This is the original novelization of the classic, and now long lost, 1928 Todd Browning, silent film production of “London after Midnight” starring Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, and Conrad Nigel. A 1920s pulp novelisation is the sort of book that you’d expect to find with a cracked cover and torn yellow pages at a collectors’ fair, rather than see lovingly republished in a tactile and tantalisingly limited edition. But in an era of mass-produced paperbacks and digital text, it’s not just Penguin Classics and the Folio Society but small presses such as the newly formed Imaginary Book Company that are keeping alive the beautiful body of the well-designed hardback. Their edition of London after Midnight is a rare beast indeed: a hybrid of the British and American versions of the novelisation of Hollywood’s first and long-lost vampire film, it illuminates one of the holy grails of silent cinema, reminds us of the connection between the detective genre and the supernatural, and repositions the debates about the merits of fan fiction and spin-offs almost a century before E. James’s Twilight homage, Fifty Shades of Grey. Completely redesigned reset, and with the full text restored for the first time, this is the definitive version of Hollywood’s very first vampire film! London after midnight is published in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies – this copy is number 174, proudly published at Halloween 2012 by the Imaginary Book Company LTD. This limited edition book, titled “London After Midnight” by Marie Coolidge-Rask, is a must-have for horror literature enthusiasts. The book is a hardcover edition with a dust jacket and is numbered #174 out of 300. It was published in London by An Imaginary Book MMXII in 2012 and features Graham Humphreys’ illustrations. It is a perfect addition to any collection of antiquarian and collectible books. In very good condition!
