Benson, E.F. The Room In The Tower.

London: Mills & Boon, 1912.
First Edition. 8vo. 338pp. + 38pp. ads. (Mills & Boon not messing about with the ads there). Publisher’s burgundy cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board. Sunned to spine, spine gilt dulled, otherwise a pretty robust and bright copy. Internally clean, some minor spotting and foxing here and there, mainly to prelims. Ink ownership to front pastedown with offsetting to front flyleaf. From the library of the mighty Richard Dalby, with a couple of bits of his notes laid in. A very good copy of a most superior collection of deeply unsettling stories, the title story in particular, managing to be recurring nightmare, prophetic dream, haunted room and vampire story all at once, is particularly fine. Basically these stories are a masterclass in writing unsettling weirdness; they are the Rolex watch or Mont Blanc pen of weird story collections. Machined and polished and without rough edges or missed notes. Personally I prefer a bit of mess and chaos, but when you really need to remind yourself how artisans do it, read this. Desirable.
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