![KERNAHAN, Coulson (1858-1943). The Dumpling. A Detective Love Story of a Great Labour Rising. London: Cassell and Company, [1906].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2002/NYR/2002_NYR_01104_0107_000(042337).jpg?w=1)
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KERNAHAN, Coulson (1858-1943). The Dumpling. A Detective Love Story of a Great Labour Rising. London: Cassell and Company, [1906].
8o. Two 8-page publisher's advertisments dated "7.06" bound in at end. Illustrated by Stanley L. Wood. Original pictorial cloth, lettered in white (minor chipping to white spine lettering); cloth folding case. Provenance: Herbert A. Pearson (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION. The Dumpling "is a title, apparently until now unrecognised by bibliographers, that deserves a prominent place in any collection, and is as readable today as it was in the Edwardian ear. It is worth finding for its vivid series of illustrations by Stanley L. Wood, who also designed the cover" (Eric Quayle, The Collector's Book of Detective Fiction). According to the publisher's advertisement Kernahan did a lot of dangerous personal research for this book: "The scene of the first chapter is laid in the most dangerous opium den in East London, which Mr Kernahan visited personally, quite alone, and in disguise, in order to smoke opium, so that his vivid description is drawn from actual knowledge... At great personal risk Mr Kernahan contrived to gain entrance to Anarchist Meetings, so is not ignorant of their methods. His pictures of life amongst the Submerged Tenth in East London are in each case actual personal experiences... The Dumpling is a very bomb-shell of a story."
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FIRST EDITION. The Dumpling "is a title, apparently until now unrecognised by bibliographers, that deserves a prominent place in any collection, and is as readable today as it was in the Edwardian ear. It is worth finding for its vivid series of illustrations by Stanley L. Wood, who also designed the cover" (Eric Quayle, The Collector's Book of Detective Fiction). According to the publisher's advertisement Kernahan did a lot of dangerous personal research for this book: "The scene of the first chapter is laid in the most dangerous opium den in East London, which Mr Kernahan visited personally, quite alone, and in disguise, in order to smoke opium, so that his vivid description is drawn from actual knowledge... At great personal risk Mr Kernahan contrived to gain entrance to Anarchist Meetings, so is not ignorant of their methods. His pictures of life amongst the Submerged Tenth in East London are in each case actual personal experiences... The Dumpling is a very bomb-shell of a story."