THE QUEEN OF HEARTS. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1859. 12mo, pp. [i-v] vi [7] 8-472 [note: first leaf is a blank] 1-8: ads, flyleaves at front and rear, original decorated green cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, brown coated endpapers. First U.S. edition. "The ten linked stories in THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1859) show Collins at the height of his powers. Three of the pieces are macabre ['Brother Griffith's Story of Mad Monkton,' 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dead Hand' and 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dream Woman'], and two of the three are supernatural." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 235-6. Additionally, the collection includes the detective story, "The Biter Bit." The British three-volume 1859 Hurst & Blackett edition is a notorious rarity. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 408. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 2-25. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 141. See Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-14. Queen's Quorum 3. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 27. See Glover and Greene, Victorian Detective Fiction 80 and 81. Just a bit of wear to cloth at spine ends and corner tips, flyleaves and first blank foxed, a very good copy. Actually, an attractive copy of a book seldom found in nice condition. (#154534).
Price: $1,500.00
No statement of printing.