[DOYLE, Arthur Conan (1859-1930), contributor]. Strange Stories of Coincidence and Ghostly Adventure. London: [Richard Clay and Sons for] George Redway, n.d. [1888].
8vo. Contemporary textured teal cloth, gilt-lettered spine, floral endpapers (possibly a variant binding; see The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, Dreamland and Ghostland). (Some darkening to spine and cover extremes). Provenance: R. J. Wood (contemporary ownership signature on front pastedown). FIRST EDITION, second issue, originally published by Redway in 1887 as a triple-decker entitled Dreamland and Ghostland. Because of poor sales the stories were reissued the following year as individual volumes with new bindings and canceled title pages. Strange Stories of Coincidence and Ghostly Adventure was the second volume in the set and includes one of the Doyle short stories found in that collection: J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement. Doyle was inspired by the real story of the ship Mary Celeste which was found drifting in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal, under full sail but apparently abandoned. Doyle was one of the first to publish an account of what happened, relying heavily on fact but included significant differences which some journalists took as factual. The publication of this story in book form by Doyle in 1887 predates the publication of his first book A Study in Scarlet making this THE AUTHOR’S FIRST APPEARANCE IN BOOK FORM. Sadleir 741 (1887 edition).
[With:] FAY, Charles Edey. Mary Celeste: The Odyssey of an Abandoned Ship. Salem: Peabody Museum, [1942]. Small 4to. Numerous charts, facsimiles, illustrations from photographs, and a large foldout map. Original gilt-lettered blue cloth. FIRST EDITION. -- [With:] Rutland Weekly Herald, 13 March 1873, containing an early mention of the Mary Celeste ship which was discovered on 4 December 1872.