Description
Leinster, Murray (pseudonym of Will F. Jenkins).
Murder Madness.
Los Angeles: Fantasy Publishing Company, 1949. First Edition. Signed by the author.
12mo (7.25 x 4.75 in.). 298 pp. Bound in red cloth, spine and front board lettered in black. One of 500 hardbound copies printed, originally priced at $2.75. Jacket design by William Benulis.
A fine copy in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket, showing only light rubbing at the bottom spine and rear panel. Pages exhibit typical toning for the period. Jacket now wrapped in mylar. Signed by Leinster on the front free endpaper, alongside a former owner’s name stamp.
Originally serialized in Astounding in 1930 and published in book form by Brewer & Warren in 1931, Murder Madness tells the story of a global tyrant’s effort to subjugate civilization through a madness-inducing drug. This 1949 reissue by Fantasy Publishing Company marks one of the earliest hardcover reprints and is especially scarce signed.
Reference: Chalker & Owings, The Science-Fantasy Publishers, p. 171.
