JOHN PARMELEE'S CURSE. New York: Cassell & Company, Limited, [1886]. Octavo, pp. [7-9] 10-270 [271-278: publisher ads] [note: text complete despite gap in pagination], fly leaves at front and rear, original decorated mustard yellow cloth, front and spine panels stamped in brown and gold, floral patterned endpapers. First edition. The title refers to the curse of opium addiction. A small-town bank cashier takes to drugs and drifts to New York City. "There are almost no redeeming features to this poor piece of pot-boiling melodrama. It may be noted that Hawthorne again attacks the big city as symbol and agency of corruption and idealizes the small town." - Bassan, Hawthorne's Son, pp. 154-155. Day, The Supplemental Checklist of Fantastic Literature, p. 39 (citing the later Mershon edition). See Glover and Green, Victorian Detective Fiction 235. Wright (III) 2590. Cloth just a bit rubbed at edges, a very good copy. A scarce book, especially in nice condition. (#164543).
Price: $250.00
No statement of printing.