Spiritism in its Simplest Expression

Allan Kardec is the pen name of the French educator and philosopher Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (1804–1869). Regarded as the codifier of Spiritism, he dedicated the later part of his life to investigating and documenting psychic phenomena. Through methodical research and communication with spirits, he authored the five fundamental works of the Spiritist Codification, beginning with The Spirits' Book in 1857, which laid the philosophical and scientific foundation for Spiritism.