Modern Literature
Portrait of an Immigrant
London, Cape, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A marvellously written fictionalised account of the author's wife's family's story of migration from Russia to East London, by the author of Jew Boy.
Modern Literature
London, Chapman & Hall, 1927
First edition, second impression. Large 8vo. Tipped-in slip. Plates. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Inscribed by the author E.H. Bostock, most famous for the Glasgow Zoo and Circus on New City Road, as well as cinema and variety house interests in Paisley, Hamilton and Wishaw; he opened a cinema in the Zoo and Circus. His animals were internationally famous and appeared in such films as The Rajah's Sacrifice (1916).
The foreword notes: "Mr. Bostock has been called the Barnum of Britain. Judged by the magnitude and multitude of his enterprises, he may well claim the title, for he has been a pioneer of modern entertainment as well as a practitioner of older forms."
Modern Literature
London, Lehmann, 1949.
First edition. 8vo. Original grey cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
First edition of Bowles' famous novel, following an American couple, Port and Kit Moresby, as they traverse the North African desert, confronting existential despair and the void of human existence. Published in 1949, the novel is pivotal for its bleak portrayal of post-war disillusionment and its exploration of alienation, themes that resonated deeply in mid-20th-century literature.
Modern Literature
London, Faber, 1935.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
A very good first UK edition of this early novel by one of the 'Lost Generation' writers, a semi-autobiographical künstlerroman set around an artists' commune on the outskirts Paris. Boyle was a prolific writer and poet, and a successful journalist until falling prey to the McCarthy witch hunts.
Modern Literature
London, Rich & Cowan, 1935.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of journalist & writer Breuer's first novel, the basis for the Cary Grant and Carole Lombard film In Name Only (1939). Uncommon in the jacket.
Modern Literature
Translated... by Felix W. Crosse.
London, Alfred A. Knopf, 1928.
First edition in English. 8vo. Original green cloth with white title label to spine. Dust-jacket.
The first English language edition of Brod's first major novel. The translation of the title has been criticised by many, as the eponymous protagonist does not achieve redemption on his path to God. Uncommon.
Modern Literature
London, Cassell, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractively jacketed edition of this work by US writer Katharine Brush, one of the most popular authors of her time, as well as one of most well-paid. 'Red headed woman! She went to New York; men looked at her, and say "Boy!"' (jacket). The book was adapted for the silver screen the same year, starring Jean Harlow as a woman who uses sex to advance her social position.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1958.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The second novel in Burgess's Malayan trilogy, set in Dahaga (Malayan for 'thirsty) and following the rise & fall of British expat Victor Crabbe, a microcosm of the waning influence of the British Empire.
Modern Literature
Burke (Thomas); Nevinson (C.R.W., jacket artist) Limehouse Nights
London, Grant Richards, 1917.
Fourth printing. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Later issue dust-jacket (c.1921), price-clipped.
An early printing of Burke's famous tales of London's then Chinatown at the early part of the 20th century, in a slightly later but scarce dust-jacket. The work garnered both opprobrium and praise upon its publication in 1916, with some feeling it painted a morally damaging picture of Chinese immigrants cohabiting with white women, in part worsened by the developing trend for so-called "Yellow Peril" fiction by mostly US authors. Jacket artwork by the artist C.R.W. Nevinson, who became famous as a war artist.
Modern Literature
A political thriller
London, Constable & Co Ltd, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Attractive jacket artwork graces this self-styled 'political thriller' set mainly in a north-country mining town.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1925].
First UK edition, first printing. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7'6.
An excellent first UK edition of this collection of nine stories by American writer Struthers Burt, author of the non-fiction, intriguingly entitled account The Diary of a Dude Wrangler (1924). Burt's papers are housed at Princeton University.
Modern Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1964 [1963].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 21s.
Byatt's first novel, an examination of the relationship between a girl and her father. Uncommon.
Modern Literature
Calvert (E. Roy) Capital Punishment in the Twentieth Century.
With a Preface by The Right Honourable Lord Buckminster
London & New York, G.P. Putnam, 1927.
First edition, signed by the author. 8vo. Original green cloth, lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
A rallying cry by this Quaker writer against capital punishment, outlaying the failures of the death sentence as a deterrent. Suitable jacket artwork by renowned British artist Frank Brangwyn.
Modern Literature
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1948.
First English edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d.
First English edition of Camus' account of the Algerian town of Oran overtaken by a deadly epidemic, forcing its inhabitants to confront existential despair and the absurdity of human suffering. The story explores themes of isolation, morality, and the human condition.
Modern Literature
London, Secker & Warburg, 1958.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
The first novel by Guyanese author Jan Carew, a tale of tropical adventure, considered a key work in West Indian literature.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket.
The third and final part of Sally Carson's trilogy, following Crooked Cross and The Prisoner, detailing the effects on a young British diplomat of his contact with the Bavarian Kluger family and Nazism.
![Inez Castello, Man-Eater, first UK edition, [1934]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/85547-300x300.jpg)
Modern Literature
London, Arthur Gray, [1934].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
Striking jacket artwork on this seemingly uncommon title.
Modern Literature
London, Longmans, Green,, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. 4pp. advertisements. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 6/-.
A very good example of this early jacketed work set in Dartmoor, Devon. The adverts at the back are all related to West Country tales, including My Lady of the Moor by John Oxenham, which features none other than Beatrice Chase as the heroine.
Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1938.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Psychological novel transferred to the big screen in 1947, starring Robert Taylor.
Modern Literature
London, Andre Deutsch, 1964.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
The Nigerian author Clark's travelogue, covering his time in America. Clark's evisceration of much of American culture generated sizable controversy at the time but has since become a key work of Nigerian literature, often featuring in discussions about African perspectives on the United States. The book was also republished in 1968 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good copy of this first edition by the author more well-known for public school stories for boys.
Modern Literature
London, Heath Cranton, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth, blocked in black. Dust-jacket.
Striking jacket artwork and a uncommon first edition, a collection of stories inspired by the sea.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1916.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
A rare dust-jacket, and uncommon book.
"Cobb wrote humorous stories set in Kentucky, and he is considered part of the American literary regionalism school. These stories were first collected in the book Old Judge Priest (1915), whose title character was based on a prominent West Kentucky judge named William Pitman Bishop. Joel Chandler Harris wrote of these tales, 'Cobb created a South peopled with honorable citizens, charming eccentrics, and loyal, subservient blacks, but at their best the Judge Priest stories are dramatic and compelling, using a wealth of precisely rendered detail to evoke a powerful mood.'" (Wikipedia)
Modern Literature
First edition.
London, Peter Davies, 1930.
The author’s first novel, the bizarre, satirical humour of which shocked many. Listed in Bleiler.
Modern Literature
A Novel
London, Bentley, 1872.
First edition. 3 vols, 8vo. Original brown cloth ruled & lettered in black.
An uncommonly good first edition of this three-decker by the author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone. Classic Collins, "blind love", silver-compound poisoning and a woman in peril.
Modern Literature
London, Skeffington, [1920].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
Attractive first edition of this work by prodigious Irish author, who specialised in romantic novels set within the Irish sporting gentry.
Modern Literature
London, Mills & Boon, 1925
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket correctly priced at 7/6 on spine.
Short stories some of them set in Ireland. Thirteen tales six featuring her recurring character Sandy Acland.
Dorothea Conyers was a prolific Irish novelist. Her books are romantic novels set among the Irish sporting gentry. Her output numbered some 40 titles.
A very difficult title to obtain in a wrapper
Modern Literature
Coon (Carleton S.) Measuring Ethiopia and Flight into Arabia
Boston, Little, Brown, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original light brown cloth stamped in blue. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.
Fabulous jacket artwork on this book, recounting the author's experiences during an anthropological expedition to Ethiopia and Arabia, 1933-1934. The author's career suffered something of a nose-dive when he got caught up in complicated arguments about racial history subsequently.
Modern Literature
London, Collins, [1930].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A nice first edition of this romantic adventure in the fur country.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Actor, theatrical manager and playwright Robert Courtneidge's sole venture into fiction writing.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London, Putnam, 1936
A very elusive political satire in which a Scottish shirt maker - Andrew McAndrew - corners the market for political shirts. In the novel the author satirises the symbolic power of the shirt with garments whose actual colour imbue the wearer with a political attitude. What’s not to like about a novel that pokes fun at Oswald Mosley’s Fascist Blackshirt movement.
Modern Literature
London, Quality Press, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Nautically themed tales of an oft humorous bent, and of some criminous interest too apparently, as listed in Hubin.
Modern Literature
London, John Murray, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
One of two novels by Heseltine written under the pen-name 'Jane Dashwood'. '...the study of the events of twenty-four hours in the life of an English family, is beautiful and moving, written with a delicate precision and an insight into human nature that are remarkable.' (jacket).
Modern Literature
A Modern Allegory
London, A.B. Campbell, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
'Every Irishman, whatever his political opinions, will enjoy the unique solution of the age-old Irish Problem which provides a gentle satire on present-day world conditions.' (jacket blurb).
Modern Literature
London, Harold Shaylor, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The Welsh author's second novel, focussed on the monotony of life in a Welsh mining community. Attractive jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Williams & Norgate Ltd, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced at 7/6.
An autobiographical insight into the public school traditions and ambitions from the author's youth, including a comparison with the less constricting approaches of similar schools at the time of publication.