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Emanuel Swedenborg
[ XXIV
eighty, it became one of his most popular. In April, 1769, a year after it was out, he wrote to a friend, "The book is very much in demand in Paris, and in many places in Germany." And the Dutch reviewed it favorably. Copies even trickled into Sweden.
The fact was that since it became known about 1760 that Swedenborg claimed to have communication with the other world, people of all classes, high, middle and low, flocked to him to consult him about such things—especially, of course, those who had lost their spouses, and who hoped to regain—or lose—them in the other world.
