Bertram Mitford's The Sign of the Spider (Paperback)

by Bertram Mitford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Boy meets girl. Boy leaves girl. Boy meets another girl. Boy meets big freaking spider-creature.

The Sign of the Spider is a classic British adventure novel, first published in 1896. Bertram Mitford takes the genre of imperialistic adventure stories and turns it on its head, creating an anti-hero as protagonist and weaving throughout the story a deliberate look at racial attitudes and cultural differences within colonial-period Africa. Mitford manages to spin a tale that is compelling in plot and characterization.

This novel is also a classic in cryptozoological fiction. The arachnid-beast that provides the climax struggle is arguably one of the most fascinating creatures to appear in an adventure novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Coachwhip Publications (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930585284
• ISBN-13: 978-1930585287
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,952,664 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Middlin' yarn, July 8, 2009

By	Steve Missal (Scottsdale, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews

The Sign of the Spider is really two books: a wordy late Victorian romance novel, which bloats the early part, and a fun adventure cryptozoology yarn in the latter part. The 'hero', really an anti-hero, doesn't really make us yearn to follow his activities, as much as we want, rather desperately after a while, someone more Indiana Jones-like that we can root for. All in all, the style and padding make this only a modest read. Too bad too.