The Key of the Chest
First Edition:
THE KEY | OF THE CHEST | by | NEIL M. GUNN | [space] | FABER AND FABER | 24 Russell Square | London
Collation:
[A] (16), B - G (16), H (2), H* (14), R (4), 132 leaves.
p. [1] THE KEY | OF THE CHEST; p. [2] By the same author; p. [3] Title page; p. [4] FOR | PETER AND ENA | [space] | [ital] Publisher's and Printer's notices: First published in MCMXLV : Statement re economy standards; pp. 5 - 262 Text; pp. [263] - [264] blank.
5" x 7 1/2". Bound in blue cloth, spine stamped in gold:
[three horizontal lines] | THE | KEY | OF | THE | CHEST | [three horizontal lines] | NEIL | M. | GUNN | [three horizontal lines] | [space] | F & F
Other Editions:
G.W. Stewart | New York | 1946
Cedric Chivers (at the request of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association) | Bath | 1966
Souvenir Press | London | 1986
Canongate | Edinburgh | 2001
Notes:
The copyright has been transferred to Cedric Chivers Ltd.
The novel bears the imprint 1945 but, according to Faber and Faber, was not published until the 26th. January 1946.
The novel is based largely on the short story "The Dead Seaman" which appeared in the Scots Magazine in July 1931.
A mystery of a dead seaman who is suspected of having been murdered by a local shepherd who lives physically and metaphorically outside the village.