A FEARSOME RIDDLE ..

Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company Publishers, 1901. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 1-192 [193-206: ads], four inserted plates with illustrations by Virginia Keep, title page printed in orange and black, original green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind, t.e.g. First edition. Epistolary novella about a mad scientist/mathematician who experiments on himself with drugs and sleep deprivation in effort to control or distort time. Of interest also for its detailed and rounded portrait of the black servant Blanchard. "... metaphysical speculations on time ... a literate, intelligent, thought-provoking work." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years, 654. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 277. Bleiler (1978), p. 68. Reginald 04721. Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925 E-81. Several small adhesions on front free endpaper where a slip of paper was removed, else a bright, fine copy. (#90386) (Inventory #: 90386)