Fantastic Tales Or the Way to Attain_A Book Full of Pantagruelism Now For The First Time Done Into English by Machen, Arthur - 1923

Carbonnek [New York]: Privately Printed [by Boni & Liveright], 1923. First American edition. No. 422 of 1050 numbered copies, signed by the author. 1 vols. 8vo. Original paper vellum and blue paper covered boards, all edges untrimmed, spine sunned and worn. Fair. First American edition. No. 422 of 1050 numbered copies, signed by the author. 1 vols. 8vo. Goldstone & Sweetser 57e

Carbonnek: Privately Printed. Used - Good. 1923. Paper covered boards. 8vo. 448 pp. Number 591 from a limited printing of 1050 copies. Signed by the author. Some shelf wear and scuffing to boards, with heavy wear and chipping to joints and head & heel of spine. Corners bumped. Both hinges cracked, with some tearing to ffep and flyleaf. Pages are clean and unmarked. Altogether a copy in Good condition. (Subject: Fiction.)

Fantastic Tales, Or the Way to Attain: A Book Full of Pantagruelism Now For the First Time Done into English, Carbonnek,1923, first edition, vellum like spine somewhat tanned, else a vg copy in a near vg dust-wrapper likewise with tanned spine and with some wear, tear and some inner tape reinforcement. #75/1050 copies SIGNED by Arthur Machen.

Carbonnek : Priv. print., 1923. First Edition. Softcover. Poor copy in the original stiff-card wrappers; wear and tear as with age. Text remains in fine condition and without blemish. Physical description; viii, [1], 11-447, [1] p ; 23 cm. Notes; SIGNED by Arthur Machen. Subjects; Fantastic Tales. Pantagruelism. Stories.

Privately Printed, 1923. Limited Edition; # 28/1050. SIGNED by the author on the reverse of the title page. 448 pages in very good condition; edges yellowed. Many pages unopened. Quarter bound with white vellum over blue boards, gilt titles and decoration on the spine. Spine a little darkened, tiny tears at head/tail, Corners not bumped. Grey DJ with black spine titles. Spine and edges darkened, small chips on corners, head/tail of spine. VG-/GOOD-. Hardcover. VG-/Good-.

London: Carbonnek, 1890. Book. Very good condition. Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo (8vo). xvi, 355 pages of text. Full dark green leather binding by Hatchard of London, with sunning to the spine rendering it an attractive brown color, and the start of a crack to the front hinge. Illustrated by an engraved frontis and nine black & white plates. Number 59 of a limited edition of 500 copies. Minor and consistent browning to the paper, with a few spots of discoloration scattered here and there. The first four pages (including front endpapers) suffer from a very small loss due to insect damage, but it is very minor but remains a distraction. Otherwise, a very attractive edition of this book, rarely found illustrated..

Carbonnek: Privately Printed. 1923. Machen's translation of the 17th century French text Moyen de Parvenir by the poet and polymath Beroalde de Verville. Reprints his 1890 translation, with a new 8-page introduction, this being a limited edition: Copy No. 994 of 1050 numbered copies signed by the author. Machen was a writer of fantastic literature in the late 19th and early 20th century; had a great influence on the dark fantasy and horror published in the pulp magazines of the 1920s such as Weird Tales; and he was admired by such fantasy writers as Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long (as well as by Jorge Luis Borges, who called him a great writer). H. P. Lovecraft, in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," called Machen one of the four "modern masters" of supernatural horror. Machen was also an occultist, and Aleister Crowley admired his writings. A fine copy, quarterbound in vellum, in a very good dustwrapper. A nice copy of this bulky book, usually found quite worn.… Read More

Privately printed: Carbonneck. 1890. First edition, first printing of Arthur Machen's translation. First edition, first printing of Arthur Machen's translation. Contemporary half red morocco, double ruled in gilt to the upper and lower boards, five raised bands, gilt ruled compartments and titles in gilt to the spine. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers. Illustrated with a frontispiece and 8 further full page illustrations (some signed J. S. Beckham). An excellent near fine copy, the binding square and firm with just light rubbing at the extremities. The contents, with the bookplate of The Reverend William Major Scott to the front pastedown, an early (pre-1923) clipped catalogue description tipped in at the reverse of the front endpaper and mild toning to the text block edges are otherwise clean throughout. A handsome example. The first printing of Machen's translation of the seventeenth century French text Moyen de Parvenir by the poet and polymath Beroalde de Verville.Issued in a limited… Read More

[N.p., London], 1922. 3 leaves, pencil on ruled wove paper, with one holograph deletion. 1 vols. 8vo. Fine. 3 leaves, pencil on ruled wove paper, with one holograph deletion. 1 vols. 8vo. 'the queerest book in the world'. A choice Machen manuscript, written in the years of his greatest fame, and looking back to his early years as a literary drudge before he composed the supernatural tales for which he is best remembered. In 1889, the Dryden Press printed some sheets of his translation of The Way to Attain before abandoning the project; an edition was issued in 1890 with the title Fantastic Tales; or, the Way to Attain. Machen outlines the circumstances of the book's evolution (reading in part): "In 1888, cataloguing for Messrs. Robson & Karslake, then of Coventry street, I came upon a little dumpy book dated 1610. It was called 'Le Moyen de Parvenir', by Beroalde de Verville & looking into it, I perceived that it was, almost if not quite, the queerest book in the world. In 1922 this would be a… Read More