THE TRAGEDY OF THE KOROSKO
- 1898
1898. With Forty Full-Page Illustrations. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1898. 6 pp undated ads. Original red cloth with front cover vignette in gilt.
First English Edition, published about a week after the Philadelphia edition (titled A DESERT DRAMA). This is Doyle's suspenseful (and imperialistic) tale of a Nile riverboat, the "Korosko," and its encounter with the Dervishes; tourists are abducted, with the demand that they renounce Christianity. Doyle had in fact made such a trip with his family in January 1896, and the threat of such an encounter was real. His intention, he later wrote, was to show the effect upon the character of a varied group of people when they are suddenly plunged into frightful disaster. It is a book of sensation, but it has a philosophic basis, and for this reason is among my favourites. I had been over the ground and had been exposed to that very danger immediately before I wrote it. The tale was filmed twice, in 1924 (as "The Desert Sheik") and in 1932 (as "Fires of Fate"). The plates are by Sidney Paget, who also illustrated the Sherlock Holmes adventures. This copy has black-coated endpapers, as specified by G&G -- though we have seen just as many copies with white endpapers. It is in near-fine condition, with scarcely any wear or soil (volume a little askew, very slight bubbling of the cloth -- both as is often the case); atypically for these black endpapers, the hinges are NOT cracked. Green & Gibson A22a.
First English Edition, published about a week after the Philadelphia edition (titled A DESERT DRAMA). This is Doyle's suspenseful (and imperialistic) tale of a Nile riverboat, the "Korosko," and its encounter with the Dervishes; tourists are abducted, with the demand that they renounce Christianity. Doyle had in fact made such a trip with his family in January 1896, and the threat of such an encounter was real. His intention, he later wrote, was to show the effect upon the character of a varied group of people when they are suddenly plunged into frightful disaster. It is a book of sensation, but it has a philosophic basis, and for this reason is among my favourites. I had been over the ground and had been exposed to that very danger immediately before I wrote it. The tale was filmed twice, in 1924 (as "The Desert Sheik") and in 1932 (as "Fires of Fate"). The plates are by Sidney Paget, who also illustrated the Sherlock Holmes adventures. This copy has black-coated endpapers, as specified by G&G -- though we have seen just as many copies with white endpapers. It is in near-fine condition, with scarcely any wear or soil (volume a little askew, very slight bubbling of the cloth -- both as is often the case); atypically for these black endpapers, the hinges are NOT cracked. Green & Gibson A22a.
Details
Title
THE TRAGEDY OF THE KOROSKO
Author
Doyle, A. Conan
Condition
Unknown
Date
1898