Arthur Machen — Precious Balms

Horam, The Friends of Arthur Machen; Tartarus Press, 1999. First edition. Cloth. The first Tartarus limited edition of this volume of literary criticism, in which author and mystic Arthur Machen compiles negative reviews of his early work. Limited to 200 copies for the Friends of Arthur Machen, this copy number 23. First published by Spurr and Swift in 1924, limited to 265 signed copies.  A fine copy, in the original unclipped dust wrapper.  Precious Balms assembles extracts from the adverse reviews and press notices regarding Machen's early works, alongside a few appreciative pieces. Including reviews of Dog and Duck and The Great God Pan.  Upon the original publication in 1924, Machen included a letter of apology about a misunderstanding of the prospectus (Americans did not understand Machen's joke referencing the "cells of Carmelite House, serving a terms of eleven years" for a series of obscure crimes; he in fact was talking about the home of a newspaper, the Evening News, where he had been employed for eleven years).  In the original cloth binding. With the original unclipped dust wrapper. Externally, fine. Dust wrapper is fine. Internally, firmly bound with bright and clean pages. Fine . Ill.: None. Fine/Fine.