Wheatley (Dennis) The Haunting of Toby Jugg
£75
London, Hutchinson, [1948].
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12/6.
Arguably Wheatley’s most genuinely frightening book, and the connoisseur’s choice among his black magic titles: Toby Jugg, an RAF pilot paralysed by a spinal wound, lies helpless in a remote Welsh mansion where, night after night, something vast and spider-like presses at the moonlit window, and nobody believes him, which is of course the design. Paranoia, immobility, inheritance anxiety and creeping Satanic conspiracy, told through Toby’s journal with real claustrophobic force; the BBC filmed it loosely in 2006 as The Haunted Airman, with Robert Pattinson suffering photogenically. The wraparound jacket by Frank C. Papé, a great fantasy illustrator famous for his illustrated Cabell editions, here doing nightmare duty, is among the most desirable of all Wheatley wrappers.
In stock
Minor foxing to extremities of text-block; jacket with a few chips and mostly minor tears with some resultant creasing, but overall very good.
Wraparound jacket artwork by Frank C. Papé.
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