The Mystery of The Sea

London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1902. Third Impression. Octavo. 19cm. Publisher's black cloth titled and decorated in gilt and bottle green to spine and front board. 498pp.+32pp. ads to rear. Clean and bright with some minor bumping to spine ends and extremities, light scuffing to edges; internally clean with a gift inscription to the front flyleaf and some light foxing to prelims and page edges. A very good, handsome copy.

A hybrid sort of tale from Stoker involving the political intrigues of the Spanish-American War, a wealthy heiress, a plucky Englishman, the 16th century conflicts between England and Spain, and a cryptographical element (truncated) supplied by Francis Bacon. A supernatural subplot involving second sight is often cited as evidence that Archibald Hunter, our protagonist, is a bit of Stoker self-insertion as Stoker often visited Cruden Bay, the visually impressive location where much of the story takes place, and on one particular trip encountered a mysterious old woman that he became convinced was clairvoyant. The encounter was worked into a short story entitled "The Seer", which later formed the kernel of Mystery of The Sea. A very presentable copy of a book that in its first impression is now extremely desirable. (Inventory #: 84530)