Gross, Anton. Merchants of Precious Goods and Other Stories. Boston: The Roxburgh Publishing Company Inc., [1920]. First edition. Octavo, pp. [1-7] 8-185 [185: blank]. Original green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold. Lettering tarnished, cloth just a bit worn at spine ends and damp-stained here and there, still a good to very good copy overall. The book is very scarce in trade. #1849. $85. This vanity-published collection of nine gloomy, odd stories shows a vigorous but poorly trained imagination at work. The themes are dark, the narrators and protagonists dreamy outcasts, the atmosphere generally sinister and disturbingly ambiguous, the details vivid, but the results often confusing to the point of frustration. Included is a hollow earth tale ("Hazardous Venture in Plutonic Region"), related indirectly as an account of a soap-box crank trying to peddle his pamphlet describing a Symmesian world. "The Poet, the Lady, and the Lamp" is set in San Francisco about a poor poet who moves into a boarding house run by an attractive but shadowy landlady. An oil lamp he buys from a junk store to enable him to read and write at night gives off fumes that are noxious and hallucinatory. Other stories describe labor unrest and other manifestations of conflict, confusion and fear. Not listed in any standard fantasy reference works. Smith, American Fiction 1901-1925 G-554.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Merchants of Precious Goods
Publisher: Roxburgh
Publication Date: 1920
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

Store Description

When I began my bookselling business in 1996 I called it "Eldritch Books" because that adjective at least partly covered the type of material I offered (and because its similarity to my own surname seemed so -- eldritch). "Ghost stories" would be another handy, if somewhat reductive, term. Most of it is fiction from the 19th and early 20th century with a strong emphasis on the fantastic. Since the most familiar and relevant genre terms in use today -- "science fiction," "fantasy," "supernatural," "horror" -- were not so much in use when these books were first published, pegging them that way can be anachronistic. But that should give you the general idea. I don't have much in the way of American pulp (either in magazine or specialty press book form) but otherwise my interests range widely from high-brow to middle-brow to low-brow to amateur/eccentric. You're more likely to find rare and obscure works here than high spots. (Or at least they're obscure now, whatever their status was when first published.) In 2001 I went to work for L. W. Currey as cataloguer and general assistant. Since 2014 I've been back working on my own. I have exhibited at convention fairs (such as WFC and Readercon) in the past. I began collecting and studying antiquarian fantasy around 1980. Some of my essays have appeared in genre publications such as NYRSF, Wormwood and F&SF. I tend to carefully research my inventory and write extensive notes. (If another dealer wishes to make use of any of these notes, I'd appreciate the courtesy of putting such excerpts in quotes and giving proper attribution to me. That's what I do when I quote from any of my reference works.) I will be gradually listing my inventory on ABE over the coming years. I hope you find something of interest.

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Robert Eldridge, Bookseller
NY, U.S.A.

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