VATHEK: AN ARABIAN TALE ... A New Edition. With Notes, Critical and Explanatory. Illustrated. London: William Tegg, 1868. 12 mo, pp. [1-2] [i-v] vi-xxii [xxiii-xxiv] [1] 2-184 [185-192: ads] + undated 32-page catalogue inserted at rear, eleven inserted plates, title page vignette, publisher's decorated green cloth, front panel stamped in red, black and gold, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind, all edges stained red, brown coated endpapers. Later edition. The notes, pp. [129]-184, are by Samuel Henley (1740-1815). The "Memoir" of William Beckford," pp. [v]-xxii, is signed "R.S." "VATHEK is undoubtedly the finest European imitation of the ARABIAN NIGHTS. No one else has been able to create the bizarre detail, the curious blend of the ludicrous and the horrible, the tongue-in-cheek wryness of VATHEK. It is still very much worth reading." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 26-7. "A work of great beauty, ingenuity, and imaginative perception, Beckford's VATHEK is a milestone of Romantic art and a tower to be climbed by all who wish to discover the outer limits of fantasy." - Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature IV, pp. 2023-28. Bookplate affixed to the front paste-down. Cloth rubbed, inner front hinge cracked, a reading copy. (#171599).
Price: $25.00
"A NEW EDITION" on title page.