B.L. Farjeon

The Mesmerists: A Novel [Inscribed and Signed to Lady Harris]

London: Hutchinson and Co, 1900. Very Good. Item #48928

London: Hutchinson and Co, 1900. First Edition. Octavo (19.5cm); modern blue cloth, gilt-lettered spine, new endpapers; 400pp. Light soil and rubbing to cloth margins, textblock uniformly toned due to inferior paper quality, else Very Good and sound.

Exceptionally scarce novel about the machinations of an evil hypnotist. The work was first written as a four-act play "The Mesmerist" printed in this volume on pp. [263]-400.

This copy inscribed and signed on half title verso, "Lady Harris with the Author's Kind regard / B.L. Farjeon." The recipient is almost certainly Lady Frieda Harris (1877-1962), who later in life became a disciple of the occultist Aleister Crowley, designing for him the Thoth Tarot deck in 1944. An excellent association of this uncommon novel. No copies in the trade or auction record as of July 2026. OCLC locates just five copies in US institutions, at NYU, Occidental, UCLA, MSU, and Vanderbilt.

Price: $750.00