Chase UK First Thus

Dean Koontz. Chase. W.H. Allen 1985. First Thus. Hard Cover. Very Good / Good. This a first printing of the W H Allen hardback edition as indicated by the "This edition published 1985" statement with no subsequent printings mentioned. Originally published in the UK by Arthur Barker in 1974 under the K R Dwyer pseudonym this the first hardback publication under the authors real name. Extraordinarily scarce with, reportedly, only a couple of hundred copies printed, most of which ended up in the library system. Black paper covered boards with gold lettering to spine. A square standing copy though has been read. Head and tail of spine somewhat flattened showing some light shelf rubbing. Lower corner tips of front and rear boards very slightly blunted. Boards themselves remarkably clean and foil lettering on spine shows no signs of rubbing. Internally the pages themselves are somewhat age discoloured ( I'd say as common but I've never seen another copy!). Signs of previous sellers pencil notations to the FEP otherwise appears internally clean - I can just about make out a £2 price - if only! DJ not too shabby at all. Lightly rubbed at the tips of the flap folds. Some creasing / rubbing to the edges, the occasional small pressure mark and lightly soiled / rubbed overall. But for an unfortunate two inch chip to the lower edge of the back panel it would easily grade very good. The all important £9.95 price is intact on the clean and bright front flap. This edition was reprinted in 1988 with an £11.95 price. I have seen a few of the reprints but in all my years of collecting this is the first copy of this edition I have ever come across - and it's NOT ex library!! Unquestionably amongst the rarest of Koontz editions ever published !