Neat contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper, minor foxing; cloth slightly mottled at spine; jacket worn and chipped at edges, spine toned.
Plates.
£125
London, Jonathan Cape, 1936.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
One of Morton’s Beachcomber collections published under his own name rather than the pseudonym, gathering the comic whimsies, parodies, spoof news items and surreal sketches featuring his recurring characters.
In stock
Neat contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper, minor foxing; cloth slightly mottled at spine; jacket worn and chipped at edges, spine toned.
Plates.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Philip Allan, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
An uncommon first edition, written by 'Geoffrey Aylett' creator Vivian Meik, an Indian-born author. A 'Yellow Peril' classic.
Horror & Gothic
Weird & Supernatural
London, Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1928.
Early jacketed edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket.
A rare jacketed issue of this important work by Father Benson, lauded in his own day as one of the leading figures in English literature, having written the notable novel Lord of the World (1907). This collection of supernatural horror stories, originally published in various periodicals and later collected in book form, examines "that horrible sense of silence round about us, in which dreadful forces are alert and watching us."
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, [c.1934].
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
A wonderful, bright jacket on this scarce early printing by a prolific author, who wrote over 40 novels, often with a flair for unusual phrasing that would be lucky to escape the editor's blue pencil these days.
Weird & Supernatural
and other Naval Stories. As originally Told to the Marines by one of themselves.
Portsmouth, Charpentier, 1896.
True first edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth stamped in gilt.
A rare collection of nautical tales, many of a weird and supernatural bent. The collection is referenced in Bleiler's Guide to Supernatural Fiction, the main entry given to the 1899 Simpkin, Marshall edition, but noting 'There is an earlier edition of this book (Charpentier; Portsmouth, England 1896), which has not been seen.'
William Price Drury (1861-1949) was himself in the Royal Marines, as was the previous owner of this copy, General Sir Lewis Stratford Tollemache Halliday.