John R Carling, complete bibliography (five first editions)
The Shadow of the Czar (1902), The Viking's Skull (1904), The Weird Picture (1905), By Neva's Water (1908), and The Doomed City 1910)
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
First editions of the author's complete bibliography (five volumes). Hardback, all rebound in uniform cloth with gilt titling to spine. Each measure 18.5 × 12cm. Please see below for pagination.
This is the complete bibliography of Edwardian author John Richard Carling, born c1870 in Manchester and lived until 1950. He had moved to Peckham in South London and was making his living as a teacher for the LCC. His output consisted of five novels, historical potboilers and some with a slightly supernatural edge. The novels are:
1. The Shadow of the Czar, A Polish Romance (1902). Illustrated by Edward Read. His first novel, an historical novel set in Russia. Fair condition, readable but ex-library (The Hong Kong Club) with the usual discard marks and lacking all but one of the illustrations.
2. The Viking's Skull (1904). Illustrated by Cyrus Cuneo. A thriller with a supernatural element. With five plates by Cuneo. A good copy, some repair to the stitching at page 238/239, and some edge wear to the pages. Light spotted foxing but a perfectly readable copy.
3. The Weird Picture (1905). Illustrated by Cyrus Cuneo. A story with shades of the supernatural. Containing mystery, intrigue, prophetic symbols and unusual events, and a painting with malevolent qualities. Considered to be one of his most popular. With four plates by Cuneo.
4. By Neva's Water (1908). Illustrated (artist not stated). A historical thriller concerning Alexander I of Russia. Contains just one plate. Whilst remaining readable, there is loss to the front pastedown and endpaper.
5. The Doomed City (1910).With frontispiece and one plate. An epic about the Fall of Jerusalem. This copy with loss to the paper of the front pastedown, ffep and half-title. The main body of text remaining readable.
Condition
Essentially, this is a collection of good reading copies of the author's entire output. As mentioned, all have been rebound with some fading to the top two-thirds of the spine. They have new endpapers, and the binding did not retain all of the plates. Light spotted foxing throughout, some damage to the endpapers and pastedowns, and some neat stitched repair to the inner binding. It's a decent collection to give a flavour of this forgotten author of Edwardian swashbucklers, eerie stories and historical actions!
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Price
£30.00
