THE HIDDEN KINGDOM. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1927. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-3] 4-370, original black cloth, front and spine panels stamped in blue-green. First edition. Fantastic adventure and Oriental menace in the Fu Manchu tradition. A sequel to THE SEVEN SLEEPERS (1925), a tale of international intrigue in which the brilliant criminal chemist, Professor Kreutzemark, whose plan to start a second world war has been temporarily thwarted, flees to Mongolia, "where with the aid of Baron Konrad Von Hefflebech, he hopes to set himself up as the so-called 'Deliverer' and lead the Mongol Hordes to world conquest. Speaking of a moral bankruptcy of Europe and the 'democratic malady' of the West, he hopes to establish an authoritarian state having the virtues of old Germany. He can be interpreted as a kind of anti-Christ." - Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 053. "Intrigue, spies and mystery, and a hidden nation whose people are the direct descendants of the Great Khans." - Teitler Lost Race Fiction, p. 172. Bleiler (1948), p. 45. Not in Bleiler (1978) or Reginald (1979; 1992). A bright, nearly fine copy in good four-color pictorial dust jacket (wraparound illustration by Lowenheim) with wear at edges, closed tears along upper spine folds, shallow loss at upper spine end, abrasion to upper left corner of front panel with some loss to three letters in title, and clipped price. The first edition jacket (which is stunning) is rarely found in any condition. (#146416).
Price: $250.00
"Published January, 1927" on copyright page.