Sarban, pseud. John William Wall. The Sound of His Horn
£250
London, Peter Davies, 1952.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
One of the strangest and most quietly influential books of its decade, from one of its most enigmatic authors: “Sarban” was the mask of John William Wall, a career diplomat in the Foreign Service, who published exactly three volumes of dark fantasy – Ringstones (1951), this, The Doll Maker (1953) – and then fell silent, leaving a reputation entirely out of proportion to the shelf-space. The novella is among the earliest and remains among the most disturbing of Hitler-wins alternate histories: a former POW recounts slipping a hundred years forward into the Reich of the victorious future, an endless forested hunting estate where Count von Hackelnberg, Reich Master Forester, runs human quarry – bred, altered and costumed for the sport – to the sound of his horn.
In stock
Some very light foxing; cloth partly sunned at spine; jacket slightly sunned at spine, some wear/chipping to spine ends, otherwise very good.
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