THE PRINCE AND THE UNDERTAKER AND WHAT THEY UNDERTOOK. London: Sands & Company, MDCCCXCVIII [1898]. Octavo, pp. [1-9] 10 [11-12] 13-308 [309-320: ads], original blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, publisher's device stamped in blind on rear panel, all edges untrimmed. First edition. Steamy sensation fiction, with a helping of sentiment on the side, arranged as a kind of heptameron told in a London flat by, successively, an undertaker, a general, a barber, a musician, a physician, an artist and a prince-in-hiding. The longest of the tale's (a novella, really) is the barber's ("The Voyage of the Lethe") and takes place at sea. Other stories have such alluring titles as "Wanted, a Corpse," "The Witch's Dance," and "The Spoiled Spell," but it's not clear whether any of these contain any outright supernatural doings. A very scarce book by the author of the weird mystery novel, THE MUMMY (1912). Hubin (1994), p. 769. Cloth rubbed at spine ends, corner tips and along outer joints, foxing to front endpapers and edges of text block, a very good copy. (#170104).
Price: $350.00
No statement of printing.