THE CAMBRIAN SKETCH-BOOK. TALES, SCENES, AND LEGENDS OF WILD WALES. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. Swansea: The Cambrian Welsh and English Book Publishing Company, n.d. Octavo, pp. [i-v] vi [vii] vii-xv [xvi] [1-3] 4-353 [354: blank] [1] 2-7: [list of subscribers"] [8: blank] three inserted plates, original decorated blue bevel-edged cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, yellow coated endpapers. First edition. A collection of nonfiction travelogues, including "Ascent of Snowden," and short fiction, most based on local legends and folklore, including "The Visit of Elidorus to the Fairy Kingdom Beneath the Bay" (pages [269]-315, an account of a boy's visit to an inner world illuminated by blue light and inhabited by miniature people. Based on an old Welsh legend, the author suggests that Lytton's THE COMING RACE might have been inspired by it. I feel that the author had enlarged on the basic legend to create a utopia with a certain amount of technology, notably flying machines which travel up to 300 mph propelled by atmospheric currents, the enlargement being presumably inspired by his reading of Lytton." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Volume II, p. 37. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978), Day (1963) or Reginald (1979; 1992). Not in Costes and Altairac. Cloth worn at spine ends and corner tips, some stains to cloth along fore-edges, inner hinges just a bit weak but holding, a very good copy. (#156893).
Price: $250.00
No statement of printing.