DRACULA.
Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897. Octavo, pp. [i-vii] viii-ix [x] [0] 2-390 [390: blank] [392: ad for The Shoulder of Shasta on page (392)] [note: dedication leaf is tipped in and not part of gathering (A)], original mustard cloth, front, spine, and rear panels stamped in red. First edition, second (or third) printing. Bibliographically, a complex book: this copy is part of the second printing (or third printing) which printed an advertisement for Stoker's THE SHOULDER OF SHASTA on page [392] -- this page is blank in all first printing copies. According to Dalby 10c, this is the "third issue of [the] first edition," but it is a later printing, not a later issue. The most famous and influential of all vampire novels. "Although it is based in part on the crude VARNEY, THE VAMPIRE and the superior 'Carmilla' by LeFanu, DRACULA remains the definitive treatment of the classical vampire, a work of great imagination and conviction. While it is generally conceded that it has technical weaknesses -- wooden characters, sentimental writing, needless complexity -- its virtues overweigh its flaws and it is one of the great classics of supernatural fiction." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 0546. [Reference: Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 167-68. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-186. Bleiler (ed), Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, pp. 375-81. Cawthorn and Moorcock: Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 19. Jones and Newman (eds), Horror: 100 Best Books 21. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 404-06. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature I, pp. 404-09. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-234. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 187. Reginald 13726. Dalby 10c]. Owner's signature dated 1910 on the front free endpaper. Top edge of pages a bit dusty, mild tanning to endpapers, a clean, tight, nearly fine copy. A lovely copy. Enclosed in a quarter morocco slipcase. (36120). Item #36120
Price: $25,000.00