THE WHITE ROAD. The Only Extant Copy of the First Issue, Inscribed by the Author to the Publisher

Octavo, original pictorial tan buckram titled and decorated in green, top page edges stained green, hand-marbled endpapers. 453 pp, frontispiece and interior illustrations by Nick Maloret. 400 numbered copies printed, this being copy No. 4, one of the Deluxe issue (the first 50 copies) which had marbled endpapers - most copies, those numbered 51 - 400, had plain endpapers. There was a printing error in all copies of this book on page 3, line 6 of the first story, 'The Lycurgus Cup', where it states "Look¾ a big cat escapes" instead of "Look, a big cat escapes". This error was noticed at the initial gathering to number and sign copies of the book and "after a swift trip by David (Tibet) to buy several bottles of white correction fluid, we all sat around with shaking hands, trying to obliterate the offending '¾' without ruining any of the books which were already numbered. David kept one uncorrected, perhaps now the rarest copy" (Ron Weighell, from the Introduction to the Second Edition published in 2017 by Sarob Press). This is that copy. The statement is in error as it was Richard Dalby- not David Tibet - who kept 'the rarest copy', as this copy is uncorrected and there is a photocopy of a letter to the author from Richard Dalby laid in (the original would have been mailed), dated 31 July 1997, in which Dalby states in part "My own copy (No. 4) is probably - so David assures me - the only one with the misprint on page 3 extant and undeleted, making it truly unique and priceless!". Aside from this, it was Richard Dalby who was responsible for the book being published in the first place. Again, from the introduction to the Sarob Press edition: "It was the late and much lamented doyen of anthologists Richard Dalby who, in a communication about a story he had commissioned for a 1990's Michael O'Mara anthology, raised the possibility of a future hardback collection of my work for David Tibet's Ghost Story Press. I wrote back asking whether he meant a collection of my pastiches of M.R. James, Arthur Machen and Conan Doyle, or material 'in my own voice'. Or a selection of both. Richard's reply stunned and delighted me. "Why not everything?" So the credit, or the blame, depending on one's taste, for the inclusion of my then complete short stories in the Ghost Story Press series, could be said to lie with Richard Dalby." This copy is inscribed by the author to Richard Dalby on the title page in the same green pen used to sign the regular copies of the book: 'To Richard Dalby, with thanks for all you have done to make this book possible - Ron Weighell'. The book is in fine condition, without dust jacket, as issued. An amazing, wonderful and unique association copy. The author's highly regarded first book, THE WHITE ROAD is an omnibus of all Weighell's previously published fiction at the time. Fourteen stories are here collected from journals such as Ghosts & Scholars, numerous anthologies, as well as several stories original to this volume.The characters in Weighell's stories are cut from the same mold as those of M.R. James, Arthur Machen and H.P. Lovecraft; bibliophiles, antiquarians, and journalists with a passion for solving queer mysteries. Often - in a very Jamesian way - they find themselves in strange, remote corners of the British isles, investigating some occult books or old manuscripts. Egyptian Mythology recurs throughout the collection and the themes of ancient curses and forgotten gods of the desert lend a wonderful atmosphere to the stories. There are also some more fantasy-tinged tales here, which read very similar to the fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith. THE WHITE ROAD is a major contribution to 20th-century supernatural fiction.…