Detective Fiction
Bell (Josephine, pseud. Doris Bell Collier Ball) A Well-Known Face
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of this later title by one of the co-founders of the Crime Writers' Association.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth with yellow spine label. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first of two Bunchanesque thrillers by Cannan, right down to the style of the jacket artwork. The author was well known for her detective fiction and children's stories.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original maroon cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
A very good first edition of the further adventures of Goodchild's most famous character, Inspector McLean.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
A very good copy of this Inspector McLean title by prolific author Goodchild.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
Non-stop Inspector McLean - what more could you ask for?
American Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1951.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
The US author's debut novel, and the most well regarded and critically acclaimed of his works, winner of the 1967 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel.
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, 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, 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.
American Literature
London, Cape, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
Hemingway's famous work on the art of bull-fighting, illustrated with over eighty illustrations from photographs and paintings.
War, Invasion & Spy
Kauffer (E. McKnight, jacket artist); Onions ([George] Oliver) Peace in Our Time
London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Stunning jacket artwork by one of the greatest 20th century jacket artists, E. McKnight Kauffer. Given the condition of the book compared to the jacket we have to presume this is either a marriage or a case of the book and the jacket being kept apart, with the jacket filed away safely...
Modern Literature
London, Collins and Harvill, 1960.
First English edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
The famous autobiographical reminiscences of the Sicilian nobleman Giuseppe Tomasi, Duke of Palma and Prince of Lampedusa. Memorably transferred to the big screen in an ambitious bilingual project, starring Burt Lancaster.
Detective Fiction
London, Church & Foster, [1966].
First edition. 8vo. Original pale boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
A very good first edition of this tale of Scotland Yard battling with the Mafia, and the mysterious Dr Khan...
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.
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.
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.
Children's Books
Boston, Page, 1927.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original blue cloth with inset colour illustrations. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
Smith's third book continuing the Pollyanna series created by Eleanor Porter, who died in 1920. Smith was the first Black teacher in Boston Public Schools.
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Constable, 1901.
First abridged edition, printed in double column; bound with Doyle (Arthur Conan) The Sign of Four, 1899; Maclaren (Ian) The Days of Auld Lang Syne, 1901; [Russell (William Clark, pseud. John Watson) A Strange Voyage], [c.1900]. 8vo. Together in contemporary dark cloth.
A decent sammelband of Victorian literature including the scarce abridged edition of Dracula, originally published in paperback. Stoker oversaw the abridgement himself, cutting around 15% from the original text.
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, 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'.