THE GREAT GOD PAN and THE INMOST LIGHT.
London: John Lane, 1895. First Edition, Second Impression. Octavo, original slate-gray cloth stamped in gold and white on spine, front and rear panels stamped in white. Title page and cover design by Aubrey Beardsley. Issued as a volume in the publisher's "Keynotes" Series. [168 pp] + 4 pp ads for the Keynote Series + 16 pp publisher's catalogue at rear. The second edition, although nowhere is this stated, but one can surmise that the "Second Edition" statement was simply erased from the verso of the title page (cleanly and unnoticeably, perhaps with fine sandpaper or steel wool); in any even, the first printing is dated 1894 on the title page, not 1895 - the date of the second impression, as here. There is an old bookseller's pencilled statement "1st Ed" on the front pastedown so I suspect that it was a bookseller who at some point meant to profit from the deception. Rubbing & slight wear to cloth at edges; endpapers browned; a very good copy. Goldstone & Sweetser Item 6a. Item #313002
¶ Two horror stories by a master of the genre. "The Great God Pan" is one of Machen's earliest and most notorious stories. ... "The book is, on the whole, the most acutely disagreeable we have yet seen in English. We could say more, but refrain from doing so for fear of giving such a work advertisement. -" from a contemporary review in The Manchester Guardian.
Price: $450.00