London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1941.

First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial orange cloth. First impression, second state dust-jacket, correctly priced 4/- and with 'found' in the first line of blurb on front inside flap, but with the text printed in brown rather than blue.

A rare forties Biggles title - the Air Ministry has allowed Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Smyth to accompany a party of volunteers to help Finland in their struggle against Soviet aggression.

London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1939.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth. Second impression dust-jacket, price-clipped.

W.E. Johns drew on the recently concluded Spanish Civil War (1936–39) as his setting, with Biggles operating against a backdrop of the conflict's final stages. It is among the more topically grounded of the pre-war Biggles titles, the Spanish war having provided Johns with a ready-made theatre of aerial intrigue.

A novel
New York & Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, 1937.

First edition, first printing. Cut signature of the author to title-page. 8vo. Original blue cloth decorated in silver. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.

Two college friends visit their former university and find a professor burnt to death in his observatory.

London, George Allen & Unwin, 1956-59.

3 vol., first editions, fifth/seventh/fifth impression respectively. Large 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jackets.

A solid set of early impressions of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece.

London, Hammond, Hammond, 1951.

First edition, first impression. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.

Author's first book, uncommon, especially thus warmly inscribed.

London, W. Collins Sons, 1928.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.

A Poirot mystery centred on the murder of an American heiress aboard the luxury Blue Train travelling through France. The plot involves stolen jewels, mistaken identities, and romantic entanglements.

A Tale of Alderley
London, Collins, 1960.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

Garner's debut novel, and one of the most important British children's fantasy novels of the 20th century. It marked a decisive move away from the pastoral, whimsical tradition of children's fantasy toward something darker, more rooted in specific landscape and local mythology.

London, Ward, Lock, 1907.

'New Edition'. 8vo. Original gilt-decorated cloth. Dust-jacket.

One of many post-Beeton revised and expanded editions issued by Ward, Lock after they acquired the copyright. Isabella Beeton (1836–1865) died aged 28; the book that bears her name had already gone through numerous transformations by this date.

Foreword by Daniel Halévy. Introduction by Edward Crankshaw. Translated from the French by Gerard Hopkins
London, Chatto & Windus, 1951.

First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.

Czapski's account of the years following his release from Soviet captivity, during which he was tasked with investigating the disappearance of thousands of missing Polish officers - ultimately murdered by Stalin's NKVD at Katyn.

London, Jonathan Cape, 1975.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.

Amis's second novel, more controversial and less immediately celebrated than his debut. It was reissued in 1984 under the title Dark Secrets.

London, Jonathan Cape, 1973.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

Amis's debut novel, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1974.

London, John Lehmann, 1950.

First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.

Set during the Dunkirk evacuation, the novel follows Sergeant Julien Maillat and a small group of French soldiers stranded on the beach, unable to be evacuated with the British forces. It won the 1949 Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary prize.