The Basilisk And Other Tales Of Dread - Ash-Tree Press - R. Murray Gilchrist

Gilchrist, R. Murray

ISBN 10: 1553100530 / ISBN 13: 9781553100539

Published by Ash Tree Pr, 2003

About this Item

Gilchrist, R. Murray : The Basilisk And Other Tales Of Dread. Ashcroft (BC, CAN) : Ash-Tree Press, 2003. First edition, limited edition, one of 500 copies. Size is octavo (8vo), 8.75"/23cm h. Bound in publisher's black cloth, gilt lettering imprinted to spine. Color glossy dj illus by Paul Lowe. Red endpapers with subtly patterned "Ash-Tree Press" repeated throughout. Xvi pp prelim material, 187 numbered pp, nine wo numbers following, including colophon and (helpfully), a four page list of Ash-Tree Press "Titles Published" 1994-2003, including forthcoming titles. Introduction by John Pelan and Christopher Roden, 22 tales of dread (plus two more excerpted in an appendix), sources. Condition notes: A clean, tight, unmarked, square copy with light wear to dj and boards. Pp 167-174 show a crease from an historic and unfortunate fold. We personally inspect every book we offer.

Seller Inventory # 221004001

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Basilisk And Other Tales Of Dread - Ash-Tree Press - R. Murray Gilchrist
• Publisher: Ash Tree Pr
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1553100530
• ISBN 13: 9781553100539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Horror/Macabre

About this title

Synopsis

Robert Murray Gilchrist (1868-1917) made just a single contribution to "The Yellow Book", the highly regarded, unorthodox Victorian magazine of literature which flourished for three short years between 1894 and 1897 - the little known vampire story 'The Crimson Weaver'. Gilchrist's name, when it is mentioned at all today, is much better known for his hardly regarded collection of short fiction, "The Stone Dragon" (1894), a rarity which is highly sought by genre collectors. Tradition has had it that following this single collection, Gilchrist turned away from the weird tale to devote his attention to his stories of the Peak District and his topographical studies; but this is not entirely true. In 1903, Hurst & Blackett published Gilchrist's "Lords and Ladies", which included an additional six weird tales, and the June 1905 issue of "The London Magazine" saw the appearance of a further vampire tale, 'The Lover's Ordeal'. By 1926, however, when Gilchrist's good friend Eden Phillpotts championed the posthumous collection "A Peakland Faggot", it seems that any contribution to the weird tale had been forgotten: Philppotts makes no mention of these unique stories, nor does Hugh Walpole, who included a short memoir of Gilchrist in a volume of reminiscences in 1932. "The Basilisk and Other Tales of Dread" brings together all the known weird stories from the pen of R. Murray Gilchrist. Themes of madness and doomed love predominate - and on the rare occasions when Gilchrist's protagonists survive the trials with which they are beset, it seems certain that they will be forever burdened with memories of their tragic experiences.