ABOUT EDWIN DROOD.
Edinburgh: The Tragara Press, 1983. First Edition (& 1st printing). Octavo, sewn paper wrappers in patterned paper wraps, printed paper label on upper cover. 24 pp., One full-page illustration, with tissue-guard. Number 52 of 115 numbered copies set in Bell type and printed by Alan Anderson on Sommerville laid paper. A fine copy. Item #314254
¶ "In the summer of 1908 Henry Jackson, O.M., Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge, suffered a severe illness which resulted in his absence from Trinity College for several months. During this period he occupied himself with a consideration of the problems attached to Dickens's unfinished novel 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. Together with five like-minded enthusiasts, including M.R. James and a grandson of Dickens, he visited Rochester in July, 1909, viewing the scenes of the novel and investigating various theories. An account of this expedition is contained in M.R. James's 'Eton and King's (1926). The fruits of Professor Jackson's researches appeared in the monograph 'About Edwin Drood' by H.J. (Cambridge University Press, 1911).
A few months before publication Jackson wrote to a friend (3 January 1911) ',... my tract about 'Edwin Drood' ... I hope at any rate to draw something amusing from Andrew Lang, and some rubbish from the Dickensian. I sometimes wonder whether it is a good thing that 'Edwin Drood' remained a fragment, not because it thus became a conundrum, but because C.D. could not have finished it as well as he began it...'
Andrew Lang dealt with the book in the 'Cambridge Review' (2 March 1911), in the form of a pastiche Holmes / Watson dialogue. The review by M.R. James appeared in the following issue of the same journal (9 March). Both had previously written on the subject: Lang in his book 'The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot (1905), and James in an article 'The Edwin Drood Syndicate' which appeared in two numbers of the 'Cambridge Review' (30 November and 7 December 1905). The arguments contained in the latter study are marred by their presentation in the rather facetious framework of a report by an imaginary Syndicate appointed to investigate the mystery. " - Alan Anderson, from the 'Introductory Note'.
Price (CAD): $125.00