MISS MORDECK'S FATHER. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company Publishers, [1890]. Octavo, pp. [1-2] 1-288 [289-302: publisher ads], original decorated green cloth, front panel stamped in dark green, spine panel stamped in dark green and gold. First edition. "Set in contemporary Chicago, this romantic society novel is ruffled by breezes of mistaken identity and mysterious disappearances, possibly explained by madness. The heroine, Browné Mordeck is accosted on a train by a stranger, a young man who insists on calling her Naida. He turns out to be a painter (with the wonderfully fruity name of Shreves Chilson) who has used her somehow as a model. Meanwhile her friend Lilian Atherton writes her a letter about a similar incident in which a handsome young admirer -- and total stranger -- claims to be engaged to her. He is confined to a lunatic asylum. Meanwhile, Browné's father periodically disappears from the house for unexplained trips. He is obsessed by a nightmare in which he was searching for a lost skeleton key. A competently written work, and apparently the only novel published by Mrs. Gooch." - Robert Eldridge. "Of a dual personality and existence." - Wright III 2202. "Frances Pusey Gooch (1862-1941), wife of Robert E. Gooch and mother of pulp and children's book illustrator Thelma Gooch, had actually published on and off for many years, usually in magazines, such as THE SMART SET (which issued her novelette 'His Child's Godmother' in 1909, which was apparently very well received), and in 1916 she published the comedic play 'Gerry's Awakening'" (TW&TW). Bleiler (1978), p. 84 (coded as "personality exchange"). Cloth stained at lower edge of both front and rear covers, rear endpapers, and upper and lower fore-edge margins of text paper, a sound reading copy of a very scarce book. (#165778).
Price: $35.00
No statement of printing.