The Ship Of Ishtar (Memorial Edition)

Abraham Grace Merritt (January 20,
1884-August 21, 1943) - known by his byline, A. Merritt - was an
American editor and author of works of fantastic fiction. Merritt's
writings were heavily influenced by H. Rider Haggard and Gertrude
Barrows Bennett (writing as Francis Stevens), with Merritt having
"emulated Bennett's earlier style and themes." Merritt's stories
typically revolve around conventional pulp magazine themes: lost
civilizations, hideous monsters, etc. His heroes are gallant Irishmen or
Scandinavians, his villains treacherous Germans or Russians (in
accordance with the politics of the time) and his heroines often
virginal, mysterious and scantily clad. What sets Merritt apart from the
typical pulp author, however, is his lush, florid prose style and his
exhaustive, at times exhausting, penchant for adjective-laden detail.
Merritt's fondness for micro-description nicely complements the
pointillistic style of Bok's illustrations, and often serves to
highlight and radicalize the inherent fetishistic tendencies of pulp Sci
Fi.