Modern Literature
Translated from the German by Willa and Edwin Muir
London, Martin Secker, 1930.
First edition in English. 8vo.. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
This stands as the first English translation of any of Kafka's works, appearing some seven years before English editions of either The Trial or The Metamorphosis, which makes it considerably the rarer book.
The Castle was first published in German in 1926. It is the longest and last of Franz Kafka's novels (1883-1924), begun in the final two years of his life and left unfinished at his death. The novel works a quiet transformation on the medieval grail narrative, substituting the quest for the grail with its protagonist's dreamlike struggle against a remote and impenetrable bureaucracy - the kind Kafka had encountered at first hand in the unsettled years following the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy. What Kafka intended the novel to mean has never been satisfactorily resolved; this first English edition inclines toward the text's religious symbolism, with the repeated and frustrated attempts to reach the castle read by some critics as an allegory of the search for salvation, rather than emphasising the partially autobiographical strand that led Kafka to begin the book in the first person.
The translation is made from the first German edition, incorporating the posthumous revisions of Kafka's friend and literary executor Max Brod, who prepared the manuscript for publication.
The book was banned in Germany between 1933 and 1945 under the National Socialist regime.
Modern Literature
and The Extraction of Confession
London, Hurst & Blackett, 1951.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A descriptive study of the Russian purges of 1936–39 drawn from numerous personal experiences by a Soviet historian and a German scientist writing under pseudonyms, outlining the anatomy of the purge process including methods of selecting victims, securing denunciations, fabricating charges, and extracting confessions. The authors were Fritz Houtermans, a German physicist who had fled to the USSR and been imprisoned by the NKVD, and Konstantin Shteppa, a Kiev University historian who had been Houtermans's cellmate; they used pseudonyms to protect their friends and colleagues still in the USSR.
"Horne worked as a foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph from 1952 to 1955, stationed in Berlin. In 1953, he was recruited by MI6 and used his job as a journalist as a cover for his spying. He left the world of espionage for history when he was sacked from the Telegraph in 1955, allegedly for offending the wife of the chairman of the newspaper". (Wikipedia)
New York, George H. Doran, 1927.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced $2.
Concordia Merrel (1885–1962) was a British stage and silent film actress, photographer's model, and prolific author of romantic fiction.
Modern Literature
London, Ward, Lock, 1936.
First edition, first impression. Signed & dated by the author on title-page. 8vo. Original cloth.
An early work by the Poldark author, signed and dated 1939.
Modern Literature
A Comedy in Three Acts
London, Chatto & Windus, 1926.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original stiff card printed wrappers.
Awarded the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this comedy was the basis for Frank Loesser's acclaimed Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella (1957). Howard also wrote the screenplay for Gone with the Wind (1939).
Modern Literature
A play in three acts
London, Heinemann, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards, printed spine label. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Set in pre-First World War Europe, the play tells the story of two brothers who are composers, sharing a flat and in love with two women; the original West End run starred Elisabeth Bergner, for whom the play was written.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, [1939].
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Maugham's most political novel, written just before the outbreak of World War II. In 1944 it was adapted into an American film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly, often classified as a film noir.
Modern Literature
London, Hogarth Press, 1950.
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6 and stating 'second impression'.
An attractive second impression of this work by Guyanese author Mittelhölzer, particularly notable in the context of Caribbean literature. The author sadly killed himself in 1965, at the age of 55. An important book.
Modern Literature
London, Sampson Low, Marston, [1931].
First edition, early impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Book and wrapper are both early issues based on titles listed on half-title. A story of the films and of the stunt girl whose life is full of thrilling adventures, told in Mr. Starr's entertaining manner.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1989.
First edition, first impression. Signed by the author on title-page. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
The story of an English butler who reflects on his years of service and a past relationship with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. The novel was awarded the Booker Prize in 1989 and was adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 1993, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
Modern Literature
London, Secker & Warburg, 1973.
First edition, first impression. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
The author's second satirical novel, warmly inscribed by him to Peter Giddy, referencing the latter's "Dornford Yates club".
Modern Literature
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.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1944.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
A quiet, understated wartime love story set on an RAF bomber station in England.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1959.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
An uncommon first edition, notably striking for its Ardizzone jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Longmans, Green, 1958.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
A mystery novel set in Kenya during the Mau Mau period, in which a young woman becomes entangled in murder. The novel was published under the pseudonym Mollie Hamilton in the US.
Modern Literature
London, Duckworth, 1931.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Contemporary half calf on marbled boards.
A novel of dissipated young London life in the early 1930s - parties, meaningless relationships, and a backdrop of social futility, seen through the eyes of Atwater, a minor museum official.
Modern Literature
London, Longmans, 1960.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 13/6.
Inspired by a visit to the Andamans in the 1930s, when Kaye's friend's father was posted there as Chief Commissioner. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the book didn't get published until 1960.
Modern Literature
London, Sampson Low, Marston, [1945].
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
A gentle, character-driven novel of English provincial life in wartime, in the tradition of E.M. Delafield and E.H. Young.
Modern Literature
and other stories
London, Arthur Bonde, [1947].
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A short story collection by Nigel Morland (born Carl Van Biene) was a British author of many detective and other novels. He also worked as a personal assistant to Edgar Wallace and was a co-founder of the Crime Writers' Association.
Modern Literature
London, Gollancz, 1987.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
The author's first novel, based on his experiences as an English teacher in Tokyo.
Modern Literature
London, Jonathan Cape, 1969.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Gysin was a painter and composer who collaborated with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs on many occasions. The Process was his first full-length novel.
Modern Literature
London, Phoenix House, 1950.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A novel about a man who has returned to the coal seams of Durham after a period spent away seeking education. The novel provided the inspiration for Alan Plater and Alex Glasgow's musical Close the Coalhouse Door.
Modern Literature
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1961.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
The first edition of Chaplin's most famous work, considered a classic of 'working class existentialism', set in Newcastle upon Tyne at the very beginning of the 1960s.
Modern Literature
London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
A pivotal work in Simenon's development as a serious novelist, distinct from the Maigret series. Somewhat scarce in the Routledge UK first.
Modern Literature
London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1949.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
One of Simenon's romans durs (hard novels) rather than the Maigret detective series. The non-Maigret psychological fiction, often first published in English by Routledge & Kegan Paul, was widely regarded by critics as his most serious literary work.
Modern Literature
A Romance
London, Cranley & Day, 1933.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
A tale of social realism set against the backdrop of a university town, published by a relatively obscure imprint. Uncommon.
Modern Literature
Eastgate, Mackays, 1931.
First edition, first impression. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A sequel to Dickens' unfinished work The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Inscribed by the author to the publicity manager for The Rochester Pageant.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, 1916.
First edition. 8vo. Original mauve cloth.
Rare. A novel completed by Frankau on her deathbed, about a female author on her deathbed who is inspired to write about the death of a female author.
Modern Literature
Translated by Norman Cameron...and the original French text...
London, John Lehmann, 1949.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
Rimbaud's semi-autobiographical prose poem sequence, written at the age of 18-19 following the breakdown of his relationship with Verlaine. It constitutes a spiritual and artistic reckoning, a hallucinatory confession, rejection of his own poetic ambitions and farewell to literature. The Keith Vaughan lithographs provide the perfect accompaniment to the sequence, defining this edition as a significant illustrated book
Image of Britain 2
Austin, The University of Texas, Winter 1960 - Autumn 1961.
2 vols. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
The first issue inscribed by the editor on the title-page; the second with inscribed post-it note from the same, both inscribed to 'Kathleen', the British novelist Kathleen Farrell, who contributed to the periodical, including the piece 'Colour on my mouth'. Farrell's papers are held by the University of Texas, Austin, and include drafts and notes for several unpublished novels and stories. Other contributors include Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.
Modern Literature
London, The Highway Press, 1929.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A vivid portrayal of life in Kikuyu land in the 1920s, noted as scarce early settler fiction.
Modern Literature
Translated from the Italian by William Weaver
London, Jonathan Cape, 1968.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
The first English language edition of this work by neorealist author Pasolini, building on the success of his 1955 work Ragazzi di Vita. The novel chronicles the life of Tommaso, a street youth equally comfortable running with Fascists, Communists or plain thieves in the slum suburbs of Rome, who undergoes a transformation after imprisonment.
A play in three acts
London, Jonathan Cape, 1945.
First edition, first impression. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A three-act play treating the last days of Lord Byron; the author's radio version of the same material was produced under the title Death of a Poet.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, [1941].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
Winifred Graham was an English novelist and anti-Mormon activist, born Matilda Winifred Muriel Graham on April 21, 1873, in London. She authored 88 books during her lifetime, encompassing romantic novels, thrillers, and critical works on various subjects.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, [1923].
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.
One of several titles written by this husband & wife team, the former an Irish author of considerable literary output, the latter a renowned antiquarian (and swordsman).
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1925.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A tale of Californian fortunes made through mining and lost through high living. Attractive jacket artwork.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, 1937.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original buckram with leather spine label. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
'Written partly as a diary and partly in novel form Thoruna tells the amusing and piquant story of Sir Reginald H - who was ordered by his doctor to take a holiday and decided to go on a trip to Sweden. By accident he met Thoruna, a bright young thing whose trustee he was and, much to his embarrassment, she decided to accompany him.' (jacket blurb)
Modern Literature
London, Jonathan Cape, 1976.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced £3.50.
Jeffrey Archer's first novel and the book that launched his career as a bestselling author. Its commercial success established the formula, slick plotting and high-stakes finance, that would dominate his later fiction.
Modern Literature
Minton (John, artist).- Garnier (Christine) White People Smile at Me
London, Putnam, [1952].
Colour proof for the original dust-jacket, with 1 (of 4) loose sheets representing the 4-stage colour process (yellow, pink, green & black) used to create the design.
An attractive jacket design by the highly collectable British artist John Minton, for Garnier's novel about French West Africa.
Modern Literature
London, Collins, [1932].
First edition, first impression. Signed by the author on title-page. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Uncommon, especially signed.
Modern Literature
The Education of Anthony Dare; Anthony Dare's Progress
London, Collins, 1923-25.
3 vols. First editions, first impressions. 8vo. Original blue cloth blocked in orange. Dust-jackets, priced 7/6.
A nice group of these novels, by an author whose work was popular in his lifetime and appreciated for its realism.
Modern Literature
London, Collins, 1933.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
More in the vein of the author's most famous work, The Blue Lagoon (1908).