Publication: Ward, Lock & CO, LTD, 1930, London and Melbourne
First edition. 8vo. Brown cloth with titles printed in black on the front cover and spine and in near fine, bright condition in dust jacket with the price 3/6 Net printed on the spine, lightly sunned on the spine, a tiny hole on the rear cover, small closed tear to the top edge of the front cover. and a 1 1/4" closed tear at the upper rear joint. A well-preserved copy of White's third book, a fantasy novel which begins with a murder. It opens in 1794, with an educated and scientifically-inclined woman named Ursula Pike, who is drowned as a witch after she kills her female cousin out of jealousy. "The main story takes place in 1930 and deals with the adventures of the reincarnated Ursula Pyke. The final chapter, pp.307-320, is an epilogue set in the far future, the year 2331." A novel that teeters between the criminal and the supernatural, dealing heavily with personality continuation over the course of five centuries. White (1876-1944) would go on to have a successful career as an author of crime fiction, the best of these (The Wheel Spins and Some Must Watch) were adapted into films by Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Siodmak. Scarce, apparently never reprinted; OCLC note 6 holdings, only one of these in a U.S. institution. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, Vol.III, pp.85-86.
Inventory Number: 50454