Freak Museum by Ryan (8 results)

Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 218 pages. 9.00x6.00x0.55 inches. In Stock. O'Keefe, Gavin L. (illustrator).

hardcover. Condition: As New. Hardback--no flaws.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Very Good in Very Good unclipped dust jacket. Used with NO markings in text. Pasadena's finest independent new and used bookstore.

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. First printing. 6" x 9" trade paperback bound in pictorial wrappers. Fine condition. Introduction by John Pelan. Dancing Tautara Press #31.

Hardcover. Condition: Good+. First Edition. Freak Museum by R.R. Ryan (First Edition) A firm copy with minor spine lean; moderate wear to spine cloth and to spine edges. Bumping to corners. Rubbing to cloth with three-quarter-inch tear to rear joint near spine heel. Mild soiling to cover. Mild foxing to fore and bottom edges of text block and occasionally to page margins. Owner's name to front free endpaper verso. No jacket present. First printing 1938, stated. Orange cloth with stamped black lettering to cover and spine. 282 pages + ads. BOOK.…

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. A very good first edition, lacking the scarce jacket, of one of Ryan's weird horror novels, this one centered around an unmarried mother who is lured to a freak museum by the proprietor who has sinister plans for her. The police officers who investigate end up dead, and ultimately the "freaks" themselves start to revolt. Or something like that. "Rapidly she reviewed her position: destitute, an unmarried mother, alone with strangers, foreigners, separated from the child she craved, surrounded by ghostly beings remotely allied to the human race?yet of a race apart; and, as against all that, submission to this man Axe, to whatever purpose he served; with of course, the child in the background, held on and on as a hostage, till her particular work be done" (p. 71). The works of R. R. Ryan have been attributed to a number of people, most commonly Evelyn Bradley, a minor British author. In the Ramble House reissue of Freak Museum, the author is identified as Bradley's daughter, Denice Jeanette Bradley-Ryan, who also wrote as Kay Seaton. I am going to go with Evelyn Bradley, who was commonly known as Rex Ryan (his wife took the surname Ryan and Evelyn's daughter used both Bradley and Ryan). James Doig, who blogged at the Wormwoodiana site, reported obtaining documents from Random House (which acquired the publisher Herbert Jenkins) showing correspondence with the author going to the Ryan household after Denice left home and married. [1?6] 7?282, [283?288: publisher's ads]. First edition (states "First Printing, 1938" on the copyright page, with no indication of later printings). A very good copy in the publisher's orange cloth-covered boards (hardcover). Small previous owner's name on the half-title (A. Norman) and some erasing on the last page affecting a few lines text of an ad. The spine has browned a bit and there is wear to the edges of the orange cloth. Lacking the jacket, but still a decent copy of an historically scarce book.…

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Original red cloth, lettered in black to the front panel and spine. 8vo - 282, (6 - ads.) pp. A lovely example of this extremely scarce horror novel. Erased pencil notes from the front free endpaper. The bright and very compelling dust jacket presents very well. Some minor restoration to the spine ends. 7'6 Net price to the spine of jacket. Pages 127 through 130 look to have been re-attached or at least strengthened. This repair looks quite old. A highly desired title and now incredibly rare. Cover art by Alex Jardine. Now housed in a custom built drop-back box. Listed in Bleiler. Very Good / Very Good.…

Hard Cover. Dust Jacket. First Edition. First UK Edition. Publisher's orange boards with black lettering to the spine and front board; publisher's device to spine in black. 282 pages + 6 pages of adverts at the rear. An excellent near fine bright and clean copy slightly dusty to the top edge, with offsetting to both sets of end-papers and with a crease to the rear free end-paper. In the EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE dust wrapper (designed by Alex Jardine) which is priced 7/6 net to the spine (as called for by the English Catalogue of Books for 1938). The D/W has benefitted from a little highly skilled archival restoration (to a couple of small chips at the head and tail of the spine) by one of the World's s leading paper conservators and now shows as a near fine (or better) copy. There is a before and after picture of the D/W - pre and post restoration - laid in to show the quality and limited extent of the restoration to be appreciated. All R R Ryan first editions published by Herbert Jenkins are exceedingly scarce especially in dust wrapper. Photographs/scans available upon request.…