souvenir press ltd nightowl books (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Used: Acceptable. Hardback with D/J in good condition with some shelf creasing to D/J. A Fable. 1st UK edition. In a similar vein as Watership Down this book is about an evil owl and his desire to dominate the world - both funny and dark at the same time.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Jacket by Oliver Frey (illustrator). 1st Edition. First published in 1901 and re-issued in 1963, this is a first edition, first impression of the new edition by Souvenir Press of 1981. Some slight edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, corners very slightly bruised, not price clipped (£6.95), no inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg+ copy for its age. 320pp. Anglo Caribbean writer M. P. Shiel's (1865-1947), popular reputation was made by another work for hire. This began as a serial contracted by Peter Keary (1865?1915), of C. Arthur Pearson Ltd, to capitalise on public interest in a crisis in China (which became known as the Scramble for Concessions.) The Empress of the Earth ran weekly in Short Stories in 1898. The early chapters incorporated actual headline events as the crisis unfolded, and proved a success with the reading public. Pearson responded by ordering Shiel to double the length of the serial to 150,000 words, but Shiel cut it back by a third for the book version, which was rushed out that July as 'The Yellow Danger'. Some contemporary critics described this novel as a fictionalisation of Charles Henry Pearson's National Life and Character: A Forecast (1893). Shiel's Asian villain, Dr. Yen How, has been cited as a possible basis for Sax Rohmer's much better known Dr. Fu Manchu. Dr. Yen How was probably based on the Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen (1866?1925), who had first gained fame in England in 1896 when he was kidnapped and imprisoned at the Chinese embassy in London until public outrage pressured the British government to demand his release. Similar kidnapping incidents occurred in several of Shiel's subsequent novels. 'The Yellow Danger' was Shiel's most successful book during his lifetime, going through numerous editions, particularly when the Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901 seemed to confirm his fictional portrayal of Chinese hostility to the West. Shiel himself considered the novel hackwork, and seemed embarrassed by its success. It was a likely influence on H.G. Wells in 'The War in the Air' (1908), Jack London in 'The Unparalleled Invasion' (1910), and others. His next novel was another serial contracted by Pearson to tie into the Spanish-American War. 'Contraband of War' ran in Pearson's Weekly 7 May- 9 July 1898, again incorporating headline events into the serial as the war progressed. It was published as a book the following year. Quite a scarce book.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Jacket by Ron Miller (illustrator). 1st Edition. First UK edition, first impression. Some slight edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, traces of old sticky label to front jacket, corners very slightly bruised, not price clipped (no published price), no inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg+ copy for its age. 213pp, illustrated. A gentle Satyr and a young boy are called upon to fight the evil and powerful owl who rules the world of darkness and has ordered his troops to steal the moon and kill the sun. A first novel by American author and poet Steven Bauer. Quite a scarce book.