THE TALKING IMAGE OF URUR. New York: John W. Lovell Company, [1890]. Octavo, pp. [i-ix] x-xi [xii] [1] 2-307 [308: blank], original blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in silver and gold, rear panel plain, white endpapers. First edition, first binding. Occult novel by an associate of Madame Blavatsky. "Supernatural novel of the occult and a mysterious society of adepts ..." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 106. Concerns an African cult living in the city of "Kakodumbala" in the mountains of Libya. A roman a clef written after Hartman's quarrel with Blavatsky and clearly a parody of Theosophy. The point of Hartmann's novel is that enlightenment is to be found in one's soul, not in cultism. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 764. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions. Bleiler (1978), p. 95. Reginald 06878. Owner's signature dated April 1893 on the front free endpaper. Cloth lightly rubbed at spine ends and corner tips, front endpapers foxed, a very good copy with a bright, clean binding. (#157140).
Price: $150.00
No statement of printing.