VROUW GROBELAAR AND HER LEADING CASES. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1906. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-293 [294-296: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], original decorated green cloth. front panel stamped in white and blind, spine panel stamped in white, bottom edge untrimmed. First U.S. edition. Stories told by an old Boer woman to her household, especially her granddaughter Katje, grim tales about life and death on the frontier. "The Vrouw Grobelaar believed most entirely in Kafir magic, in witchcraft and second sight, in ghosts and infernal possession, in destiny, and in a very personal arch-fiend, who presided over a material hell when not abroad in the world on the war-path." Of the seventeen stories here, at least six are supernatural: "The Dream Face," "The Avenger of Blood," "The King of the Baboons," "The Peruvian," "Tagalash," "The Sacrifice." Hubin (1994), p. 323. Day, The Supplemental Checklist of Fantastic Literature, p. 34. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978) or Reginald (1979; 1992). Cloth rubbed at edges, some staining along rear fore-edge, inner hinges mended, offsetting on pages 84-85 (probably from an old laid-in newspaper clipping), still a good, solid copy. (#117051).
Price: $45.00
"Published, January, 1906" on copyright page.