we buy modern first editions

If you have modern first editions that you would like evaluated with a mind to sell, do please contact us! We are happy to advise on any 18th, 19th & 20th century books you own, especially but not exclusively those that fall within the genre fiction categories of Detective Fiction, Weird & Supernatural Fiction, Horror & Gothic Fiction and Science Fiction & Fantasy.

books to sell?

We are always looking to buy first or other significant editions of English & American Literature, particularly titles from the Weird & Supernatural, Horror & Gothic, Science Fiction & Fantasy and Detective Fiction genres.

New Arrivals

£75



New York, Doubleday, 1951.

Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.

£350



London, George Allen & Unwin, 1965.

First edition, fourteenth impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped to inside front flap.

An excellent 1960s printing of the first volume in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

£60



London, Collins Crime Club, 1947.

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

War, Invasion & Spy

Airth (Rennie) Once a Spy

£50



London, Jonathan Cape, 1981.

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

£50



London, Readers Library, n.d..

Readers Library edition. Small 8vo. Original cloth gilt. Dust-jacket.

£125



London, Michael Joseph, 1960.

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

Weird & Supernatural

Machen (Arthur) Ritual

£175


and other stories. Introduction, by R.B. Russell
East Sussex, Tartarus Press, 1992.

First edition. One of 300 copies. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.

An attractive edition comprising thirty-two tales by Machen.

'It is the achievement of Ritual that it allows us to give our attention to a host of previously inaccessible Machen writings, to savour anew the flavour of a prose we may have thought we knew too well; I cannot think that any Machen enthusiast, or savant of the fantastic in literature, will wish to be without it.' (Mark Valentine, Avallaunius)

£30



New York, Avalon, 1960.

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

£150


Edited by R.A. Gilbert
London, Tartarus Press/Ferret Fantasy, 2003.

First edition. One of 350 copies. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.

£125



New York, Henry Holt, 1941.

First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.

£125



London, The Science Fiction Book Club, 1953.

8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.

£50



New York, Scribner's, 1904.

First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.

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featured author

Agatha Christie first edition

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie first editions make for an excellent area of rare book collecting. The Queen of Crime’s long career as an author of high quality crime fiction ensures there are various levels of value, which means collectors of her first editions can start with the later, generally more affordable first editions of her crime fiction titles, and build their way toward the more expensive first editions from the 1920s & 1930s.

Many of Dame Agatha’s first editions feature excellent dust-jacket artwork. The American first editions of Agatha Christie are often clad in truly lovely dust-jackets, very different in style to their UK counterparts, and can also provide a more affordable option for collectors than the UK first editions.

Some collectors like to focus on one of her famous serial characters, including Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot of course. Whatever your poison, you should be able to start building a collection relatively quickly.

Agatha Christie also wrote under a pseudonym, ‘Mary Westmacott’, and these titles are also not easy to find in first edition, especially in the dust-jackets

Agatha Christie @ Lycanthia Rare Books

£150



London, Collins Crime Club, 1967.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.

Taking its title from William Blake's Auguries of Innocence, this later title ranked amongst the author's favourites of her own works.

Detective Fiction

Christie (Agatha) N or M?

£40



London, Collins Crime Club, 1950s.

8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.

£50



London, Collins Crime Club, 1950s.

8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 1/6.

£250



London, Collins Crime Club, 1937.

First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original orange cloth.

A solid first edition of this classic Hercule Poirot title, a difficult book to find in good order.

£325



London, Collins Crime Club, 1952.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

A decent first UK edition of this famous village 'whodunit', playfully placing Poirot in the scene rather than Miss Marple.

£450


and other stories
London, Collins Crime Club, 1936.

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

The first Christie short-story collection published by the Crime Club; important as it showcases her interest in psychological and speculative motifs outside the conventional puzzle-plot.

£50



London, Collins, 1973.

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

£20



London, Pan Books, 1960.

First Pan paperback edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.

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