Destinies.

Normanby (Henry)

Published by Sisley's n.d. but, 1908

FIRST EDITION, title-page printed in red and black, a few faint spots to prelims, receding into text, pp. 324, crown 8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, touch of wear at extremities with gentle knock at foot of lower joint, some light soiling and a few small waterspots, tail edge roughtrimmed, lacking flyleaf, the other endpapers spotted, fair. A scarce book, with no institutional holdings shown outside of the UK legal deposit libraries. Normanby's stories are brief and with a portentous handling of the supernatural. One of its stories, 'The First-Nighter', has the distinction of having been anthologised in Ramsey Campbell's 'Uncanny Banquet' but the book is principally of note for having been reviewed, rather scathingly, by the young Virginia Woolf (then Virginia Stephen) in the Times Literary Supplement of April 23rd 1908. Woolf contrasts Normanby's brash effects with those of Henry James, and considers that 'a great number of these stories were meant to be read swiftly in a train, and to preserve them in a book is to imprison them unkindly'. Seller Inventory # 69686

Bibliographic Details

Title: Destinies.
Publisher: Sisley's n.d. but
Publication Date: 1908