Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Heinemann, 1908.
First edition, inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original red cloth, stamped in black to upper cover and gilt to spine.
Inscribed on preliminary page to: 'Mrs George Burrell with Bram Stoker's (respectful) love 8/6/09'
Mrs. George Burrell is most likely the wife of the Glasgow shipping magnate, a tremendously important and influential figure in late 19th century shipping, who like many rich Victorians became something of a patron of the arts.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original pink cloth. Dust-jacket.
The story of a young composer who, under the auspices of a mysterious millionaire, looks forward to a sumptuous production of his first symphony. Nice copy.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A collection of nine short stories that explore various moral and ethical dilemmas faced by different characters in different settings and situations, from the author of The Four Feathers and Fire Over England.
Modern Literature
and other essays
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d.
A handsome first edition of this collection, in which Greene shares his love affair with reading in this collection of essays, memories, and critical considerations, both affectionate and tart.
Modern Literature
London, Secker & Warburg, 1966.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 21s.
Harrowing portrayal of a year in the life of a writer losing the motivation to continue after a recent miscarriage while her marriage comes apart. It examines the breakup of a marriage and the protagonist's subsequent struggle to rebuild her world. It was published about the time of the author's own divorce from George Figes. No copies currently for sale online.
Modern Literature
London, Ernest Benn, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
A favourite collection of short stories from the revered V.S. Pritchett.
Modern Literature
London, Piatkus, 1980.
First UK edition, first hardback edition. 8vo. Original burgundy boards. Dust-jacket, without price.
The first hardback printing of Virginia Andrews' darkly psychological, grimly compelling thriller, the first in a series which was eventually, upon the author's death, taken over by a ghost writer. The book was first published in the US in paperback. Copies often turn up without a price as in this case.
Modern Literature
London, Gollancz, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A weighty omnibus of literary delights, featuring works by Henry James, Sheridan Le Fanu, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rose Macauley and Jane Austen, to name but a few.
Modern Literature
London, Collins, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/-.
Considered the author's greatest novel, published posthumously. Centred around a County Council, the novel illustrates how public decisions can mold the individual, at the same time offering a panoramic and unforgettable view of Yorkshire life. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Modern Literature
The Turning of the Screw; Covering End
London, Heinemann, 1898.
First edition. Title printed in red & black. 8vo. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt with Beardsley-esque blind-stamped design to upper cover.
The first publication in book form of James's iconic ghost story 'The Turn of the Screw' as well as his 'Covering End'. 'The Turn of the Screw' was first published in Collier's Weekly and revised slightly for book publication, and 'Covering End' was first published in this edition.
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, Michael Joseph, 1950.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d, with publisher's original promotional wraparound.
A great example of the first edition of Lessing's first book, set in South Africa under white rule, chronicling societal disintegration.
Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d.
The first edition of the author's second book, a collection of stories set in South Africa. One of the author's defining works.
Modern Literature
London, Peter Davies, 1957.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
Essential reading for anyone with literary authorial leanings.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue/green cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
"Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come first. Follow me." A very good first edition of Muriel Spark's most famous novel.
Modern Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An attractive first edition of the author's second novel, in the wonderful Edward Bawden dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Pendulum Publications, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The semi-autobiographical first book by Frances, who would go on to great success with hardboiled US-style thrillers written under the pseudonym Hank Janson. These books were phenomenally successful in their time, opening the way for a variety of copycat British authors writing in a similar vein, but they did also court controversy when a murder supposedly inspired by one of the Hank Janson titles led to the publishers being taken to court and successfully prosecuted for obscenity (the author managed to avoid a similar fate on it seems a technicality). The publisher Pendulum was set up by Frances, with a doctor friend of his.
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
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
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
A Novel
London, Cassell, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractive first edition by this author of romantic literature set in South Africa and Rhodesia, a writing career which began in 1903 with Virginia of the Rhodesians.
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
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
Nautical adventure with a South East Asian vibe. Uncommon in the jacket.
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, Jonathan Cape, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
An attractive first edition of this the second work by Irish writer and prominent Republican activist O'Donnell to be set in Donegal, recounting the misfortunes of a Cork family who all died of starvation in 1927.
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
London, HarperCollins/Flamingo, 1997.Uncorrected proof copy. Signed by the author on title-page. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.A near fine signed proof edition of this Booker Prize winning novel, the author's first published book.
Modern Literature
London, Bodley Head, 1968.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 28s.
The first UK edition of US author Stone's first novel, winner of both the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, and a William Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel. The film was transferred to the big screen in 1970, as WUSA, starring Paul Newman.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1926.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A collection of short stories by the author of The Well of Loneliness.
Modern Literature
London, Hammond & Hammond, 1953.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original burgundy boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
The first UK edition, drawing on the author's own experiences on the US Navy. Morris would subsequently work for the CIA in anti-espionage work, before garnering more fame as the author of the first truly modern history of the Anglo-Zulu war.
Modern Literature
London, Cassell, 1926.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth.
The first edition of one of Hall's better known works, after The Well of Loneliness, about a waiter who becomes disgusted with his job and goes to live in the forest as a hermit.
Modern Literature
London, Heath Cranton, 1935.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A rare work in the jacket, let alone inscribed, on the subject of drug-taking. The author has inscribed the half-title, 'With all affection to my friend Clarice Sadler from Nellie Tom-Gallon'.
Modern Literature
London, Cape, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
An early work by Well of Loneliness author Radclyffe Hall. The work's deeply religious theme was to prove so affecting to the author that she actually claimed to have suffered from stigmata whilst writing it.
Modern Literature
London, Sampson Low, [1938].
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Attractive jacket artwork on this story of literal kidnapping.
Modern Literature
London, Robert Hale, 1942.
First edition, blind-stamped 'file copy' on front free endpaper. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
An industrial tale of the big corporates versus the humble worker, set against a backdrop of the paper-mills of southern England.
Modern Literature
London, Quality Press, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket,
Pleasing jacket artwork graces this tale of town life in the Basque country on the eve of the Spanish War.
![Alternative view of [various]. My Naughtiest Story.](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/84959_2-300x400.jpg)
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.
Modern Literature
London, Neville Spearman, 1956.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The first UK edition of Donleavy's controversial novel set in Dublin, banned both in Ireland and the United States of America for perceived obscenity. The work was first published in Paris by the Olympia Press, as part of their Traveller's Companion series, normally reserved for risque erotica, much to the chagrin of Donleavy. The author ended up in long-running legal wranglings with the publisher, finally actually taking ownership of the publishing house when it came up at auction.
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, Cassell, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very pleasing first edition of this classic Vachell title.
Modern Literature
London, Drane's, [1924].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
Compelling jacket artwork graces this compilation of short stories, mostly of an Oriental bent. An uncommon imprint.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1929.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Written as a sequel to the original Freckles (1904), written by the author's mother Gene Stratton-Porter. The book was the basis for the 1942 film of the same name.