Fantastic Tales or The Way to Attain .. by MACHEN, Arthur - 1923

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.

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-.

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