Hodgson (William Hope) The Ghost Pirates
£1,250
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”.
In stock
Internally good, this copy without adverts; covers with edge wear, damage to head of spine, spine slightly dulled and scratched.
Frontispiece by Sidney H. Sime.
Bleiler
Related products
Detective Fiction
London, Columbine Publishing Co, 1939. The world-renowned detective Grant Rushton takes on his most sinister foe yet, High Priestess of the terrible cult of the Voodoo, Marie Galante.
Weird & Supernatural
Second English edition.
London. Richard Bentley, 1850
A very handsome copy of Calmet's influential work on angels, demons, spirits and vampires, originally published in French in 1746, first appeared in an anonymous English translation in 1759. This translation is taken from the two volume 1751 third edition, a much expanded and revised version, and the last to be corrected by Calmet himself. This is the second English edition and is rarely encountered in original binding.
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Paul, [1934].
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's compliments stamp to title; advertisements. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
All of the first editions by this author of crime fiction appear to be scarce - despite the wear to the jacket this is an attractive example, with a visually compelling jacket design.