MYSTERIES OF THE OLD CASTLES OF FRANCE, OR SECRET INTRIGUES OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS, PRINCES AND PRINCESSES, AND OTHER GREAT PERSONAGES OF THE TIMES. By a Society of Arch Seers, Under the Direction of A. B. Le Francois. Translated by William Thomas Haley. London: Published by W. Strange, 21, Paternoster Row; E. Dipple, 42, Holywell Street; and all Booksellers, n.d. [1847-1848]. Large octavo, pp. [i-iii], iv [v] vi [vii] viii-x, [1] 2-348, printed in double columns, frontispiece, numerous illustrations in text, original green cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold and blind, yellow coated endpapers. First edition, bound from parts. Published in 44 undated penny numbers, and in sixpenny parts by Strange and Dipple. "Pseudo-historical romance." - Summers, A Gothic Bibliography, p. 434. The "histories" include supernatural episodes and wonderfully lurid illustrations. The text is actually a hoot, mostly plotting, mayhem and murder, and the illustrations are either sensationally crude action scenes or nicely done atmospheric images of ruined (mostly) ancient castles and keeps. Waite, The Quest for Bloods: A Study of the Victorian Penny Dreadful, p. 98. Cloth worn at spine ends and corners, lacks rear free endpaper, a very good copy. (#164583).
Price: $450.00
No statement of printing.