first edition
New York; (1972)
by Silverberg, Robert
New York; (1972): Charles Scribner's Sons. First Edition. Octavo. "The plot concerns four college students who discover a Catalan manuscript titled "The Book of Skulls," dealing with an order of monks living in a monastery in the Arizona desert, whose members claim the power to bestow immortality on those who complete their bizarre initiation rite. Most morbid among the order's mysteries is the ninth: for each group of four initiates, only two will become immortal; one will sacrifice himself; and one will be sacrificed by the others. The boys travel across America to the monastery, where they are accepted as a "Receptacle" and told that if one was to leave after swearing their life to the order, the three others would be forfeit." A fine bright copy bound in ΒΌ red cloth over beige paper covered boards, spine lettering gilt. An exceptionally fine crisp copy. (Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1406).
(Inventory #: 031959)