THE SOUL OF PIERRE ... Translated from the French by Mary J. Serrano. New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 104 & 106 Fourth Avenue, [1890]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] 1-291 [292: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, illustrations by Émile Bayard, original decorated blue cloth, front panel stamped in red and black, spine panel stamped in black and gold, rear panel stamped in blind. Probable first U.S. edition. Published the same year in the UK by Chatto & Windus as A WEIRD GIFT in an English translation by Albert D. Vandam. There were a number of American editions, largely piracies, published in 1890 under various titles by Lupton, Cassell, Sergel, Waverly, Belford-Clarke, and Munro; the Cassell edition is probably the correct first U.S. edition. A translation of L'AME DE PIERRE (Paris 1890). Sensational weird thriller concerning personality exchange during which afflicted protagonist commits criminous acts. A contemporary reviewer of the Cassell edition comments, "An artist's escape from the thralldom of a beautiful wicked woman, delicately and forcefully related." - Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, November, 1890, p. 720. See Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Volume II, p. 86 (UK edition). See Bleiler (1978), p. 150 and Reginald 10952 (both citing the UK edition). Early owner's signature dated 17 September 1894 on the front free endpaper. Cloth rubbed at spine ends and corner tips, a very good copy. (#157127).
Price: $150.00
No statement of printing.