The Poison Dealer.

London, Werner Laurie [1906]. Octavo publisher's illustrated fawn cloth printed in orange, blue and white. The tan cloth darkened; signs of use, some foxing at ends and edges; not bad for a book guaranteed not to wear well. First edition in English from his 'Marchand de Poison' (1902) and hard to find. There must be a better copy out there but I haven't found it yet. The binding is signed C.E.D. - who, thanks to Geoffrey McSkimming, I can tell you is Charles E. [Edwin?] Dawson. He specialised in flowing women for posters and advertisements. Such a woman flows around on the similar wrap-round design on Fergus Hume's 'Lady Jim of Curzon Street', also published by Werner Laurie.There's plenty of madness and death in this book but the poison dealer is not, I'm sorry to say, a diabolical scientist or psychopathic criminal but an honest and most successful business man who manufactures absinthe and brandies. The result is just as satisfying.