Foxing, mostly constrained to the extremities of the text-block; cloth rather rubbed, minor mottling; jacket frayed with some wear and chipping to edges, notably the head of spine.
Jacket artwork by Hookway Cowles.
£295
London, Arthur Barker, 1934.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Second issue dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A dark Gothic novel set on a Cornish farm, Raven’s Brood centres on old John Pentreath’s fear of God and love of the flesh & drink – a far cry from the work usually associated with the author of the Mapp & Lucia series. Rare in the jacket.
In stock
Foxing, mostly constrained to the extremities of the text-block; cloth rather rubbed, minor mottling; jacket frayed with some wear and chipping to edges, notably the head of spine.
Jacket artwork by Hookway Cowles.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Stanley Paul, 1909.
First edition. 8vo. Original (variant) blue cloth.
A key work in Hope Hodgson's canon, here in a seemingly unknown variant binding (the normal is red cloth, with green also being recorded). The tale recounts a ship crew's strange & terrifying experience as their reality comes into contact with an alternative, darker mirror world. Bleiler was a huge fan of Hope Hodgson, calling his novels "visionary accounts that have no real parallels in English literature". Of this particular title he noted:
"One of the great sea novels. highly original in detail and well done. Although it is overshadowed as visionary horror by the more spectacular The House on the Borderland and The Night Land, as a work of art, it is finer." (The Guide to Supernatural Fiction).
A revised version of the ending was anthologised, under the title "The Silent Ship".
Weird & Supernatural
London, Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1928.
Early jacketed edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket.
A rare jacketed issue of this important work by Father Benson, lauded in his own day as one of the leading figures in English literature, having written the notable novel Lord of the World (1907). This collection of supernatural horror stories, originally published in various periodicals and later collected in book form, examines "that horrible sense of silence round about us, in which dreadful forces are alert and watching us."
Weird & Supernatural
a narration of the perilous sojourn therein of George Cowper, mariner, etc.
London, Henry J. Drane, [1897].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial light grey-green cloth.
Castaways on uncharted island fall under seemingly supernatural power of life and death held by the Mighty Justin, Lord of the Land of the Living Dead. In fact, the island is permeated by deadly volcanic gas for which Justin alone possesses an antidote that is administered only to loyal subjects. Bleiler p. 78.a
A good copy of a scarce book rarely found in decent condition.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, [c.1934].
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
A wonderful, bright jacket on this scarce early printing by a prolific author, who wrote over 40 novels, often with a flair for unusual phrasing that would be lucky to escape the editor's blue pencil these days.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Dent, 1910
The author’s first short story collection containing some fine examples of ghost and horror stories including the much anthologised tale, ‘August Heat’ (Shadows in the Attic p.247).