Etidorhpa or the End of Earth

by John Uri Lloyd

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.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Classics, Literature, Paranormal, Metaphysics

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1895

Reviews

[Katelis Viglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most strange books ever. It isn't only the problem, myth and theory of the Hollow Earth that is developed in extence; apart from the excelent and brilliant first chapter, where the famous quote from Seneca is referred, and the metamorphoses of the hero that follows, there are so many scientific paradoxes, strange explanations of geological phenomena, informations on chemical reactions, unorthodox physical appearences in the Earth's entrailes, and of course the teacher and quide of the protagonist, the asexual creature, who is neither alien, nor terrestial, reminder of what one would have been if he lived in Earth's internal, that make this book exceptional. One of the first fantasy books, by a farmacist and botanologist, written in 1895, very infuencial, and very infuenced by so many (Poe, Lytton, Vern), which for a modern reader seems extraordinary.
I must confess that reading this book, I was feeling very strange, in a sense of a mixture of curiosity and repulsion. Curiosity because of the so many interesting theories, connected with alchemy, apocrypha, secret societies etc. - presented not with the modern way, dramatical, but suggestive, through scientific incidents, experiments, etc.; Repulsion, because all that stuff is not really revealing, but un-scientific. The utopia inside Earth, isn't ideal, but really unknown. Yes, indeed, it is a terra nova. It isn't the known Earth of the surface. Not again the Underworld of mythology. It is like to be in another planet, totally different, alien, without any obvious relation with the known Earth.
With regard to the supposed spiritualization of scientific information this is really what should matter. But it isn't as one would expect. Nature even if it is supposed that have been changed to something better, new, rather seems to be neutral, without soul. A scientific vision, infuenced by apocryphal knowledge, deprived from every human trace, cold, remote.

[Yorgos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in Greek translation.
Very interesting book, which touches upon themes such as alchemy, science, morality, geology, human nature, secret knowledge, religion.
In addition to a wealth of ideas on various topics, it touches upon a very crucial topic: Spiritualization of science and knowledge in general, it touches upon knowledge in a deeply moral and religious sense and, thus, offers a bridge between science and religion.

[John Willemse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently acquired a rare first edition of this book, published by the author, complete with John Uri Lloyd's signature and side notes. I had already read the book before I got my hands on it, but I was eager to read it again.

The book tells the story of two people: A man named Llewellyn Drury and a fellow only referred to as I-Am-The-Man-Who-Did-It. The latter relates his personal life story to Llewellyn and begs him to publish the manuscript after keeping it safe and secret for 30 years. Allegedly, Llewellyn decided to burden John Uri Lloyd with this task and Etidorhpa is the end result.

The book starts with a hand written prologue, telling the story of the secret manuscript and Llewellyn Drury. After a short introduction of the author the fantastic story of I-Am-The-Man begins. The book contains two related stories which are woven into a compelling journey. It tells of the adventures of I-Am-The-Man during his underground trip to the inner Earth, and it also tells of the encounters between Llewellyn Drury and I-Am-The-Man at Llewellyn's home.

I don't want to spoil the read by telling how it ends, but I can tell you you're in for a big surprise. A must-read in my opinion.

[HillbillyMystic · Rating 4 out of 5]

The master within keeps telling me to hunt for caves to get out of 5G, Star Link, and the other vibration disturbing technologies now stunting all of mankind. Luckily I live next door to two national forests so my search continues. I don't want to find middle earth, just a meditation spot for astral projection and prophecy. If you have not noticed the vibration disturbance in the past 20 years then you may not have noticed the devolution of humanity while staring into screens for decades. We had all the information at our finger tips. The most access to knowledge since the library of Alexandria and we chose to play Farmville while getting blue thumbs for faked scenes of happiness instead. You may also be quad boosted with an obviously inefficacious (see never ending boosters) and Com-Pletely unsafe experimental mRNA spike protein gene editing therapy sourly mislabeled a vaccine. But I still respect HIPAA so that's none of my concern. Well I reckon it's time for me to go hunting for Etidorhpa again. My hounds are getting restless.

[Mike Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a trippy, trippy book! Written at the turn of the 19th to 20th century by a native Cincinnatian it explores science, religion, and the issues of the day (particularly the Temperance Movement. Most appealing was the visit with the title's character Etidorhpa. The writing in this section, to me, was brilliant (I can see many quotes from this section in my future). Part Jules Verne, part Jack Kerouac, and a bit of Tom Wolfe just for good measure. Immerse yourselves in this one and give me a shout!

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pseudoscientific claptrap, the dullest acid trip ever committed to paper.

A loner receives a spectral visit from a bigbearded slaphead with a remarkable story to tell. Falling foul of a secret society, the storyteller had been taken down into a magical world of zero gravity beneath the Earth, with a half-man, half-newt for guide. Really.

After betraying the alchemist's Illuminati he was kidnapped, thrown into a coach with a corpse strapped down on the seat next to you, taken to a cabin in the woods and threatened by men in masks who say "You will now go into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and learn the mysteries of life."

They don't mean to murder him, nothing so prosaic as that. Instead his captor's plan to "annihilate you as a mortal being, and yet you will exist, suspended between life and death." This mostly involves being turned into a pensioner and lead into a subterranean wonderland beneath Kentucky by an eyeless hairless simulacrum of humanity who bores you to death with lengthy, prolix dissertations about invisible cosmic energy and ginormous magic mushrooms.

The listener remains incredulous pretty much throughout, sensibly enough. However, receiving a visitation from a ghost who can read his mind who tells him a story about journeying into a hollow earth with a bizarre mockery of humanity gave him less cause for doubt than being informed that water can travel above its source.

The only positive thing I can say about Etidorpha is that it's not quite as ridiculous as A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future by John Jacob Astor IV, a similarly stupifying fantasia on scientific progress which which published a year previously.

However, a number of the illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp are eerily superb, well worth checking out.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally finished "Etidorpha" after having had the book (off and on) for forty years, give or take a year! Extremely complex read and at times difficult to comprehend...partly spiritual, lots of science especially pharmacology*, physics, and biology, fantasy, and more. I think it could be read more than once to get all the nuances from it. Amazing that many of these scientific impossibilities, as described by the main character, I-Am-The-Man, have come to pass.

[Micah Dunlap · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book has 7 chapters about falling off of a cliff.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought a used paperback version of this book at the Printer's Row Book Fair, held in Chicago, one summer.

This a quite a unique novel. It first came out in 1895, and it clearly falls within the "Hollow Earth" sub genre of fantastic fiction. But it is not only that. The author, who was trained in science and taught and practiced pharmacy, expounds in this novel his views on science, philosophy, and the occult. For example, Chapter XXX is about an experiment where one can observe a small portion of one's own brain.

The book also gives a New Agey vibe, sort of like a late 19th century _Mutant Message Down Under_ or _The Celestine Prophecy._

The main narrative is wildly fantastical--think _Alice in Wonderland_ mixed with hallucingens. Jumping from a cliff yet falling slowly to the ground; a forest of colossal fungi; a great variety of stony figures; monstrous cubical crystals; beings with distorted body parts.

Neal Wilgus, in his introduction to this edition, thinks that this novel was based on Lloyd's own experience, for his life long pharmaceutical research must have brought him in contact with hallucinogenic substances. If so, I want what he had!

[Gary D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been many years, but I still remember the instructions for looking at my own brain with a candle...

[Harry Hill]

The copy I ended up with from the library had several chapters at the end that were out of order, slightly related or something to the preceding chapters but frankly I technically finished the story already and would have just preferred to read those during the story. Trying to revisit certain parts, entertain parts of the philosophy and the science fiction was a chore at that point.
However, I loved reading the book. I found it incredibly fun and easy. Not the best writing but a good time.

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are searching for something different, a novel unlike others, this is a very good choice. It has been a sort of mystery since it first appeared at the end of the 19th century. It has a enigmatic traveler guiding us into hidden secrets and a secret realm, departing from a backwoods cave in Kentucky. There is quite a bit of philosophical discourse about humans and their lost ways, but still plenty of alluring surprises such as gigantic magic mushrooms and boats that glide effortlessly and at great speeds on glass, sort of lakes.. The traveler reads from his own manuscript to our narrator, the writer. The real guide though is a faceless, strange creature who looks like a character from Marvel's Doctor Strange as drawn by Steve Ditko. The book has wonderful illustrations by Augustus Knapp that look dated except for their fantasy elements. Actually, considering when it was written, the book seems fairly fresh and new. The only really incongruous element because of the time period when it was written is a sudden, didactic anti-alcohol lecture. There are of course other novels old and new of travels inside the Earth, but this is the most idyllic promising a different way of thinking that can lead to a better world. Is this really possible? Well, as the author tells us, "Other lessons must come first. But never will you see the end. Truth is infinite." An interesting vital side note - the title backwards spells Aphrodite.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining (and mildly tedious, in spots) “occult adventure” story. This really shines in the overall construction, a story within a story of the reading of a manuscript, etc. Not something I’ll likely read again, but I’m glad I read it.

[Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic plot is a man joins a esoteric secret society in the 1800s. After he attempts to publish an exposé, he is kidnapped by the members of his order, he repents his offenses and is punished by being forced to take a potion that makes him look like an old man. He is then to travel within the earth with a humanoid, eyeless nude man to the Unknown Country.

The whole book is framed that this man returned, wrote a manuscript, and coerced a man to listen to him read it and agree to publish it. It jumps back and forth between the manuscript and the two men arguing over details.

The book is very slow. Whole chapters are dedicated to a arguments on minute scientific details between the eyeless man and the traveler, lectures given by the eyeless man on different topics, lectures given by the traveler to the coerced listener and the listener doing research to prove the traveler wrong. Areas include “can water flow above its source if layered with soil and brine?”, “can colors be subdivided further than the three primary colors?”, and other nail biting topics. The narratives themselves of the travels take several chapters to describe him falling off a cliff and a bad drug trip. The story then just ends when he is passed off to a new guide before he gets to the Unknown Country, so it is slow with no payoff. One of the weirdest stories I’ve read.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this book starts out intriguingly creative and unusual. However, it’s largely expository. There’s a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. There’s a ton of scientific speculation, but some of it is since disproven ideas that any high schooler could dispute. There’s also a lot of specious, poor logic, along the lines of (real example): you should believe these unrealistic and kooky creatures are real because the platypus is a weird and real creature. This is a lousy argument, and there’s a lot of this kind of thing in the book. It’s mostly stuff getting semi-explained in this fashion, and there’s enough creativity and suspense to sustain this for a little while. However, it eventually got old, repetitive, and boring. I’m glad I read this for the historical literary interest, but under its own merits, it’s only ok.

[Andy Schwartz · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s very not scientifically sound. It’s also very boring.

[Carl Barlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's an odd one.

First published in 1895, this novel was a huge success, with folk naming their kids Etidorhpa. It concerns an American gentleman's descent into the Hollow Earth, the amazing discoveries and enlightenment he found there, and the wonderful abilities -that are apparently within us all- that were released within him in consequence.

It gets compared to Jules Verne, Dante, and Victor Hugo. I can see the first two readily enough (no dinosaurs, but there are giant mushrooms and ethereal lighting... and, well, it's very definitely a descent, though not into Hell (and there is also some contemporary comment)), but only a little of the last (Lloyd touches upon a myriad of vastly different subjects and has opinions on all of them (like, say, in Les Miserables), but his writing is just not in the same class as Hugo's). The book is -mainly- anti science and vaguely anti-religion, stating more than once that both severely blinker Humanity's evolution and spiritual advancement - that, by seemingly only looking at things in a different way, we would be capable of incredible wonders.

It gets bogged down with "explaining" tedious notions (page after page on how to make water flow upwards). Other ideas are laughable (a subterranean lake that causes volcanoes, seeing the back of your own living brain... without either trepanning or mirrors (for which there is also a kooky "explanation")). Others still are obviously crazy yet somehow intrigue (the light from out sun doesn't shine uniformly, there is actually only one beam directed at Earth, and if that beam is somehow diverted, the other world it obscured is revealed... and tantalising only hinted at in an almost Lovecraftian fashion).

The writing style, though nowadays perhaps a little stilted, is always clear in and of itself (even if what is being written about isn't). The illustrations are gorgeous. There is an incredible amount going on in Etidorhpa, and most of it is utterly bonkers... but it's a diverting bonkers, and it will have you thinking if there actually are... well, other ways of thinking.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the strangest book I read in my life, but also one of my favorites. It is a mixture of Jules Verne with Dante, popular science, history of masonry, esoteric thinking, alchemy, a spiritual search and adventure.
The inicial part of the book is based on the true story of William Morgan, who published a book revealing secrets of masonry, and was murdered as a result.
While Jules Verne uses his stories to explain science, John Uri Lloyd seems to do the exact opposite. In order for his stories to be true, the main character needs to manipulate and distort scientific facts, in a strange socratic dialogue with his interlocutors. This is so interesting because for this reason I am deeply distrustful of the veracity of the narration of the main character.
Several of the reviews on Goodreads mention the spiritualisation of science, and I agree that in fact this is a very interesting aspect of the book. The increase of scientific knowledge is described as spiritual advancement. The more spiritually enlightened a person is, the better grasp they have of science. Personally I completely disagree with this view, because in my opinion spiritual advancement should be open to people with all levels of education, it should not be the property of a scientific elite or of highly educated people.
Great book and weird book, a hidden treasure of science fiction.

[Ben A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult read but pleased I have completed this.
It’s more of an essay rather than (in my view) a classical “must read”.
In it’s time this would have been properly out there and wild, there’s parts that could still stand up, but unless you’re looking through the eyes of a Victorian there’s little to think about. Loooooong stretches of scientific paper style writing (and the copy I have seems to have misplaced some of the footnotes…!).
Easier to read if taken in one sitting… good luck!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didnt think I'd find this most rare book on good reads. Yet here it is.
All I can say is that this book is a most extraordinary thought provoking, mind expanding, brain food that most of the modern world will never ever see.

It is designed for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. And not for anyone else. Because magnetically is just won't go anywhere else. Nor should it. "You don't give pearls to swine" as i learned in 2014, although reluctantly. This book is a most precious jewel.

[Enoch Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book chronicles a journey through the strange land, with observations of fauna and flora, as found by a man who stumbles into the center of the earth. It was so fascinating that immediately after completing it, I painted a picture of some of the flowers described. I wish I was a better artist capable of capturing more. There were line drawings in the edition I read and they were very helpful to the reader.

[JohnnyV · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strangest books I have read. Entertaining most of the time, but sometimes long winded in older English. Definitely provides much food for thought. May read again in a few years to see how my take on the various subjects has changed. I was surprised at how far ahead of its time some of the scientific ideas were (e.g. global warming).

[Wreade1872 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly haunting book about a forced journey into the interior of the earth. Very long winded, 1/3 story to 2/3's lecture on science, metaphysics, dangers of alcoholism etc. Tough to dig through but interesting.

[Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Etidorpha is a strange and fascinating hybrid: part occult treatise, part philosophical speculation, and part adventure novel, all wrapped in a thin veil of fantasy and mild horror. A common comparison would be Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, but filtered through mysticism and esoteric science.

The premise is undeniably intriguing. A guided descent into the unknown becomes both a literal journey underground and a symbolic exploration of hidden knowledge, secret societies, and alternative ways of understanding reality. At its best, the book feels visionary and daring, especially considering the era in which it was written. Some ideas come across as eerily modern, while others are firmly rooted in 19th century pseudo-science and metaphysical speculation.

That said, the novel’s pacing is wildly uneven. Moments of genuine wonder and narrative momentum are frequently derailed by extended philosophical monologues and dense explanations. These digressions clearly reflect the author’s ambitions, but they can feel heavy-handed and exhausting, particularly for readers expecting a more conventional adventure. Depending on your patience for speculative philosophy, these sections will either be the book’s greatest strength or its biggest flaw.

Stylistically, Etidorpha is more about ideas than characters. The prose can be stiff and didactic, yet it carries a certain charm, especially when describing the subterranean world and its uncanny atmosphere. The occasional horror elements, such as darkness, isolation, and the unknown, add to the novel’s dreamlike unease, even if they are never fully embraced.

Overall, it’s easy to see why Etidorpha has endured for nearly two centuries. It’s not an easy read, nor a consistently entertaining one, but it is a unique artifact of its time. It's ambitious, weird, and unapologetically intellectual.

[Sergio Cresta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya en 1895, año de la publicación, corrían algunas teorías conspiranoicas, y entre ellas las de la tierra hueca. Un buen ejemplo es 'Viaje al centro de la tierra', del cual seguramente se toman algunas ideas (setas gigantes, animales increibles y un océano en el interior de la esfera) pero, en el caso de la obra de John Uri Lloyd, parece que el trayecto se hizo bajo los efectos del LSD o alguna sustancia similar existente en la época. A ver cómo pongo esto en pie: un ricachón del siglo XIX, Llewellyn Drury, despierta una noche para encontrarse en su salón con un señor de larga barba blanca, el autodenominado "Yo soy el hombre". Este le propone leerle un manuscrito que el primero debe publicar 30 años después, además de la posibilidad de ir comentando lo que se le antoje sobre la marcha. El texto cuenta cómo el anciano, perteneciente a una sociedad alquímica secreta, decidió desvelar todos sus secretos a la humanidad y, como castigo por este intento, es secuestrado y obligado a emprender un viaje al interior de la tierra, acompañado de un misterioso ser sin cara. Comienza entonces un viaje por entornos y situaciones cada vez más extrañas y maravillosas, disertaciones sobre lo equivocados que estaban los científicos de aquel momento en relación a la gravedad, la materia, el alma y el universo. Todo un alarde de ciencia ficción especulativa, interesante e ininteligible según el momento.

[Ohmhaka]

Love this! How I could never speak the words of the guide. However I Intuitively understood!😊

This book was an excellent read. If 1 is researching occult or mystery Books it will see the reality of this book and the truth of this man's experience As valid. Only 1 who has seen the reality of this journey And It's process Would be able to write this down Weather it's fictional on nonfictional I intuitively understood the words in nature Of his guide. Yeah I have never been to this place or to these places here on earth.But I have transcended in my mind So to me this is conceivable.This was a great book I couldn't put it down.

[Dennis Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitive reading

This book is best read by more evolved people. People who are learned/study science, religion, astronomy, geological events, body, mind, spirit.
This book is to be studied!

[Sohail · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining read—only when it does not pretend to seem scientific.

[Raphael Chloé · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic

[Donice C. Jenkins (DJ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most creative concepts I've ever read in a book.