New York: D. Appleton & Company, 200 Broadway, 1853. 12mo, pp. [i-v] vi-xii [9] 10-317 [318: blank] [319-332: ads], flyleaves at front and rear, original black cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold and blind, fore and bottom edges rough trimmed, cream endpapers. First U.S. edition. Collins' second full-length novel and his first to be set in contemporary times. "With BASIL ..., his first characteristic novel, Collins began his search for a cosmic viewpoint that would encompass fate and chance, and the workings of human character with respect to both. He did not fulfill his objective until sixteen year later in THE MOONSTONE, but even in BASIL there is an oppressive feeling of foreordained events forever threatening, a feeling in which the weather is made to play a part. Although much of BASIL is weak, the symbolic thunderstorm during which Basil confronts Mannion and the visions seen by Basil in delirium have been praised. The text of BASIL usually read by modern readers is that of the 1862 revision, in which Collins dropped much of the quasi-supernatural background. This editing may simply have been an attempt to restore balance to the story by removing padding, but it is more likely to have been an early instance of Collins' uncertainty (evidenced again in the appendix to ARMADALE) of how far to go in attributing to Providence a series of coincidences otherwise inexplicable." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, p. 234. [Reference: Bleiler (1978), p. 47 Not in Reginald (1979; 1992). Hubin (1994), p. 180].

London: Hurst & Blackett, Publishers, Successors to Henry Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough Street, 1859. Octavo, three volumes: pp. [1-2] [i] ii-iii [iv] [1] 2-314; [1-2] [1] 2-359 [360: blank]; [1-2] [1] 2-307 [308: blank], original decorated gray green cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panels stamped in gold and blind, top edges untrimmed, light yellow coated endpapers. First edition. Collects the title story and "The Ten Days," a group of stories with narrative bridge. "The ten linked stories in THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1859) show Collins at the height of his powers. Three of the pieces are macabre ['Brother Griffith's Story of Mad Monkton,' 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dead Hand' and 'Brother Morgan's Story of the Dream Woman'], and two of the three are supernatural." - Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 235-6. These three stories "reveal Collins's technique of grounding his horrors in fact, and domesticating the old ghost-in-a-bedsheet into realistic characters, and the supernatural, or apparently supernatural, elements into everyday phenomena." - Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 2-25. Additionally, the collection includes the classic detective story, "The Biter Bit." [Reference: Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 408. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 141. See Barron (ed), Horror Literature 2-14. Queen's Quorum 3. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 27. Sadleir 603. Wolff 1373].

London: Chapman and Hall, 1859; 1862-1867. Octavo, seven numbers, all with their original self wrappers or blue printed wrappers, sewn, as issued. First editions. Seven of the nine issues -- those for 1859; 1862-1867 -- of ALL THE YEAR ROUND (1859-1867). The issues present include THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1859), SOMEBODY'S LUGGAGE (1862), MRS. LIRRIPER'S LODGINGS (1863), MRS. LIRRIPER'S LEGACY (1864), DOCTOR MARIGOLD'S PRESCRIPTIONS (1965), MUGBY JUNCTION (1866), and NO THOROUGHFARE (1867). Dickens and Wilkie Collins were the major contributors to these issues. Others include Amelia B. Edwards and Jane Gaskell. For aficionados of the ghost story the highlight here is the first appearance in print of Dickens's classic "No. 1 Branch Line, The Signalman," which is part of the "Mugby Junction" cycle written by Dickens, Andrew Halliday, Charles Collins, Hesba Stretton and Amelia B. Edwards. Also present is "The Haunted House" (1859), a collaborative work by various authors, including Wilkie Collins and Mrs. Gaskell, combined with material by Dickens to create a supernatural story. The Dickens contributions to this work are the chapters "The Mortals in the House" and "The Ghost in Master B.'s Room." Wilkie Collins' story, "The Ghost in the Cupboard Room," is the original version of his classic non-supernatural nautical suspense story which Collins revised and published in 1873 as "Blow Up With the Brig."