THE FRIEND OF DEATH: A FANTASTIC TALE. Adapted from the Spanish by Mary J. Serrano. New York: Cassell Publishing Company, [1891]. Tall octavo, pp. [i-iv] v-vi 1-163 [164-166: blank] [note: final leaf is a blank], original decorated light purple cloth, front and spine panels stamped in dark purple, all edges untrimmed. Second U.S. edition. Part of "The Unknown Library" series. Published the preceding year by Lovell as THE STRANGE FRIEND OF TITO GIL. Phantasmagorical short novel of suicide's pact with Death, historic setting in eighteenth-century Spain shifts at conclusion to year 2316 and the end of the world. Peculiar juxtaposition of folklore motifs with cosmological overview nonetheless effective. The best translation of this work. The author is better known for psychological ghost story "The Tall Woman." Barron (ed), Fantastic Literature 2-2. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 10. Bleiler (1978), p. 3. Reginald 00108A. Spine lean, small stain to rear cover, a tight, clean, very good copy of a somewhat fragile book. (#74597).
Price: $150.00
No statement of printing.