MACHEN, Arthur
Fantastic Tales or The Way to Attain
Carbonnek, Privately Printed, 1923. Machen's translation of the 17th century French text Moyen de Parvenir by the poet and polymath Beroalde de Verville. Reprints his 1890 translation, with a new 8-page introduction, this being a limited edition: Copy No. 994 of 1050 numbered copies signed by the author. Machen was a writer of fantastic literature in the late 19th and early 20th century; had a great influence on the dark fantasy and horror published in the pulp magazines of the 1920s such as Weird Tales; and he was admired by such fantasy writers as Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long (as well as by Jorge Luis Borges, who called him a great writer). H. P. Lovecraft, in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," called Machen one of the four "modern masters" of supernatural horror. Machen was also an occultist, and Aleister Crowley admired his writings. A fine copy, quarterbound in vellum, in a very good dustwrapper. A nice copy of this bulky book, usually found quite worn.
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