THE SHIP OF ISHTAR. New York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. Octavo, pp. [1-2] [i-iv] v-vi 1 [2] 3-326 [327-328: blank] [note: final leaf is a blank], original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black. First edition. Merritt's second book. Although Wentz notes "several printings" and G. Gordon Dewey in FANTASY ADVERTISER, December 1948 notes five "printings," there was but a single printing. "... Putnam had been unable to sell a pitifully small edition of a thousand copies of THE SHIP OF ISHTAR in book form and the sheets for the last three hundred copies were finally purchased by Munsey, and were bound and distributed to readers of ARGOSY-ALL-STORY Magazine." - Sam Moskowitz, Explorers of the Infinite (Cleveland: World, 1963), p. 203. This book is found in numerous variant bindings, no priority established, this copy bound in red mesh weave cloth with black stamping and top edge not stained. "... the most fully realized of all his fantasies." - Cawthorn and Moorcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 36. "The most romantic of Merritt's works. Very uneven as a novel. Sometimes fascinating, sometimes dull; pretentious, yet with a knowing wink of humor now and then; finely imagined, if not always executed." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1157. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 3-42. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 130-31. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 3-246. Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 838-39. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 559. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 156. Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy 746. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature III, pp. 1407-11. Tymn (ed), Fantasy Literature, p. 140. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 138. Reginald 10070. Currey, p. 365 (binding E). A fine copy in very good pictorial dust jacket with wear at spine ends and corner tips, mild darkening to spine panel, and 70 mm closed tear along upper front flap fold. (#163208).
Price: $650.00
No statement of printing on copyright page.