Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original terracotta cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Attractive Dorothea Braby artwork on this first UK edition of Capek, originally published in Czech in 1928-29.
Detective Fiction
London, Faber & Faber, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
22 murder stories that only appeared in periodical form before.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 2018.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket.
The Irish author's celebrated second novel, adapted for the television by the BBC.
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.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Faber & Faber, 1959.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The first UK edition of US author Blish's Hugo Prize winning Sci-Fi classic, notable for being one of the first in this genre to try and involve religious theory.
Children's Books
London, Faber & Faber, 1939.
First edition, first impression. Large 8vo. Original yellow pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
The first edition of Eliot's famous whimsical poems featuring feline protagonists - famously of course the inspiration and source for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats. Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s, and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren. The illustrations in this edition were by the author himself, with subsequent editions illustrated by such luminaries as Nicolas Bentley, Edward Gorey and, most recently, Axel Scheffler of Gruffalo fame.
Detective Fiction
Hull (Richard, pseud. Richard Henry Sampson) The Murderers of Monty
London, Faber & Faber, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A hoax "death by committee" goes fatally wrong, inevitably perhaps... A rare Faber publication, in rather nice period jacket, here price-clipped but priced accordingly.
Detective Fiction
London, Faber & Faber, 1962.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
A great first edition of James's debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that introduced readers to Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard, immediately ranked the author amongst the best crime writers.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
The second collection of poetry by Irish poet MacNeice, with the correct blurb to the jacket's front inside panel: 'Mr. MacNeice's position as a poet was incontestably established in 1935 by his first volume of Poems. He is one of the few poets to-day none of whose poems could have been written by anyone else. His second volume has been awaited for some time: now that it has arrived, it needs no advertisement.'
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1959.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in white to spine. Dust-jacket.
An autobiographical recounting of the author's first-hand experiences of apartheid in South Africa.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, silver, priced 7/6.
Set in India and Burma on the eve of WWII, this novel is less an adventure story and more a character-focused study echoing Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It tackles themes of mortality, cultural clash, and supernatural elements. While featuring moments of action, its real strength lies in its emotional and thematic depth, earning it a place alongside works by Kipling, E.M. Forster and Paul Scott.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1954.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12s.6d
The tale of a small boy who wanders into the heart of a fantastical African forest, the dwelling place of innumerable wild, grotesque and terrifying beings. A key work of modern African literature, a companion-piece to Tutuola's first book The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952).
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1955.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth, spine gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6.
A departure from the Nigerian author's previously preferred first person narrative, Tutuola's Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle was his third book, an imaginative tale with a theme of slavery that runs through it. The main gift inscription here is interesting, written by one 'David', asking "Does this represent the beginning of a West African literature?".
Modern Literature
and his dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town
London, Faber & Faber, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
"This astonishing story…was written in English by a West African, and is in part the product of African folk-lore, stimulated by European inventions." (jacket).
A very good copy of this debut novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola, the first African novel published in English outside of Africa, praised by Dylan Thomas as "brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching". Tutuola's works, often drawing upon Yoruba traditions & folklore, were well received in the UK & US (far more than they were originally in his home country), drawing international acclaim and helping open up African writing to a wider audience.
Given the recent prices achieved by this and other similar works by African authors at auction it seems probable that we are experiencing something of a, possibly overdue, reappraisal & resurgence of interest in these writers.
The jacket is designed by the well-known artist & illustrator Barnett Freedman.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Second issue dust-jacket.
An unusually good example of the second issue jacket on this collection of essays by Wodehouse, a variant typographic version distinct from the Rex Whistler first issue.