THE PHANTOM SHIP; OR, THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. By Captain Marryat. New-York: W. H. Colyer, 104 Beekman Street, 1839. 12mo, pp. [1-3] 4-237 [238-240: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, original drab tan boards with brown cloth shelf back. An early (pirated) U.S. edition. "The undisputed master of the sea story, noted for such classics as MR MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1834). Marryat was also enchanted with the Gothic horror field and produced two chilling excursions into the supernatural, first with SNARLEYYOW, OR THE DOG FIEND (1836), then THE PHANTOM SHIP (1839), a stirring and lusty retelling of the Flying Dutchman legend. Both novels are much overlooked today, except for the werewolf episode from the second book, often reprinted separately as 'The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains.'" - Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p. 126. Chapter 39, "Krantz's Narrative," is "an excellent Romantic tale, the first significant werewolf tale in English, and still one of the best. It marks first appearance of many of the standard werewolf motifs." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1110. "Krantz's Narrative" has "a unique flavour all its own, and reads today, with its undated prose and almost laconic narrative method, as though it had been newly penned." - Copper, The Werewolf in Legend, Fact & Art, pp. 162-65. Marryat was in America in 1838 and Wolff speculates that Carey & Hart's earlier (?) authorized American edition (copyright 1838) may have preceded Colburn's British edition. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2061. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 151. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, pp. 40-1. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 2-67. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 454. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 133. Reginald 09688. Block, The English Novel 1740-1850, p. 153. NCBEL III 705. Wolff 4532a. Early owner's name and address on the front paste-down and the upper right edge of the title page. Boards worn and spotted, paper spine label missing (if there was one; there is no evidence of one ever being present), text block tanned, scattered foxing, a very good copy. OCLC reports 13 copies, but this edition is now scarce in commerce. (#170899).
Price: $150.00
No statement of printing.