THE DEATH-MASK AND OTHER GHOSTS. London: Philip Allan & Co., 1920. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-321 [322-324: ads], original red boards, front panel ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in black. First edition. The author's only collection of supernatural fiction. "In his famous essay 'Some Remarks on Ghost Stories' (Bookman Christmas Number, 1929), M. R. James devoted one paragraph to recent collections, beginning with A. M. Burrage's SOME GHOST STORIES and H. R. Wakefield's THEY RETURN AT EVENING. 'Going back a few year's I light on Mrs. Everett's THE DEATH-MASK, of a rather quieter tone on the whole, but with some excellently conceived stories,' he wrote, before briefly mentioning the tales of Robert Hugh Benson - 'too ecclesiastical' - and the 'rather over-technically '"occult"' adventures of Flaxman Low by Kate & Hesketh Prichard and John Silence by Algernon Blackwood. In retrospect, Mrs. H. D. Everett's collection has become a much rarer volume than any of the contemporary titles listed by MRJ, and very few copies are known to exist today. Unlike Burrage and Wakefield, her tales are much closer in style (although several are set in the First World War, and quite modern in context) to the great 19th century women writers of ghost stories, notably Mary E. Braddon, Amelia B. Edwards, Rhoda Broughton, and Mrs. J. H. Riddell... These fourteen original ghost stories were enthusiastically received by readers and critics alike ... THE DEATH-MASK was the first in a long line of supernatural collections published by Philip Allan. Its initial success must have encouraged him to issue THE PURPLE SAPPHIRE by 'Christopher Blayre' [Edward Heron-Allen] in 1921... and many more for the same company ... When Philip Allan inaugurated his 'Creeps' series in 1932, he revived two of Mrs. Everett's best stories - 'THE DEATH-MASK' in SHIVERS, and 'The Crimson Blind' in SHUDDERS -- both were reprinted in the 'Creeps' Omnibus three years later." - Richard Dalby. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, 76. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 615. Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 286. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, pp. 194-95. Bleiler (1978), p. 69. Reginald 04972. Bookplate of W. T. Wooten affixed to the front paste-down. The front cover of the book's dust jacket is pasted to the front panel of the book, and a vignette from the jacket's spine panel is pasted to spine. A cheaply made book printed on pulp paper and bound in cardboard. Boards rubbed at edges, a very good or better copy of this fragile book. An exceptional copy of this genre rarity. (#169885).
Price: $2,850.00
No statement of printing.