Ralph Adams Cram. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, 1895. FIRST EDITION.
Original 1895 American first edition of Cram's six classic supernatural tales, in the striking green-and-tan patterned publisher's boards with tan cloth spine, patterned endpapers, and top edge gilt. An early American work of Gothic/ghost-story literature, including The Dead Valley and No. 252 Rue M. le Prince. Cram later became a leading Gothic Revival architect. The collection and its fiction are referenced in scholarship on classic supernatural literature, including H. P. Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature.
Original binding remains attached, with boards and hinges reported sound. Visible rubbing and wear to extremities, board edges, and corners. Noticeable surface abrasion/loss on the tan cloth spine, especially lower spine; a specialist reviewing photographs considered historical insect grazing possible, but the cause has not been confirmed. This is an observation about surface condition, NOT a claim of active infestation. Other expected age-related wear. Postscript and publisher advertisements are present; full page-by-page collation has not been independently verified. Please review all close-up photographs, especially the spine and edges, as they form part of the condition description.
Only the original 1895 first-edition book pictured is for sale.