Small (Austin J., aka ‘Seamark’) The Man They Couldn’t Arrest
£95
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1927].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Early issue dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A fast-paced thriller concerning Valman Dain, an inventor whose devices include a mechanism for eavesdropping on conversations through the telephone network. Austin James Small (1894–1929) went to sea as a boy, boxed as a Royal Navy heavyweight champion during the First World War, and was encouraged to write by Jack London, adopting the pen name “Seamark” to satisfy Admiralty regulations.
In stock
Some foxing, ink name to front free endpaper; cloth slightly darkened and mottled at spine; jacket with some chipping and creasing around spine, but otherwise an attractive example.
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