Boards slightly softened at head of spine; jacket price-clipped, some chips and small closed tears with some loss to head of spine and a few other places.
Provenance: Alan Gauld (ink name), parapsychologist, psychologist and spiritualist writer.
£295
A Survey of Evidence
London, Faber & Faber, 1939.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Sir Ernest Bennett (1868–1947) was a British Liberal MP and psychical researcher who compiled this survey of reported apparitions and hauntings as an evidential study.
In stock
Boards slightly softened at head of spine; jacket price-clipped, some chips and small closed tears with some loss to head of spine and a few other places.
Provenance: Alan Gauld (ink name), parapsychologist, psychologist and spiritualist writer.
London, Faber & Faber, 1940.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
Being a compilation of his allocutions, messages, broadcasts, addresses, and encyclicals since his accession to the Holy See, together with a biography and current precis by Charles Rankin of all his efforts for peace since 1917 when he handed to the Kaiser the peace plan of Pope Benedict XV.
Modern Literature
and his dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town
London, Faber & Faber, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
"This astonishing story…was written in English by a West African, and is in part the product of African folk-lore, stimulated by European inventions." (jacket).
A very good copy of this debut novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola, the first African novel published in English outside of Africa, praised by Dylan Thomas as "brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching". Tutuola's works, often drawing upon Yoruba traditions & folklore, were well received in the UK & US (far more than they were originally in his home country), drawing international acclaim and helping open up African writing to a wider audience.
Given the recent prices achieved by this and other similar works by African authors at auction it seems probable that we are experiencing something of a, possibly overdue, reappraisal & resurgence of interest in these writers.
The jacket is designed by the well-known artist & illustrator Barnett Freedman.
Modern Literature
An anthology of stories chosen by their own authors
London, Faber & Faber, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Contributors include Martin Armstrong, A.E. Coppard, Louis Golding, James Laver, H. de V. Stacpoole and Alec Waugh.
Detective Fiction
London, Faber & Faber, 1994.
First edition. Signed presentation inscription from the author pasted to front pastedown. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
James has inscribed another example of the jacket, which the dedicatee has cut-down and pasted onto the front pastedown; the previous owner has also written a note explaining the process and pasted in a small description of the crime writing course she attended, where she obtained the author's inscription.
A murder mystery set in a London publishing house, investigated by Commander Adam Dalgliesh. The novel explores themes of betrayal, legacy, and moral ambiguity, with James's hallmark psychological depth.
Food & Drink
London, Faber & Faber, 1935.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2s6d.
Heath was cookery correspondent of The Queen from 1938-64 and wrote over seventy books between 1932 and 1968. His first book was Good Food (1932).