A BOOK OF BARGAINS .. by O'Sullivan, Vincent - 1896

London: Leonard Smithers, 1896. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-3] 4-185 [186: blank] [187: printer's imprint] [188: blank] [note: first leaf is a blank], inserted frontispiece with black and white illustration by Aubrey Beardsley, original maroon buckram, front and spine panels stamped in gold, all edges untrimmed. First edition. Collection of morbid studies, written under the shadow of Poe but distinctly fin de siecle in their sin-soaked diabolism. The after-death nightmare "When I Was Dead" is a minor masterpiece. Vincent O'Sullivan (1868-1940), American-born writer, long resident in Europe, was "a central figure of the English Decadent Movement, his early books of (mostly fantastic) verse -- POEMS (1896) and THE HOUSES OF SIN (1897) -- being among the movement's key documents, as was his first story collection, A BOOK OF BARGAINS (1896)." - Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997), p. 738. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1285. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 170. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 316. Bleiler (1978), p. 170. Reginald 11051. Hubin (1994), p. 621. Owner's signature on front paste-down. Hairline crack along upper portion of inner front hinge, still a tight, a very good copy with bright cover stamping. A nice copy of a scarce book. (#136501)