THE HAUNTED ORGANIST OF HURLY BURLY, AND OTHER STORIES. London: Hutchinson and Co., n.d. [1891]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-304 [1-2] 1-6: ads [note: signature 20, four leaves, comprises publisher's ads], frontispiece, original decorated brown boards with blue cloth shelf back, spine panel stamped in gold, brown imitation leather title label affixed to the spine panel, top edge stained black, decorated endpapers. First edition. A presentation copy with inscription by Mulholland on the half title page: "To His Eminence / The Cardinal Archbishop of / Westminister -- / With the grateful and affectionate / veneration of the Author. / 6 March, 1891." Issued as part of "The Idle Hour Series," edited by Alfred H. Miles. Collection of ten short stories, at least four of them supernatural, one involving precognition. Mulholland was encouraged early on by Dickens and became a frequent contributor to ALL THE YEAR ROUND. She was born in Belfast and most of her work had a strongly Catholic tint. Her sister was also a writer, while her father and brothers were physicians. Her husband, Sir John Gilbert, was an antiquary who gathered Irish folklore, another influence on Rosa's writing. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 294. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 371-2. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978) or Reginald (1979; 1992). Boards lightly rubbed at edges, a very good copy of a scarce book. (#170413).
Price: $1,250.00
No statement of printing.