THE HORROR OF THE HEIGHTS [in] EVERYBODY'S MAGAZINE, November, 1913 Issue.

New York: The Ridgeway Company., 1913.. First American Appearance of this Story.. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers. Single issue of this magazine. Oddly paginated: 1-16 (all adverts), 577-722, 19-98 (adverts); the Doyle story is on pages 578-590, and is fully illustrated by Henry Reuterdahl. Some staining and edge wear to the wrappers as well as some loss to the spine's tail, slick paper in near fine condition, overall a very good, attractive copy.


¶ The first appearance in print of this bizarre horror story in the United States, it also appeared (simultaneously?) in London in the November 1913 issue of THE STRAND MAGAZINE, with different illustrations by W. R. S. Stott. It was later collected in Doyle's book DANGER! And Other Stories (John Murray, 1918). The tale relates the experiences of a daring aviator who, curious about the death of pilots who had tried to break the existing altitude record of 30,000 feet - one of whom had been found in his plane but with his head missing - flies up 40,000 feet and makes an astonishing and unforeseen discovery. Also included are stories by Beatrice Grimshaw, Henry C. Rowland, John Prentiss and others, including 'A Matter of Two Cyphers', a Crime Doctor story by E.W. Hornung, Doyle's brother-in-law, with excellent illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele.