PRICHARD, Hesketh (1876-1922) and K[ate O'Brien Ryall]. Ghosts: Being the Experiences of Flaxman Low. London: Arthur C. Pearson Limited, 1899. 8vo. [viii], 300, [1, ads] pp. Frontispiece. Publisher's pictorial green cloth stamped in red and black. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING HOUSED IN CUSTOM CLAMSHELL BOX.

The supernatural detective "Flaxman Low" was the creation of mother-son writing team Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard and Kate O'Brien Ryall Prichard under their pen names E. and H. Heron. The short stories collected here first appeared as the pseudonymous exploits of "one of the leading scientists of the Victorian era" in Pearson's Magazine between 1898 and 1899, making Low one of the earliest occult detectives in literature alongside Bram Stoker's Van Helsing and Fitz James O'Brien's Harry Escott.

Boards rubbed and soiled with wear and fraying to extremities, head and foot of spine. Light toning, front joint starting, ffep. lacking. Ownership signature to front pastedown. Very good.