(#71686) THE BRIGHT MESSENGER. Algernon Blackwood.
THE BRIGHT MESSENGER ...
THE BRIGHT MESSENGER ...

THE BRIGHT MESSENGER. London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne: Cassell and Company, Ltd, 1921. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-349 [350: printer's imprint] [351-352: blank] [note: first and last leaves are blanks], original decorated brown cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black, bottom edge untrimmed. First edition. A sequel to JULIUS LE VALLON (1916), continuing the author's study of a man partially possessed by a Pan-like elemental. "Partly an attempt to convey an utterly alien type of mentality, with (mostly) a British social setting; also the moral collapse of the Western world and the future evolution of man.... Interesting ideas, some good moments, but on the whole without the charm of its predecessor." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 191. "THE BRIGHT MESSENGER was not just the long-awaited finale to JULIUS LEVALLON, but the last piece in Blackwood's grand design .... the culmination of Blackwood's crusade to make people aware of beauty in the world.... There are moments [here] when we see the Blackwood of THE CENTAUR and JULIUS LEVALLON... [but] he was finding it harder to regain that magic.... Once he had completed THE BRIGHT MESSENGER Blackwood had nothing else to tell the world." - Ashley, Algernon Blackwood: An Extraordinary Life, pp. 245-8. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature II, pp. 817-21. Bleiler (1978), p. 24. Reginald 01376. Ashley A.21.1. A near fine, bright copy in near fine pictorial dust jacket printed on tan paper stock with light wear along upper edges (jacket trimmed just a bit taller than the book) and some age-darkening to spine panel. Signed and dated "Oxford October 1921" by Elizabeth Belloc (daughter of English writer Hilaire Belloc, one of Blackwood's closest friends) on recto of first blank. A charming provenance. Rare in jacket. (#71686).

Price: $1,500.00

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Printing identification statement for this book:
"First published 1921" on copyright page.