ENTOMBED IN FLESH

William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1897, First Edition.  Hard cover, 282 pages plus 2 pages of ads.  Orange cloth with lettering in black on front board and spine; decorative blind stamp on front encasing title and author.  Boards show cover and edge wear with some fraying, some stains and soil; spine darkened with short tears at ends and small loss at spine bottom; front and rear hinges cracked with all pages secure.  Front end-paper removed; old water mark along top edges and upper fore-edges to page 64.  Some fox spots in text, but most heavily to few first and last pages; splash mark on p. 77 affecting a few pages but all text remains very readable; edge tear at bottom margin of p. 229; three small 2-3 mm holes at upper fore-edge; dried mildew in gutters by stitching of some pages.  Fantasy novel in which Phantastos, a spirit who sided neither with God nor Lucifer in order to be free to roam the universe, accepts a challenge from Lucifer to inhabit the body of an earth man and defend a young woman from Lucifer’s attacks to cause her to sin.  If Lucifer wins, the woman’s soul is forfeit, and Phantastos will be enslaved to him.