(#170634) DOCTOR AUSTIN'S GUESTS. William Gilbert.

DOCTOR AUSTIN'S GUESTS. London and New York: Alexander Strahan Publisher, 1866. Octavo, two volumes: pp. [1-6] [1] 2-310; [1-6] [1] 2-315 [316: blank], half titles present, rebound in three-quarter burgundy leather and gray cloth. First edition. Sequel to SHIRLEY HALL ASYLUM: OR THE MEMOIRS OF A MONOMANIAC (1863). Eight linked stories providing hypothetical case-studies of various inmates of a private asylum. Doctor Austin is a psychiatrist; the narrator is an inmate. Four of the tales employ a science fictional framework: air compressors, explosives, explosives from sea water, a mechanical device to suspend time, the dangers of psychic research (fakers drive mentally unstable victims to insanity). "An odd combination of the tragic, the comic and the grotesque, cleverly exploring ways of accounting for classic supernatural motifs as phenomena of mental derangement." - Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-31. William Gilbert (1804-1890), one of the pioneers of psychiatric medicine, was the father of dramatist and librettist W. S. Gilbert. Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 409. Bleiler, (1978), p. 81. Hubin (1994), p. 326. Not in Reginald (1979; 1992). Sadleir 958. A bind-up for the South African Public Library with their name on the spine panels (no other marks), rear endpaper of volume one missing. The binding is rather grubby but the text block is clean and the half title leaves are present. A very suitable binding copy of a rare book. (#170634).

Price: $1,500.00

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