Mysteries of the Unknown is a series of books about the paranormal, published on the North-American home market by Time-Life Books from 1987 through 1992. Each book focused on a different topic, such as ghosts, UFOs, psychic powers and dreams. Book titles included The UFO Phenomenon, Witches and Witchcraft, Hauntings, and more. According to the LinkedIn page of Tom Corry, Time-Life's then-vice president of product management (1984–90) and under whose auspices the series was launched, it was "the largest selling book series Time-Life ever produced."
Genesis The idea for the series was conceived after the publisher's management took note of the popularity in the home market of its preceding Enchanted World myths and folklore book series. A polling of its customer database revealed that there was a "decent interest" among customers in having a more mysterious and metaphysical book series as well, according to Tom Corry. The publisher also played into the era's growing popular fascination with the para- or supernatural, which eventually culminated in the long-running and hugely successful 1993-2000 X-Files television series and the many motion picture emulators it spawned afterwards. Corry recalled that management "thought we could probably squeeze a series out of this," and went ahead with the development of the series.
The Enchanted World series had already set in motion Time-Life Books' trend towards more sensationalism away from the hitherto soberly and scientifically written publications, the publisher was until then renowned for. Mysteries of the Unknown though, took it up a notch and the actual "The Editors of Time-Life Books" content writers/creators resented their management for it, or as Corry had put it, "Oh yeah. They hated that stuff." At first the editorial staff seemed to be justified in their skepticism as initial sales were slow when the series was launched in the early summer of 1987.
On August 16–17 1987, the Harmonic Convergence event took place, which sparked a massive upsurge in worldwide interest in the topics covered by the Time-Life series, and sales took off with Corry recalling that "[r]ight after that, in the fall of '87, we couldn't print enough books." As for the skeptical editors and despite them having never embraced the subject matter, Corry did credit them for their usual steadfast adherence of subjecting the series to the same rigors of investigation and annotation as any of their historical titles, resulting in that the Mysteries of the Unknown series also employed the same basic scientific principles in genuine attempts to validate the credibility of the theories discussed within. The book series broke the sales record for the company, which enabled the New York Times to report that one year into its release, 700,000 copies of the first volume, Mystic Places, had already been sold on the home market alone, while being just one of the eventual 33-volume series.
Release overview Each volume in the 33-volume series, including the Master Index, was either 144 or 160 pages in length (the 176-page volume 11 excepted), heavily illustrated and with pictorial essays on specific topics within each volume and were as a rule issued without a dust jacket. Executed in hardcover, each volume was bound in black faux leatherette, the cover endowed in silver printed text imprints, and with a square shaped illustration glued on.
Time-Life Books was renowned for its exclusive use of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model, meaning they sold their book series directly to customers and mailed the individual books to households on a (bi-)monthly basis, typically through subscription, and the Mysteries of the Unknown series was no exception. As usual, the book series was supported by a television ad campaign, which was particularly vigorous in this case (see below). By 1991 however, Time-Life Books' DTC business model had started to slump, and the company decided to distribute their publications through regular bookstore retail channels as well alongside their hitherto traditional DTC-only channel.
International editions Contrary to the inspirational Enchanted World series, which had not been widely translated into other languages, its Mysteries of the Unknown spawn was. UK as well as French, German, and Dutch-language editions are known to have been released in the overlapping time-span by the local "Time-Life Books B.V." Amsterdam subsidiary branch as otherwise exact copies of their US counterparts where book format execution was concerned. The 1990-93 Netherlands/Flanders Dutch-language edition though, was not only published out-of-order, but severely truncated as well, as only eight titles are known to have been released in translation.; While Mysteries van het onbekende is the literal translation of the US source publication, none of the Dutch-language releases actually carried the series title which was not even referenced in any of the book colophons, despite being exact copies of the source material otherwise.
The 1988-93 UK, French (as Mystères de l'inconnu, also disseminated in the other Francophone countries, French-Canada included) and German (as Geheimnisse des Unbekannten, also disseminated in the other Germanophone countries) editions on the other hand, were released in their entirety, albeit that volume 33, the Master Index, was passed over in all cases. The UK edition also served for the series' dissemination in the Commonwealth of Nations, Anglophone Canada excepted which was served with the US home market edition. While the French edition did not, the German edition carried Dutch ISBNs, confusingly the very same ones as the Dutch-language counterparts, save volume 12, if there had been any. Contrary to the French and Dutch editions though, which only saw one print run each, yet like in the US, the series was a popular one in the UK and the German-speaking territories in particular, enjoying multiple reprints; of the first German-language title, Mystische Stätten ("Mystic Places"), for example, is known that there have been at least nine Time-Life Books printings between 1988 and 1992 alone.
Mediterranean Europe saw three editions in translation besides the French one. In Greece the series was partially released by Athens-based Alkyon Publications (as Παραψυχολογία, 1990–91, eleven known published volumes in dust jacket, but published out-of-order; ), Italy saw a likewise partial series release by Milan publishing giant Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (as I misteri dell'ignoto, 1990–92, the first twenty volumes published), whereas Time-Life Books' regular go-to licensee Ediciones Folio, S.A. from Barcelona had a Spanish-language edition published (as Misterios de lo desconocido, entire series published in 1993, the Master Index included.)
Italy saw a reissue of their series by Balsamo/Bresso-based Hobby & Work Italiana Editrice in 1995–96. Hobby & Work was actually predominantly a partwork publisher, a publication format particularly popular in southern Europe at the time, and not only reissued the series in the original hardback book format, but had each book split up in five magazine-style paperback parts as well, concurrently selling them as magazine issues through the newsstand channel with one of them accompanied by a 30-minute VHS-tape that dealt with the underlying topic. This also applied to the Spanish edition as Folio co-published the series with specialized Madrid partwork publisher Ediciones del Prado who had already marketed the newsstand variant of the publication in a similar way two years before Hobby & Work would do.
The Nordic countries also received their share of the series in translation variants. Called Mystikkens verden, the series saw a partial publication in Denmark and Norway, as with their southern neighbors in a book format copied from the source material. The Danish edition was released by Copenhagen publisher (1990–93, 28 volumes). The Finnish version is called Mystiikan maailma ("World of Mystique")
Other parts of the world saw their region-specific editions released as well by local publishers under a full license from the Time-Life Books, Inc. mother company. The largest of these concerned the Brazilian Mistérios do desconhecido edition published by Abril Livros operating out of Rio de Janeiro (1992–96, 24 volumes).
The second known Latin-American edition was the 1992-93 Misterios de lo desconocido Spanish-language publication released in Argentina by Editorial Atlántida S.A., a major magazine publisher from Buenos Aires. Theirs however, was a deviant paperback release format with redesigned wrappers as cover, as the at least twelve known volumes were released in a magazine-type format under the overall Biblioteca Time Life Books Conozca Más moniker as indication that it was intended as a side collection of the publisher's then-main Conozca Más magazine publication.
Rounding out the international other-language editions, are the ones known to have been released in the Far East, again under a full license from Time-Life Books, Inc. A partial series release in translation was published in one batch in mainland China in February 2002 by Lijiang Publishers, Guilin, as part of their "鏖战位置丛书 (Tiao zhan wei zhi cong shu)" collection. At least five such volume releases are known. A single Japanese-language release of volume 24 is also known to have been published by Tokyo-based Burai Shuppan in 2006.
Apart from the two licensed German-language reiterations, some series volumes saw a 2003-04 second-edition in the UK as well from the London-based Caxton Publishing Group, likewise under a full license from the European Time-Life Books B.V. which had managed to stay in business a few years longer after the American "Time-Life Books, Inc." mother division had gone defunct in 2001 as a dedicated book publisher. a
Volume titles Mystic Places (1987, , 160 p.); Discusses places known for supernatural activity or ancient mysteries yet unsolved. Topics include the search for Atlantis, traveling to the Earth's center, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Stonehenge, and the Nazca lines. Psychic Powers (1987, , 160 p.); Discusses ESP and other people who claim to possess psychic abilities. Includes information on Patience Worth and the involvement of psychics in the Yorkshire Ripper case. The UFO Phenomenon (1987, 1997 , 160 p.); Discusses sightings and controversies regarding unidentified flying objects. Topics include alien encounters, the Roswell incident, and allegations of government cover-ups. Psychic Voyages (1987, , 144 p.); Discusses accounts of out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, and reincarnation. Phantom Encounters (1987, , 144 p.); Discuses encounters with mysteries apparitions. Includes stories of haunted families, banishing ghosts, and various ghost stories from Japan. Visions and Prophecies (1988, , 160 p.) Mysterious Creatures (1988, , 144 p.); Discusses cryptozoology, focusing on sea monsters and ape-men. Topics include Nessie, the Patterson–Gimlin film, Ameranthropoides loysi, and mokele-mbembe. Mind Over Matter (1988, , 144 p.); Deals predominantly with people with abilities considered abnormal, though not necessarily supernatural. Discusses hypnosis, poltergeists, levitation and Uri Geller. Cosmic Connections (1988, , 160 p.); Discusses humankind's long curiosity about the influence of celestial bodies. It includes extensive looks at the solar system and the zodiac. Spirit Summonings (1988, , 160 p.); Discusses mediums and seances. Topics include the Fox sisters, Daniel Dunglas Home, and Harry Houdini's debunking of mediums. Ancient Wisdom and Secret Sects (1989, , 176 p.); Includes details on Hermeticism and secret societies. Hauntings (1989, 1997, , 144 p.); Discusses the apparent haunting of people and places by ghosts and ghosting hunting. Includes information on poltergeists, the Moberly–Jourdain incident, ghost ships and the Bell witch.