Brown, Fredric

Night of the Jabberwock

New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. Inscribed & signed by Fredric Brown. "When Frederic Brown joins forces with Lewis Carroll a heady brew is almost certain to result, making it hard to decide which holds the greater kick for the reader, Brown or Carroll. Doc Stoeger, owner and editor of the Carmel City Clarion, hopes that before he dies he can get out just one exciting issue of the Clarion. Closing up the forms on Saturday's issue, he crosses the street for a drink at his favorite tavern. It is as though he had leaped a chasm, landing not on the other side but in another world where Vorpal Blades, Jabberwocks and Bandersnatches are real as they were to Alice on the other side of the looking glass." (from front flap) A classic novel by Frederic Brown (1906-1972), the noted American fantasy-mystery-science fiction writer who was an acknowledged precursor & influence-inspiration to Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, Stephen King & other acclaimed authors in these genres. As here, Brown often combined these three genres into one sui generis work. In this novel, the protagonist encounters the characters & creatures created by Lewis Carroll in his canonical Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. Hardcover in unclipped (with shallow clips at all outer corners of flaps as issued) first-issue dust jacket (with $2.50 price printed on front flap), first edition as stated on copyright page. A production of publisher's "Guilt Edged Mystery" series. On the otherwise blank (except for stamp of previous owner, see below in condition) front endpaper, Brown has hand-written & signed in bold black ink: "To Walt & Agnes/ Whitney/ (signed) Frederic Brown." An essential & exemplary Brown collectible, exceptionally rare in this original form with the author's inscription & signature. Book in relatively quite near-fine condition with just a touch of rubbing to black front, back covers & spine (with purple & black letters, graphics on spine & front cover mostly bright & completely intact); mild wear, some tiny bumps, creases & some loss of black surface color at edges & corners of same; moderate browning, rubbing to edges of text block (side edge of same untrimmed as issued). Interior fine with moderate-to-medium browning & occasional spotting to blank paste-downs & endpapers; previous owner's stamp (not addressees of author's inscription) near lower right corner of front endpaper; mild browning esp. to blank margins/edges of page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of a few of same. Unrestored dust jacket fair-to-good with moderate-to-medium rubbing, scratching, faint creasing & slight browning to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/near edges & corners of same; chips & short tears with slight loss of paper throughout same (except for flaps); significant loss of paper at/above about 1" at lower spine edge, corners; much less at upper spine-edge, corners. Near Fine / Fair-Good. [Item #5405]

Price: $200.00