Dracula's Guest

New York: Hilnab-Curl, 1937. Cloth. Very Good. 8" by 5.5". None. The first American edition of this prequel to the horror classic, accompanied by eight further short stories from the author. The scarce first US edition of this work.'Dracula's Guest' was initially the first chapter of Stoker's 1897 novel, but was deleted prior to publication at the publisher's recommendation. The work first appeared in print in 1914, the year following Stoker's death, in the collection 'Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories'. This is the first American edition of this work, published in 1937, featuring the 'weird stories', but with the title limited to simply 'Dracula's Guest'.Eight further short stories appear within this work, including 'A Dream of Red Hands' and 'The Burial of the Rats'. The front pastedown of this work features the bookplate of American science fiction editor, publisher and writer Donald Allen Wollheim. His name also appears as a stamp to the rear free endpaper. A leading influence on science fiction and fandom in the twentieth-century United States, Ursula K. Le Guin called him a 'tough, reliable editor'. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Some fading to board perimeters and spine. Bumping to spine head and tail, with fraying here. Contemporary owner's bookplate to front pastedown, and stamp to rear free endpaper. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean, and a little age toned to perimeters due to paper type. Very Good