Two Tales (The Facts in the Case of Monsieur Valdemar; The Story of Hop-Frog)

Beckenham: The Chimæra Press, 1986 Illustrated with six original lithographs by Charles Keeping. Limited first edition. One of 100 numbered copies signed by Keeping, this being number 51. Publisher's quarter vellum, with gray, red, and black marbled paper-covered boards, back to back stories (dos-à-dos) with two title pages, book bound by Paul Cook, spine lettered in black, and fore edge untrimmed; housed in publisher's gray slipcase. Fine book, with just a hint of toning to spine; about fine slipcase, with a faint area of soiling and a few very light scratches to rear panel. With a "Recent Press Books" review of the book laid in. Overall, a luxurious and haunting edition of two short stories from the 19th century American master of horror. This fine press book contains two macabre short stories by Edgar Allan Poe: "The Facts in the Case of Monsieur Valdemar" and "The Story of Hop-Frog." In "Monsieur Valdemar," the narrator conducts an experiment on a man dying of tuberculosis, mesmerizing (an early form of hypnosis) him shortly before his impending death. The man is kept in a trance-like state, somewhere between life and death, for months, until the trance is broken and his body rapidly decays. The story was first published simultaneously in Broadway Journal and American Review: A Whig Journal in December of 1845 without any statement that it was fiction, which led many readers to believe that it was a retelling of a true event. In "The Story of Hop-Frog," the title character is a dwarf and jester for a cruel and joke-loving king. When the king abuses Hop-Frog's friend, a young girl named Trippetta, Hop-Frog plots a fiery revenge against the king and his seven loyal ministers. "Hop-Frog" was first published in 1849 in The Flag of Our Union newspaper, and it has been suggested that the story was Poe's way of taking revenge against his literary critics. . Signed by Illustrator. Limited First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine. Illus. by Charles Keeping.