Children of the Night

London: Jonathan Cape, 1966.

First Edition. Navy blue hardback with silver lettering to the spine, extremely sharp and bright. With the equally sharp dust-jacket, not price-clipped, just some mild toning to the back panel and a couple of nudges to points of corners. Without old inscriptions, etc. A fine copy. John Blackburn (1923-93) was born in the Northamptonshire village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. He attended Haileybury College but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, in particular that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. 'Children of the Night' is set around the remote Yorkshire village of Dunstonholme where a series of violent and puzzling deaths seem to be the work of some malignant extrasensory force. "John Blackburn is today's master of horror, and this latest novel, about a village gripped by the culmination of ancient vileness, induces proper shivers" - Times Literary Supplement