THE LOTTERY AND OTHER DARK TALES

First edition with these illustrations, first printing. Signed by the author of the introduction, Ruth Franklin and the illustrator Angie Hoffmeister. Issued with an illustration print by Hoffmeister depicting Shirley Jackson that is not published in the book, housed in a blue card envelope. Original blue cloth with titles in black and silver to the spine and illustrations in black and silver to the upper and lower boards. Housed in an illustrated solander box with a magnetised central opening. Top edge silver. Endpapers illustrated in blue foil. Illustrated with seven colour plates by Hoffmeister, including two double-page spreads, as well as a number of black and white tailpieces. A fine copy, the binding square and tight, the contents clean throughout and without previous owners' stamps or inscriptions. The illustrated solander box, with a small bump to the top right corner of the lower board, is otherwise fine. The print is in fine condition.

Issued in a limited edition of 250 copies, this example is numbered 50 and is signed by Ruth Franklin (Jackson's biographer) and Angie Hoffmeister on a limitation sheet that is tipped in on the flyleaf. A beautifully produced collection of Shirley Jackson's short stories, taken from 'The Lottery and Other Stories', 'Just an Ordinary Day' and 'Dark Tales'. Comprising The Lottery, The Daemon Lover, The Possibility of Evil, Louisa, Please Come Home, Paranoia, The Honeymoon of Mrs Smith, The Story We Used to Tell, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Jack The Ripper, The Beautiful Stranger, All She Said Was Yes, What a Thought, The Bus, Family Treasures, A Visit, The Good Wife, The Man in the Woods, Home, The Summer People and The Missing Girl. The Lottery, first published in 1948 in The New Yorker, was the first piece of Jackson's writing to earn widespread critical acclaim and earned her a reputation as a master of the horror genre. It remains one of her most popular works to this day.