Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1886
First State of the First Edition, First printing One of the very scarce first printing hardback examples issued in green cloth. The US edition preceded the UK edition as the true first printing. An important title in the horror genre.
The Scribner edition was published 5 January 1886, four days before the British edition was published by Longmans, Green. 4200 copies were printed of which only 1200 were issued as a hardback in green cloth, and the remaining 3000 were issued in paper wrappers. This is one of the remaining scarce hardback editions issued in green cloth. “a Faustian moral fable which takes the form of a tale of mystery and horror. It precedes Oscar Wilde’s THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1891), which in some respects resembles it, by five years, and is the prototype of all stories of multiple personality, transformation and possession; in some respects it is also a tale of drug dependency.” – Clute and Nicholls. “A classic in the genre, it has been historically one of the most important stories in late Victorian literature.” – Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2094. “. one of the supreme works of horror literature, setting the pattern for and influencing as many imitations as DRACULA.” – Sullivan (ed)
The unrestored book is has vibrant clean green boards, with strong, bright gilt titles to the front and spine. The book has sharp corners, but with one tip bump, and some edgewear to the bottom edge and corner tips. Publishers gilt to the top of the page block. The binding is tight and square and quite readable. The originally end papers are present with no owner names, no bookplates, and no inscriptions. All pages are present and are remarkably clean with no stains, no bent pages, no handling marks, and no foxing. Please see many detailed images.
A very handsome unrestored example of this scarce title in very clean collectible condition. Perfect for a horror collector, or a collector of the classic landmark titles. Presents well on the shelf.
