GHOST STORIES AND TALES OF MYSTERY. Dublin: James McGlashan, 50 Upper Sackville-Street. William S. Orr and Co., Amen-Corner, London, and Liverpool, 1851. Small octavo, pp. [1-9] 10-304, half title and title leaves printed in blue and red, four inserted plates with illustrations by "Phiz" [Hablot Knight Browne], original pictorial vertically ribbed red cloth, front panel stamped in gold and blind, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind (Carter's binding A), all edges gilt, white endpapers with floral pattern printed in gray. First edition. Le Fanu's anonymously published third book and the first collection of short fiction by the best Victorian writer of the supernatural. Collects "The Watcher," considered to be "one of the most convincing haunts in the genre" (Bleiler 1983), "The Murdered Cousin," the second early short form of UNCLE SILAS (1864), "Schalken the Painter," one of his best early tales, and "The Evil Guest," the second early short form of A LOST NAME (1868). Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 993. Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 223-25. Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997), p. 571. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 136 and II, p. 144. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 257-62. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 2-60. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 319. Bleiler (1978), p. 121. Reginald 08794. Hubin (1994), pp. 492-93. Sadleir 1376. Carter, Binding Variants, p. 127. Early owner's signature and 1863 date on half title page. Skillfully recased with original spine laid down, corners worn and rounded, small fox mark on frontispiece (not touching the image), overall, a very good copy. A very presentable copy of a book seldom found in better condition. (#170884).
Price: $7,500.00
No statement of printing.