THE HAUNTED ORGANIST OF HURLY BURLY, AND OTHER STORIES. London: Hutchinson and Co., n.d. [1891]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-304 [1-2] 1-6: ads [note: signature 20, four leaves, comprises publisher's ads], frontispiece, publisher's decorated brown boards with blue cloth shelf back, spine panel stamped in gold, brown imitation leather title label affixed to the spine panel, decorated endpapers. First edition. Issued as part of "The Idle Hour Series," edited by Alfred H. Miles. Collection of ten short stories, at least four of them supernatural, one involving precognition. Mulholland was encouraged early on by Dickens and became a frequent contributor to ALL THE YEAR ROUND. She was born in Belfast and most of her work had a strongly Catholic tint. Her sister was also a writer, while her father and brothers were physicians. Her husband, Sir John Gilbert, was an antiquary who gathered Irish folklore, another influence on Rosa's writing. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 294. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 371-2. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978) or Reginald (1979; 1992). Small bookplate of James Y. Hendry affixed to the front paste-down and his signature dated 18 December 1891 on the front free endpaper. Boards rubbed at edges, spine ends just a bit soft, scattered foxing to text block, mostly first and last few leaves and page edges, frontispiece tissue guard loose, a very good copy. A scarce book. (#172016).
Price: $1,000.00
No statement of printing.