THE LODGER

Hardback. 1st UK Edn. (1st published January 1911 as a short story in McClure's Magazine). A fictional account of the classic story of Jack the Ripper's reign of terror in the East End of London's Whitechapel in 1888. The author recreates Jack the Ripper as a teetotaling religious maniac named "Mr Sleuth" who preys on drunken women of dubious occupation. 'The Lodger' focuses on the plight of Robert and Ellen Bunting, the murderer's landlords, who keep their suspicions to themselves because only Mr Sleuth's rent money stands between them and starvation. A Haycroft Queen 'cornerstone'. An important work and regarded by many as the author's finest. 311pp. 8vo. h/back. Blue cloth/gilt lettering. Lightly browned edges, sunned sp., small mk. to fr. cover (see image). A Vg. copy of an extremely rare 1st Edn. Jack the Ripper associated title.