THROUGH THE NIGHT: TALES OF SHADES AND SHADOWS. Manchester: Abel Heywood & Son ... London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1882. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-303 [304: blank] + 16-page publisher's catalogue dated "May, 1882" inserted at rear, inserted frontispiece and vignette title page with illustrations by G. C. Banks, original decorated red cloth, front panel stamped in black, spine panel stamped in black and gold, rear panel stamped in blind, cream coated endpapers. First edition. A collection of fourteen traditional ghost stories based on English legend and folklore. Though part of the uniform edition of Banks' novels issued by Heywood, this is the first collected edition of these stories, most if not all published earlier in periodicals and Christmas annuals, including Mary Braddon's BELGRAVIA and Mrs. Henry Wood's ARGOSY. These stories have a solid mid-Victorian feel to them; the supernatural manifestations (ghosts, wraiths, hauntings, dreams, voodoo, fate, curses, fairies, etc.) usually have a quasi-judicial function, clarifying moral, if not legal, mysteries, locating lost wills, etc. An appendix by the author provides the genesis for each tale. Includes “The Pride of the Corbyns,” reprinted in Hugh Lamb’s GASLIT NIGHTMARES (1988). Wolff, in Strange Stories and Other Excursions in Victorian Fiction, p. 14, writes that “all of Mrs. Banks’ Lancashire novels are worth reading ...” Wolff had seven of her titles, but not this one. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 46. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978) or Reginald (1979; 1992). Small damp stain to front cover, top edge of text block dusty, first and last leaves tanned (interaction with endpapers), a very good copy with bright cover stamping. An attractive copy of a very scarce book. (#170571).
Price: $2,500.00
No statement of printing.