world inside the earth where they grow giant tree-like mushrooms whose juice creates visions of Dante-like hells. Much occultism, spiritualism and metaphysics. A cult classic. It has been ordained that a select few must from time to time pass over the threshold that divides a mortal's present life from the future. Etidorhpa is an early science fiction novel depicting a man's descent into the bowels of the Earth at the instigation of a mysterious secret society. Llewyllyn Drury is visited by a mysterious old man whose defining physical feature is his large, protruding forehead. The man offers to tell his story, promising that his life and knowledge is worth writing down. Being as the man displays certain enthralling and supernatural powers, Drury assents to the task - Etidorhpa is this story, interspersed with pauses wherein Drury questions his strange houseguest. John Uri Lloyd was a popular author of mystery and science fiction books. His profession however was pharmacology, with his specialism being herbal medicines and ethnobotanicals. The presence of giant mushrooms in one portion of the story, plus the various fantastical elements described, have led some readers to speculate that the author's knowledge of mind-altering substances influenced Etidorhpa 's plotting. Illustrations depict the stages of the journey, plus some of the scientific and metaphysical concepts explored.Written well over a century ago, John Uri Lloyd was a visionary who spoke of far distant worlds, dead civilizations, other dimensions and in particular, a world few of us will ever get to visit. A world hidden beneath our feet inside the earth. Inspired by the fantastic -- in particular the art of alchemy -- the author reveals in this long lost manuscript how he joined a secret society and was introduced into the sphere of mysticism. A part of this spiritual journey included the opportunity to establish contact with a super-human, eyeless being, inside a cave in Kentucky. Together they journey to another realm filled with magic and wonderment. Some have placed it in the category of Alice in Wonderland; where does the mind magic start and end? You decide.
language: English
title: Etidorhpa
titlecomplete: Etidorhpa
genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Speculative Fiction, Monsters, Paranormal, Literature, Classics, Fantasy
ratings_count: 315
publisher: Inner Light Publications