Modern Literature
London, Selwyn & Blount, [1930].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket.
Attractive jacket artwork on this tale of a "white girl who married a young half-breed belonging to one of the North American Indian tribes." (jacket blurb)
Modern Literature
[The Great Wall of China]
Berlin, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth.
The first edition of this uncommon posthumous work by Kafka. Max Brod, Kafka's friend and literary executor was instructed by Kafka to destroy his unpublished work. Brod ignored the request, publishing the novels and collected works between 1925 and 1935. Brod edited a collection of prose and unpublished stories as Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, including the story of the same name.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Rapp & Whiting, 1970.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced £1.40.
A very good first UK edition of this novel set in a future 1992 where psychics are common and utilised in corporate espionage while intricate technologies allow recently deceased people to be maintained in a lengthy state of hibernation.
Historical Fiction
Higgins (Jack, pseud. Harry Patterson) In the Hour Before Midnight
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
A consideration of the origins and methods of the Sicilian mafia, by the author of The Eagle Has Landed.
Non-Fiction
London, Fisher Unwin, 1908.
First edition. 8vo. Title printed in red & black. Original red cloth, lettered in gilt.
Not a biography of the Pornocratic Italian noblewoman of that name, but rather a collection of short stories based on the author's experiences as a war correspondent in the Balkans.
Detective Fiction
London, Heinemann, [1960].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark blue boards. Dust-jacket, 13s6d.
A very good first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.
Modern Literature
London, Routledge, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4s6d.
Pound's guide to reading and understanding literature, emphasising the importance of clear, concise language and the study of classic texts for learning about poetic techniques and literary greatness.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, n.d. [c.1925].
Early printing. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Great jacket artwork on this early printing of one of six titles Goodchild published under the name 'Alan Dare', originally published in 1924. The title was reissued under Goodchild's name by Newnes in 1934.
a Record of Happy Memories
London, Frederick Muller, 1939.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author, with autograph letter in original envelope tipped in. 8vo. Original blue cloth.
Inscribed and with contemporary autograph letter from the author to the prolific Welsh writer on arts, architecture and sport, Walter Shaw Sparrow, referencing the book and favourable reviews it had received.
Modern Literature
London, Collins, 1939.
First edition. Signed by the author on front endpaper. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
An attractive first edition, enhanced further by being signed by the author on the front free endpaper.
Detective Fiction
London, Heinemann, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced sticker of £1.75 over original price 13s6d.
A very good first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.
Detective Fiction
London, Heinemann, 1959.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 13s6d.
A very good first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.
Detective Fiction
London, Heinemann, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket.
An excellent first edition of this later adventure of Aboriginal Australian detective DI Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.
London, Sampson Low, 1949.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
Dave Lee was shot dead as he rode the Joyland ferris wheel. As hard-boiled private investigator Max Thursday stalked Dave's killer, he encountered … a high-powered sob sister, the sadistic king of a gambling syndicate, and a delicate, sphinx-like girl who packed a.38 revolver.
London, Sampson Low, 1949.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
When a phony count, a weird artist, and a dazzling blond beauty relentlessly dog his footsteps, hard-hitting private investigator Max Thursday knows his charming personality isn't the attraction.
Detective Fiction
London, Skeffington, n.d..
Early printing, stating '6th Thousand' on jacket spine. 8vo. Original olive cloth. Dust-jacket, with price rather dramatically excised from spine.
An early printing of the US author's first book.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Smith, Elder, 1875.
'New Edition'. 8vo. Later half calf.
Wilkie Collins's first collection of six short stories, first published in 1856. The book is a series of tales supposed to be told to poor travelling portrait-painter, William Kerby, who is forced to abandon his profession for six months in order to save his sight.
Detective Fiction
London, Chatto & Windus, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped and with price-sticker 7/6.
Twelve stories showcasing Household's literary flair above and beyond the spy/thriller genre he is normally associated with. Attractive dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Skeffington, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
"Here is a delightfully witty compound of frolic, fantasy and satire, which describes what happens when an African magician gets busy in an English village..." (jacket blurb)