WILD AND WEIRD; OR, REMARKABLE STORIES OF RUSSIAN LIFE. London, New York, and Melbourne: Ward, Lock, and Co., 1889. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1] 2-162, nineteenth-century three-quarter red leather and marbled boards, spine panel lettered and ruled in gold, all edges speckled red. First edition. A bind-up of the last of the three volumes issued simultaneously in paper covers as Ward, Lock's "Shilling Novels," numbers 93, 94 and 95. "Especially attractive to the connoisseur of rare horror fiction are Campbell's three short story collections: DARK STORIES FROM THE SUNNY SOUTH; OR, LEGENDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN (1889), MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN; OR, SUPERNATURAL STORIES OF ENGLISH LIFE (1889); and WILD AND WEIRD; OR, REMARKABLE STORIES OF RUSSIAN LIFE (1889). The last contains 'The White Wolf of the Kostopchin,' regarded as one of the best werewolf tales of the nineteenth century. These three books were issued simultaneously in a popular cheap format and were also published together as an omnibus under the Wild and Weird banner." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 67. "An omnibus of Victorian sensational supernatural fiction, set in Russia, Italy and England, involving ghosts, diabolism, death portents, even a werewolf. Rousing full-blooded stuff, lurid and unsubtle but quite entertaining; another aspect of the tradition, in contrast to say, Mrs. Oliphant. A major collection of its kind." - Robert Knowlton. "The stories set in Russia are the most successful works in this collection. They are fairly long and the florid treatment fits the folkloristic subject matter. The British stories are literal and crude." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 338. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 129. Bleiler (1978), p. 38. Reginald 02493. Topp, Victorian Yellowbacks & Paperbacks, 1849-1905 II, p. 328. Apparently bound for "C. L. Head" whose name is stamped in gold at the lower spine end. A few rubs and scuffs to the spine panel, a very good copy. (#171853).
Price: $500.00
No statement of printing.