One Down...

That copy of To the Devil – A Daughter (to give it its correct title, though note that the Hammer film is To the Devil... A Daughter; the dots make it more suspenseful I suppose) has become the Accidental Bookshop's first sale. A bargain at 99p, but then Dennis Wheatley is not the household name, popular bestseller he once was, and those serious collectors of his work that remain presumably only want books in tippedy-top condition — and this copy, to be fair, was not. 

It's possible however that the buyer was one of what I can only imagine is an even smaller group: collectors of the artist responsible for the cover (a design described, correctly, by one dealer on ABE as 'frothing insane').

The artist was Frank C. Papé, who also designed Wheatley's personal bookplate (as seen in my previous post). According to this biography he was born in 1878, which would put him in his mid-seventies when he painted this cover, which is pretty good going. He lived to the grand old age of 92 mind! His Wikipedia entry didn't mention the To the Devil cover art, so I've added that in. Glad to be of service, Frank.