On the Edge by Walter de la Mare (First Edition)

On the Edge by Walter de la Mare (First Edition) Firm square copy. Minor wear to edges and spine ends with slight sunning to spine. Not price-clipped. In clear protective cover. Stated "First published in September MCMXXX by Faber & Faber Limited." "Short stories, including [a] A RECLUSE. Curious about the architecture of a country house, the traveller strikes up an acquaintance with its owner, Mr. Bloom, an elderly recluse, and accepts his hospitality for the night. Their conversation leads to various topics concerned with death, both physical and spiritual. When the traveller is about to steal away the next morning, he sees that his host was really only a momentary vision of a corpse in the bed. The implications are that Bloom is physically dead but spiritually alive, and that the house is permeated with disembodied entities. No explanations are given. [b} CREWE. The narrator listens to the monologue reminiscences of a decayed servant who tells (by indirection) how he schemed and plotted to drive out his fellow servants so that he could gain a legacy. The plot resulted in a suicide and the appearance of the vengeful dead man as an approaching scarecrow. The ghost is responsible for the death of another servant that the narrator used as a catspaw" (Bleiler).…