The Mantle and the Black

First edition, first impression.  212, 4pp, with portrait plate frontispiece.  Red cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering on the spine.  8vo.  Cloth is a little worn, marked gently rubbed and rounded at corners, scuffed and cracked at spine ends.  Text block edges lightly toned.  Front hinge cracked.  Previous owner’s name on front free endpaper.  A little toning to endpapers else internally neat, clean, bright and tight.  

A very hard to find title.  A collection of short stories co-authored by Ladbroke Black and Robert Lynd.  After a very forgettable first novel a decade earlier, this was Black’s first publication to demonstrate his talent as a writer.