UNPROFESSIONAL TALES.

London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1901. First edition. Beyond the early pamphlets and offprints, Douglas's first book and his first venture into fiction. He later claimed that just eight copies were sold - a slight exaggeration, but close on 600 copies of the original 750 were still unsold in 1903 and almost certainly pulped. Contains fifteen short stories (including "Elfwater", "Nocturne", "The Devil's Oak", and "Belladonna") as well as the fantasy femme fatale novella "Nerinda", most of the former written in collaboration with his then wife, Elsa Fitzgibbon (1876-1916). Crown 8vo (185 x 122mm). (viii),(248)pp. Bound in a most attractive mid twentieth-century full red morocco, banded and gilt, by William Root & Son of London; top edge gilt; red silk marker; original pictorial cloth upper cover preserved at rear; a few very minor signs of age and use; a few faint spots, but overall a very good copy in a fine binding.