Xelucha and Others by M.P. Shiel

Upon opening this book, I had no clue what to expect as I had never read anything by M.P. Shiel, let alone even heard of him. After finishing this book, I'm a convert.
If you're like me, you may be a bit turned off by the first story (Xelucha) upon first reading. You should read on however because the remainder of the book is great reading and you'll even decide you like Xelucha if you go back and read it afterward.
Xelucha and Others was published by Arkham House in 1975. There were 4,283 copies printed. Since Shiel died in 1947, all of these stories were written much earlier than the publishing date.
The table of contents is as follows:

Introduction
Xelucha
The Primate of the Rose
Dark Lot of One Saul
The House of Sounds
The Globe of Gold-fish
Many a Tear
The Bride
The Tale of Henry and Rowena
The Bell of St. Sepulcre
Huguenin's Wife
The Pale Ape
The Case of Euphemia Raphash

The Heads of Cerberus by Francis Stevens

I actually finished this book about a week or so ago but haven't had time to write about it until now. Life sometimes gets busy...especially when I have too many hobbies.
The Heads of Cerberus by Francis Stevens (a pseudonym for Gertrude Bennett - NOT for A. Merritt as some folks once believed) first appeared in the magazine Thrill Book in 1919 and 1920. It was not published in book form until Polaris Press did so in 1952. According to Wikipedia, there were 1,563 copies printed although I haven't verified this number. Inside of the book is printed the following:

This First Edition of "The Heads of Cerberus" by Francis Stevens is Volume One of The Polaris Fantasy Library. Fifteen hundred copies have been printed and numbered, and the type has been distributed. Fourteen hundred and ninety copies are offered for sale by subscription only.

I own number 22 of the Polaris Press edition with a slipcase. The book is illustrated by Ric Binkley but the colophon on the title page was created by Hannes Bok. The introduction was written by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. I plan to reprint the introduction in the next entry because I found it interesting.
The story itself centers primarily around three main characters, Bob Drayton, Terry Trenmore, and Viola Trenmore (Terry's sister). Terry wins an auction for a vial of powder thought to be the "Dust of Purgatory" which was rumored to be harvested by Dante himself. Upon opening the vial at home, they breath in some of the dust and are whisked away to a parallel universe that is on a different time track than our own.
The parallel universe they are brought into is set in Philadelphia in 2118. However, this Philadelphia is much different than the one we know today. For one, it is a totalitarian society where everyone must wear a badge with their number on it. The only people with names are the high officials and those known as "Superlatives". These Superlatives are citizens that have won a contest and earned their title which can be anything from Loveliest to Cleverest. Every year there are contests held in which any citizen may vie for any of the Superlative titles. The loser is thrown into a pit and killed. What we find out is that (of course) the games are usually fixed so that relatives and favorites of those in power always win.
The Philadelphia of 2118 is also actually the entire state of Pennsylvania. Each state was walled off into its own territory and nobody is allowed to enter or leave their home territory. The people of Philadelphia also worship William Penn.
For the time it was written, I felt that it was a pretty original concept. The writing style was also very similar to A. Merritt...enough so that Francis Stevens was thought to be a pseudonym of his. However, this was later proved false. This was a fairly quick read and I definitely recommend it.