by H. Stanley Redgrove
Rare first edition, first printing
London: William Rider & Son, 1911. First edition. xiv, 141, [1], [1 ads] pp. with 16 illustrations. Bound in publisher's crimson cloth with gilt lettering. Good only with staining to cloth, worn along edges, head cloth chipped, small marginal tidemarks to a few prelims and terminals, hinges cracked but holding, a few small stains to contents. Former owner's notes and underlines in pencil; while easily erasable one might want to save these. On the last page the owner declares, "Nonsense! Radium is not the Philosopher's Stone. Nevertheless, Sir W. Ramsay's discovery is not the Philosopher's Stone. [elaborate signature] John J. Melville, 1911. Who knows? I know. I knew in 1903." Clearly he was a contemporary of the author , although we've been unable to find any information about him. A scarce work on alchemy.