4 VOLUMES WEIRD TALE incl. Neil Jordan, Patrick McGrath

 

4 VOLUMES OF WEIRD TALE
incl. Neil Jordan & Patrick McGrath

1) McGrath, Patrick. BLOOD AND WATER and Other Tales. New York: Poseidon, 1988. First Edition. Remainder check under heel, otherwise Fine cloth in Fine dustwrapper.

Stupendously well-written, cruel and urbane weird tales, one of the best half-dozen collections of the '80s. Perfect copies can catalog $55 or even $100, but the remainder check beneath the heal makes this a $35 to $45 copy.

2) Clarke, Judith. THE TORMENT OF MR. GULLY: Stories of the Supernatural. New York: Henry Holt, 1990. First Edition. Fine cloth in Fine dustwrapper. Eleven weird tales by an Australian writer.

Associated primarily with young adult novels, Clarke's short stories, like those of Robert Westall or Joan Aiken, are really for "all ages" and should please anyone who loves a ghostly chill. Although this collection is scarce in its first edition (common in trade paperback), for some odd reason when it does turn up it only catalogs in the $15 to $20 range.

3) Jordan, Neil. THE DREAM OF A BEAST. New York: Random House, 1983. First Edition. Fine cloth in Fine dustwrapper.

An erotic fantasy novella of were-beasts in a modern city, by the director of Company of Wolves, The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire. This novella catalogs most often in the $20 to $35 range, but due to the author's filmmaking career, a few specialty dealers appear convinced it should sell for $60 to $75.

4) Johnson, Alvin. THE BATTLE OF THE WILD TURKEY and Other Tales. New York: Atheneum, 1961. First Edition. Very Good cloth in Very Good dustwrapper with mall closed tear. A bit of foxing to endpapers. Mostly literary westerns or Nebraska regional tales, what makes this a real find for collectors of weird tales is a gothic horror novelette set in Denmark, "Adelbrand's Skull." Usually catalogs $20 to $35.

Alvin published this book at age 86. In his youth (in 1919) he founded the avant garde undergraduate New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village. in 1933 it was for a few years transformed into the University in Exile of scholars who had fled Nazi persecution. The school today has its center in the The Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Bulding in Manhattan, where can be seen several José Clemente Orozco murals.

Estimated value: $90 to $175
Our Price, lot of four: $80.00