Musrum; [together with] "A Tentative Key to the Thackeroid contribution to Musrum", autograph manuscript.

First edition, presentation copy to the author's family, inscribed by Thacker on the front free endpaper: "To my beloved wife Doreen, & to my precious children, Andrea (who gave me the title), Miles, Deborah, & Clinton. Always your devoted, Eric Thacker. 8 October 1968". An autograph manuscript in Thacker's hand, detailing his contributions to Musrum, is loosely inserted. An extraordinary cult classic of late-1960s mythography, Musrum starts as a semi-Biblical and highly lysergic creation myth, proceeding into the eponymous hero's epic conflict against a ruthless adversary, the Weedking. It was produced via an exchange of letters between Thacker, a Methodist minister from a town outside Rotherham, and the illustrator Earnshaw, an atheist and teacher at the Bradford College of Art. Together, 2 items: Quarto volume with full-page and vignette illustrations in text by Earnshaw; manuscript of two sheets (253 x 202 mm), written on one side in black ink by Thacker. Original brown quarter boards, spine lettered in gilt, green textured sides with yellow paper label on front. With publisher's transparent jacket, Cape's paper label on front flap. Spine ends bumped, couple of faint damp stains to backstrip, affecting rear endpapers; transparent jacket torn but sound. Manuscript sheets creased and a little nicked at fore edge, gentler creases elsewhere and a couple of marks. Overall, very good condition.…