THE EATER OF DARKNESS.
[Paris: Contact Editions, 1926.]. Octavo, pp. [i-xv] xvi [1] 2-179 [180: blank] [181: printer's imprint] [182-184: blank] [note: paper wrapper folded over first and last leaves; leaf preceding half title leaf is a blank], original marbled paper wrappers, printed paper labels affixed to front and spine panels. First edition. The author's first book, "an ignored minor masterpiece of antirealistic fiction, a novel that deserves the attention of all students of fantasy literature." - Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature I, pp. 463. Coates' novel "quite brilliantly applies a wide arsenal of literary devices, some of them surrealistic, to the exaggeratedly spoof-like tale of a master criminal and his absurd super-weapon, which sees through solids and applies remote-control heat to kill people invisibly; beneath the spoofing and the cosmopolitan style lies a sense of horror." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 239. [Reference: Anatomy of Wonder (1981) 2-16; (1987) 2-18; (1995) 2-20; and (2004) II-267. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 438. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 54. Bleiler (1978), p. 45. Reginald 03107]. Mild wear to spine ends, 20 mm closed tear to upper spine, lower flap edge cleanly split, a nearly fine to fine copy of a fragile book. An excellent copy. (33346). Item #33346
Price: $1,000.00