Vathek: an Arabian Tale

E-267. Very Good. Hardcover. Hardcover. 12mo. Published by Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club, New York. 1945. Xi, 135 pgs. Limited and numbered copy, this is #536 of the limited edition of 1500 copies. Signed by illustrator Valenti Angelo on the colophon page. Illustrated. Slipcased. Slipcase is rubbed, worn and chipped. Bound in cloth boards with titles present to the spine and blindstamped designed boards. Boards have shelf-wear present to the extremities (spine is lightly sunned and faded). No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. Vathek (alternatively titled Vathek, an Arabian Tale or The History of the Caliph Vathek) is a Gothic novel written by William Beckford. It was composed in French beginning in 1782, and then translated into English by Reverend Samuel Henley in which form it was first published in 1786 without Beckford's name as An Arabian Tale, From an Unpublished Manuscript, claiming to be translated directly from Arabic. The first French edition, titled simply as Vathek, was published in December 1786 (postdated 1787). In the twentieth century some editions include The Episodes of Vathek (Vathek et ses épisodes) , three related tales intended by Beckford to be so incorporated, but omitted from the original edition and published separately long after his death. EB; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .