author
Ralph Shirley
1865–1946
A key figure in early 20th-century occult publishing, this British writer helped bring mystical and paranormal ideas to a wide readership. He is especially remembered for shaping The Occult Review and for books that introduced curious readers to mystics, visions, and unexplained phenomena.
1 Audiobook
Occultists & mystics of all ages
by Ralph Shirley
About the author
Born in Oxford in 1865, Ralph Shirley became an important editor, publisher, and writer in the world of esoteric literature. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, and later became closely associated with the publishing house William Rider & Son.
In 1905, he founded The Occult Review and edited it for more than two decades. Under his guidance, the magazine became a well-known home for writing on mysticism, psychical research, spiritualism, and the occult, helping define the tone of that field for many English-speaking readers.
Shirley also wrote and compiled books of his own, including works on mystics and unusual wartime legends. Today he is remembered less as a single famous author than as a steady, influential guide who helped shape how occult and spiritual ideas were published and discussed in the early 1900s.