THE BOOK OF SKULLS by Silverberg, Robert - [1972]

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, [1972]. First edition. Slightly leaned, a nearly fine copy in a very good dust jacket with a stain ghost to verso of lower spine from glue degradation with bleed through from a glue tab from a dust jacket protector and some discoloration spots. (31758). Octavo, cloth backed boards. "A student finds an ancient manuscript in the rare books room at the university library, which seems to promise immortality if he and three friends can track down the Brotherhood of the Skull. They travel to Arizona on their quest, only to find that what awaits is not immortality but terror and death. Very much a product of the late-1960s and early-1970s fascination with the occult and hallucinogenic transcendent experience, this novel still packs a considerable punch." - Michael M. Levy in Barron (ed), Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1406. 1972 Nebula nominee.