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THE MAKER OF MOONS.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1896. Octavo, pp. [1-12] 1-401 [402: blank, 403-404: ads], inserted frontispiece with illustration by Lancelot Speed, light blue cloth, front stamped in white, gold and orange, spine stamped in white, t.e.g. First edition. Collects eight stories of which four are supernatural.
THE MAKER OF MOONS.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1896. Octavo, pp. [1-12] 1-401 [402: blank, 403-404: ads], inserted frontispiece with illustration by Lancelot Speed, light blue cloth, front stamped in white, gold and orange, spine stamped in white, fore and bottom edges untrimmed, t.e.g. First edition. Collects eight stories of which four are supernatural. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p. 52. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 2-26. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 365. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 75. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-51. Bleiler (1978), p. 41. Reginald 02817. Wright (III) 974.
OUT OF THE DARK VOLUME I: ORIGINS. Introduction by Hugh Lamb.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects nine macabre stories first collected in THE KING IN YELLOW (1895), THE MAKER OF MOONS (1896) and THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE (1897), with introduction by compiler Hugh Lamb.
OUT OF THE DARK VOLUME I: ORIGINS. Introduction by Hugh Lamb.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1998. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. Collects nine macabre stories first collected in THE KING IN YELLOW (1895), THE MAKER OF MOONS (1896) and THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE (1897), with introduction by compiler Hugh Lamb.
OUT OF THE DARK VOLUME II: DIVERSIONS. Introduction by Hugh Lamb.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. This volume collects the previously published ten weird tales from In Search of the Unknown (1904), The Tracer of Lost Persons (1906) The Tree of Heaven (1907) and Police!!! (1915) and three chapters from The Slayer of Souls (1920). New introduction by editor Hugh Lamb.
OUT OF THE DARK VOLUME II: DIVERSIONS. Introduction by Hugh Lamb.
Ashcroft, British Columbia: Ash-Tree Press, 1999. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Limited to 500 copies. This volume collects the previously published ten weird tales from In Search of the Unknown (1904), The Tracer of Lost Persons (1906) The Tree of Heaven (1907) and Police!!! (1915) and three chapters from The Slayer of Souls (1920). New introduction by editor Hugh Lamb.
THE KING IN YELLOW ...
Chicago, New York: F. Tennyson Neely Publisher, 1895. Small octavo, pp. [1-2] [1-9] 10-316 [317: ad] [318: blank], original pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in brown, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. First edition. Of the three printings with title pages dated 1895, this one is generally accepted as the first. There is no inserted frontispiece, page [318] is blank, lizard design is on the front cover, and sheets bulk 1.5 cm. The author's second book and first collection of short stories. "One of the most important works of supernatural horror between Edgar Allan Poe and modern horror fiction." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, p. 739. "Surprisingly vital stories, undoubtedly the best work that Chambers did. A landmark book in abandoning the ghosts of Victorian literary tradition and concentrating on the nightmare." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 364. "... one of the basic documents in the history of fantastic fiction." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 396. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 364. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature II, pp. 844-47. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-12. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-49.
THE KING IN YELLOW ...
Chicago: Neely, 1895. Small octavo, pp. [1-2] [1-9] 10-316 [317: ad] [318: blank], original pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in brown, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. First edition. Brief handwritten note signed by Chambers laid in commenting to the recipient that his copy of THE KING IN YELLOW was not a first edition (obviously not this copy). Of the three printings with title pages dated 1895, this one is generally accepted as the first. There is no inserted frontispiece, page [318] is blank, lizard design is on the front cover, and sheets bulk 1.5 cm. The author's second book and first collection of short stories. "One of the most important works of supernatural horror between Edgar Allan Poe and modern horror fiction." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, p. 739. "Surprisingly vital stories, undoubtedly the best work that Chambers did. A landmark book in abandoning the ghosts of Victorian literary tradition and concentrating on the nightmare." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 364. "... one of the basic documents in the history of fantastic fiction." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 396. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 364. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature II, pp. 844-47. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-12. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-49.
THE KING IN YELLOW ...
Chicago: Neely, 1895. Small octavo, pp. [1-2] [1-9] 10-316 [317: ad] [318: blank], original pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in brown, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. First edition. Of the three printings with title pages dated 1895, this one is generally accepted as the first. There is no inserted frontispiece, page [318] is blank, lizard design is on the front cover, and sheets bulk 1.5 cm. The author's second book and first collection of short stories. "One of the most important works of supernatural horror between Edgar Allan Poe and modern horror fiction." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, p. 739. "Surprisingly vital stories, undoubtedly the best work that Chambers did. A landmark book in abandoning the ghosts of Victorian literary tradition and concentrating on the nightmare." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 364. "... one of the basic documents in the history of fantastic fiction." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 396. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 364. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature II, pp. 844-47. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-12. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-49.
THE MESSENGER [Novelette]. Original handwritten manuscript, corrected throughout in Chambers' hand. 104 pages, written in pencil on the rectos of ruled paper measuring 32x20 cm. Not dated, but written circa 1896-1897.
A tale by Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933) about the Black Priest, branded on the forehead and executed for treason during the Third Crusade and again 1760, whose skull is disinterred in a gravel pit, and who returns again to haunt the Breton countryside. The story was first published in THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE (1897), Chambers' third collection of short fiction. The published version largely follows the final text of the manuscript which has many deletions and revisions by Chambers. THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE "opens with a trilogy of tales sharing the same characters and set in the Breton countryside. They are reminiscent of 'The Demoiselle D'Ys' in mood and setting ... ['The Messenger'] is an effective treatment of a conventional theme" (Lee Weinstein, Bleiler, ed., SUPERNATURAL FICTION WRITERS II, 743). "By far and away the most powerful ... was 'The Messenger.' This is a long, sometimes rambling story that nevertheless guides the reader along to a most eerie conclusion. The setting -- coastal Brittany -- has seldom been used to such effect, and the historical tale behind the story's events has a grotesque ring of truth. This is one of Chambers' best stories, and its use of the traditional cowled figure has never been bettered" (Hugh Lamb, ed., Chambers, OUT OF THE DARK I, pp. xi-xii). "The Messenger" is "a material-horror story, possibly a little unsubtle, but it does have the characteristics of a nightmare with its disruptions of the time-dimension, interlocked identities, and repetitive fate, which are all novel touches for the period" (Bleiler, ed., Chambers, THE KING IN YELLOW AND OTHER HORROR STORIES, p. xi).
THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE ...
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1897. Small octavo, pp. [i-iv] v [vi] vii-ix [x] [1-2] 3-288 [289-294: ads], fly leaves at front and rear, original pictorial green cloth, front panel stamped in blue, white, lavender and gold, spine panel stamped in gold, t.e.g., other edges untrimmed. First edition. Collects six fantasy, science fiction, and mystery stories including "The Messenger" and "The Purple Emperor." Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-12. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 366. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 397. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-52. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 19. Bleiler (1978), p. 41. Reginald 02819. Hubin, p. 75. Wright (III) 975.