Weird & Supernatural
or, Free-Trade in Souls. A Romance of the "Golden" Age
London, H.J. Gibbs, 1850.
First edition. 8vo. Later plain cloth.
Rare. 'North's The City of the Jugglers or, Free Trade in Souls, a satire and fantasia on the stock market frenzies of Britain in the late 1840s with a side-trip to the 1848 Revolution in Hungary, is one of the most original novels of the mid-Victorian period, but it is also the most elusive book by one of the nineteenth-century's most elusive authors. Frederick Bellew's frontispiece engraving is apparently the only known portrait of the book's author' (University of South Carolina's introduction to their edition).
Weird & Supernatural
London, Longmans, 1960.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 16/-.
One of only two novels written by this all-too-often over-looked American author, more prolific as an author of short stories. Crammed full of overwhelming religious themes and dark imagery, the work is one of the best examples of the "Southern Gothic" subgenre.
Weird & Supernatural
or, Animal Hauntings and the Hereafter
London, Rider, 1913.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.
Irish author and paranormal investigator O'Donnell ponders on the zoomorphic role played by animal spirits and similar in the afterlife.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Eveleigh Nash, 1911.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth.
Irish author and paranormal investigator O'Donnell delves into various types of dreams and attempts to uncover their hidden meanings. He discusses the symbolism and oneirology of dream elements, exploring how dreams can offer insights into the subconscious mind, personal experiences, and even premonitions.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Methuen, 1914.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth gilt.
A humorous tale in which magic beans from the East give Alfred Burton an uncompromising devotion to truth and beauty.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Grant Richards, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards lettered in white. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An intriguing weird & supernatural tale, born from opiates taken by the author during a convalescence - elements include automatic writing and Christian allegory, set against an often brutally described backdrop of war... Rare.
Weird & Supernatural
London, T. Werner Laurie, [1911].
First edition. 8vo. Title printed in blue & black. Original green cloth blocked in black to upper cover and lettered in gilt to spine.
A collection of short stories by Pain, reflecting the darker side of his writing, which has resulted in a substantial legacy of supernatural, horror and weird fiction.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition (one of c. 300 copies only).
London. Henry J.Drane, 1906
Contains ten weird and supernatural short stories which includes, The Spider, The Pool, The Will of Luke Carlowe, The Wedding Guest, The Soul of Nina Ventrix, The Bulb, Purple Eyes, A Hundred Year's Dead, A Dead Man's Bargain and The Compact. The Weird O' It is considered to be of legendary rarity in the supernatural genre. Henry J. Drane produced books in very small print run editions and it is likely that there would have only been around 300 copies of this book originally. It has been suggested that there are three variants of the book known. Copies exist in red, pale green and cream cloth although priority is not known. In 2000, Midnight House of Seattle republished a hardcover edition of "The Weird o’ It," limited to 460 copies.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1925.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jackets, priced 2/6.
Cool jacket artwork on this uncommon work in the original jacket, inscribed by the author on the half-title.
Weird & Supernatural
London, The Readers Library Publishing Co.Ltd, c.1924.
First edition thus, part of the Readers Library first series. Small 8vo. Original red cloth elaborately tooled in gilt. Dust-jacket.
Always a neat edition of Poe's famous Tales, here in better condition than often found.
Weird & Supernatural
A Romance of the Soul London &c., Cassell, 1912. First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. A solid first edition copy of this occult tale by Australian author Rosa Praed, underlined eventually by the reformative qualities of Christianity.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Constable, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Uncommon first edition, with witchcraft in large part serving as a metaphor for womanhood; the main character is not magical, but has been stigmatised and shunned by her community for her illegitimate children and for practising abortion.
Weird & Supernatural
A Novel
London, Ward & Downey, 1889.
'New Edition' (second edition). 8vo. Advertisements. Original pictorial boards.
'Good Victorian realism with a wealth of data about 19th century life and mores. One of Mrs. Riddell's two or three best mainstream novels.' (Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction). The story does commence with a seemingly supernatural device, that of the titular nun's curse, but the author explores more realistic explanations for the incidents that besets those cursed.
The Nun's Curse was first published by Ward & Downey in 1888, in 3.vols. This is the first one volume edition. All early editions of this work are very scarce.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1928
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, likely a second issue as it is priced 3'6 on spine.
A tale about a fifteen year old child - Hazel Wood - who has the gift of second sight - of being able to see things taking place far away from her.
Uncommon in jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Stanley Paul, 1934.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
A compilation of amazing facts, objects and places as recorded by the then phenomenally prolific Ripley.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Jonathan Cape, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark pink cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Attractive art-deco style jacket artwork adorns this unusual tale about three people being brought back into British society after a life in the jungles and swamps of Borneo. Scarce.
Weird & Supernatural
And other Dartmoor Legends
London & Exeter, Andrew Melrose; James G. Commin, [1901].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.
An intriguing collection of atmospheric folk tales from Devon; titles include 'The Vengeance of Belus', 'The Bards of the Wood of Wistman', 'The Nymph Tamara' and 'The Pixies of Ockington Wood'.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Jarrolds, n.d..
Early edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/- at spine with further 1/- price to upper panel.
Uncommon edition of the title that introduced the character of Moris Klaw, an eccentric and insightful 'dream detective'. Klaw solves mysteries using a curious method known as 'odic thought transference', which involves him sleeping on a cushion or item related to the crime to receive impressions about the events. Nice example of relatively unknown Youngman Carter artwork.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Methuen, 1918.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth, lettered in black.
An early and uncommon Sax Rohmer first edition, set in Egypt with the inscrutable Abu-Tabah taking on the villain role from Fu Manchu. The book is notable for introducing a more explicitly weird & supernatural element.
Weird & Supernatural
London [&c.], Cassell, 1941
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A good copy of this title from the popular Fu Manchu series of books by Sax Rohmer.
Weird & Supernatural
Rowland (John, editor) Path and Pavement: Twenty New Tales of Britain.
London, Eric Gaunt, 1937
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7s 6d on front flap.
Rare anthology of short stories several of which are fantasy including:
'Ritual' by Arthur Machen in which a bunch of London boys reproduce an African native ritual resulting in the death by suggestion of one of their number.
Ghost stories by Kenneth Hare and Richard Middleton
'Smoking the Dragon' by Frederick Carter, a fantasy about a fire-breathing monster and The Third Gift', a weird horror story of a pool and its legends.
Appears to be very elusive. No copies of any kind online at time of writing.
Weird & Supernatural
and other queer stories
London, Victor Gollancz, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth, lettering to rebacked spine in yellow indicating first issue.
Scarce collection of weird tales by this prolific British writer, author of 'The Tortoiseshell Cat'.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Guilford Press, [1958].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
A collection of weird & supernatural tales by Swiss writer Sandoz, one of several books published for him by the Guilford Press in the 1950s.
Weird & Supernatural
London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket.
A remarkably scarce and obscure weird-mystery thriller by Scottish-Canadian 'Bard of the Yukon'. Unfortunately the jacket would appear to have resided on a bookshelf in the House of Fear for a tad too long due to its traumatised condition, but rare nevertheless!
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Grant Richards, 1923
A lost race novel in which a lost heiress takes over an African tribe. Very scarce in wrapper.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Richards Press, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractive first edition of this later novel by the 'original' King of Redonda, here in the decidedly uncommon, and rather appealing dust-jacket. "Matthew P. Shiel (I believe he was Irish) wrote a few novels I thought highly worth reading. At the moment I can call to mind only two titles which I've read: Children of the Wind and How the Old Woman Got Home." (Paul Bowles, author of The Sheltering Sky).
Weird & Supernatural
London & Boston, John Lane; Roberts Bros, 1895.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple decorative cloth.
One of the most well-known and collectable of Lane's important 'Keynotes' series, this being the seventh in the series, and the first of two appearances therein for the "King of Redonda" (the other being his influential work Shapes in the Fire, number XXIX). Aubrey Beardsley provided the title-page/cover designs and most if not all of the monogram key devices for the series up until vol.XXIII. Prince Zaleski was Shiel's first published work, drawing inspiration in part from the detective tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and comprising three mysteries: "The Race of Orven", "The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks", and "The S.S.", each to be solved by the eponymous Zaleski, an eccentric Russian nobleman living in exile in a derelict Welsh abbey.
Weird & Supernatural
Third edition.
London, Hutchinson, Not dated but likely to have been published in the
1920's.
Illustrations by Jean de Bosschere. Uncanny Tales was first published in the UK in 1923. An important collection of supernatural
Weird & Supernatural
London, Sampson Low, Marston, [1932].
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. 32pp. publisher's catalogue listing this title at 7/6. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, with price-sticker 3/6 indicating second issue.
An appealing copy of this scarce work to find in the jacket, even with the second issue price-sticker as here; a borderline sci-fi title, with a nautical flavour.
Inscribed on the title-page, 'A.T. Wall. With the Author's kind regards & compliments. E.F. Spanner.'
Weird & Supernatural
London, Grant & Murray, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original buff cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
One of the rarest books by Scottish journalist, poet and scholar of the occult Lewis Spence, who wrote many books on mythology, folklore and paranormal phenomena. He was also a prolific writer of fiction, especially in the genres of fantasy and horror.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Rider, [1928].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
Lewis's well known work on the secret rites and traditions of Ancient Britain, illustrated with plates.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Chatto & Windus, 1925. A collection of tales published posthumously, first in 1905. Includes The Body Snatcher, centred around the time of Burke & Hare's exploits.
Weird & Supernatural
A tale of love and adventure in Western China
London, The Sheldon Press, [c.1925].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/d.
A scarce book in the original dust-jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, William Rider, 1922.
'New Edition'. 8vo. Original blue cloth stamped in lighter blue. Dust-jacket.
Rare jacketed edition of Stoker's gripping tale of secrets and supernatural forces set against the treacherous backdrop of a coastal town, where a writer becomes entangled in a mysterious love affair and unearths a haunting truth.
Weird & Supernatural
London, William Rider, 1922.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Printed dust-jacket.
A pleasingly good, jacketed example of this work on handwriting and what it can tell us about someone's character.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Bles, 1924.
First edition. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Scarce first edition of this weird & supernatural novel by Sullivan, centred on a jade god made by one Lung Sen which exerts a powerful influence over events, both strange and mysterious. The author incorporates telepathy and the atmosphere of the Far East.