The Lie Detector Test

New York: Richard R. Smith, 1938. First Edition. Octavo. 179, [4]pp. 8 plates. Red cloth gilt. Faint dampstain on rear board, near fine in a very good dust jacket with a corresponding stain on the rear panel and encroaching a little at the crown and edge of the front panel. In this comprehensive treatise, Marston traces the millennia-long quest for reliable truth detection, establishing the scientific principle that blood pressure elevates measurably when subjects knowingly employ deception. The work addresses both legal precedents and practical applications across diverse fields including law enforcement, business, and personal relationships. Though Elizabeth Holloway Marston, his wife and fellow psychologist, is not listed as a collaborator on the title page, she was instrumental in the invention and development of the blood pressure polygraph, with her fundamental contributions acknowledged by contemporary sources. Beyond its scientific significance, this work documents Marston's transition from academic psychologist to cultural entrepreneur. The same year this book appeared, he leveraged his lie detector fame in Gillette razor advertisements, beginning a trajectory that would eventually lead him to create Wonder Woman under the pseudonym Charles Moulton in 1941.