The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - DW's Library

Dennis Wheatley's Library – non-fiction
Palmistry

DW’s copy of Cheiro's 'Language of the Hand',
bought in 1919 (see the early bookplate, re-pasted
from the front to the back of the volume), which
contradicts the inscription that he wrote in the
front of the book in later years.

Click on the images to enlarge

In the factual section of his Library, DW had a small section on Palmistry, which he used to good advantage when writing 'The Devil Rides Out'.

As he recalled in his autobiography of his time at the Front in World War One:

"As I had time on my hands I had sent to me from London Cheiro's book on palmistry, then studied that fascinating method of reading character and telling fortunes. The shape of the hands and the lines on the palm make everyone's character an open book to anyone who has learned their meaning: although I found I could give a better reading of a stranger than of someone I knew fairly well, because one is naturally prejudiced by what one thinks one already knows about the personalities of acquaintances. Fortune-telling is a very different matter and to be really proficient at it I think it is necessary to be psychic in addition to knowing the generally accepted meanings of markings on a palm. I am not psychic but I became very good at character-reading and had a lot of fun telling people correctly attributes they possessed but did not always show.".

References : 'Officer and Temporary Gentleman', page 201.
'The Devil Rides Out', Chapter Thirteen

Provenance : Ex Libris Mark Mortimer