LOT #45116 |
Sold on Sep 10, 2025 for: Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
Christopher Morley. The Haunted Bookshop. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1919....
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Description
Christopher Morley. The Haunted Bookshop. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1919.8vo. Original terra cotta cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in black; publisher's illustrated dust jacket printed on pale orange colored paper.
FIRST EDITION IN THE RARE DUST JACKET. According to Lee, the issue points of the first state have long been disputed, and no priority established. The present copy contains the following issue points: title page and copyright page both dated 1919; page 76 is numbered and the type of the word "Burroughs" in the final line is unbroken; the first line of page 100 reads "Sty" for "Styx".
Morley's suspenseful novel is set in Brooklyn at the end of World War I, and continues the story of Roger Mifflin, the bookseller from Parnassus on Wheels. It also introduces Miss Titania Chapman who becomes involved in an adventure with Aubrey Gilbert, a young advertising man. The title refers to the literary ghosts that haunt libraries and bookstores: "the ghosts of all great literature." Morley dedicated the book to "The Booksellers." VERY RARE IN JACKET: According to online auction records, only two other copies of the first edition of The Haunted Bookshop in the original dust jacket have appeared at auction, the Richard Lackritz copy which sold at Christie's in 2002, and the signed James Kwis Leonard copy which sold in these rooms in 2019 for a record price of $3000.
Condition: Very slight rubbing to extremities, otherwise bright and fine. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "Net $1.50"), with a little rubbing mostly along folds; a few tiny chips or nicks at spine corners and flap fold ends; minor soiling to spine panel with a tiny pale stain. Overall, a very fine copy in a remarkably well-preserved dust jacket.
References: Lee 9.
Provenance: From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2025 September 10 - 11 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part III, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6321 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
September, 2025
10th-11th
Wednesday-Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 12
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 577
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% of the successful bid per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms