Item #20776 THE BAT WOMAN. Cromwell Gibbons.

THE BAT WOMAN.

New York: Published by World Press, [1938]. Octavo, pp. [1-7] 8-223 [224], with one full-page illustration in text, original green cloth, spine panel stamped in gold. First edition. Lurid 1930s horror thriller, an entertainingly bad potpourri of mad scientists, vampires, sinister Orientals and dumb cops. Cited in Alternative Hall of Fame by Bill Pronzini in Son of Gun-in-Cheek." - Robert Knowlton. Combines weird menace, detective and science-fictional pulp conventions to produce a story of vampirism in New York City, against a back story involving vampire bats from South America and a half-dozen intercalated 'cases' of vampirism from around the world. The evil German genius Schalkenbach has set up a secret barricaded laboratory in Greenwich Village, where, when he is not conducting experiments on the revived corpse of a beautiful young society woman, he is moodily reciting Wagner on an organ behind a black velvet curtain. The writing is actually rather good when the author confines himself to descriptions of traditional settings (the cozy club on a stormy winter day, etc.), but his characters are barely one-dimensional, the theme is muddled, the action writing ludicrous. Still, in the exuberance of its unintentional cacophony there lies a certain charm. Not to mention the repeated references to "duckless glands." Bleiler (1948), p. 126. Not in Bleiler 1978. Reginald 05937. Hubin (1994), p. 323. A fine copy in very good pictorial dust jacket with light wear along top and bottom edges, 20x28 mm v-chip from upper spine end affecting three of the title letters, smaller chips from lower spine end at spine folds, and light dust soiling to rear panel. A superior copy of a scarce book rarely found in jacket. (20776). Item #20776

Price: $1,750.00

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