SMITH, Lady Eleanor Lovers' Meeting London, Hutchinson & Co., [1940].
8vo. Original black cloth, title gilt to spine; pp.384, [32, ads]; a good copy with fading down the spine, dust wrapper worn with minor chipping to the head and foot and a single crease down the front panel, a sound binding with almost no foxing internally, erratum slip pasted to title page.
First edition. A sweeping supernatural romance with a time-travelling theme, in the scarce (and incredible) dust wrapper which rarely appears in one piece, depicting a forlorn gentleman lamenting a ghostly bride. The plot revolves around two destined lovers in 1812 who travel a century into the future using a spell, before retuning to their own time and causing all kinds of paradoxical issues. The erratum slip to the title page rather sheepishly corrects the attribution of the poetry there to Keats instead of Tennyson (as printed). This edition of the book contains some endearing, if embarrassing typographic errors, such as its final words "The End…or the Beginningn" (sic.) The rear of the book contains a 32 page catalogue of Hutchinsons other titles of the period, which is interesting in its own right.
#2116636