Non-Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1936.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original mustard yellow cloth. Dust-jacket.
Memoirs of service in the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, offering first-hand military adventures and survival in North Africa.
Detective Fiction
London, The Bodley Head, 1948.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s.6d.
Lt. Richard Tuck is called to campus when the lead actress of a university production of Romeo and Juliet is murdered in the prop room.
Modern Literature
Translated by Joyce Davis
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1927.
First English edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Romantic adventure set in 'Black Algiers'.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1934.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A crime thriller about a man wrongfully convicted who escapes custody to seek justice against those who framed him - a gripping moral and suspense tale.
Science & Technology
London, Staples Press, 1952.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 12s.6d.
The first volume of Carson's acclaimed "Sea Trilogy," offering an immersive ecological view that presaged her later environmentalist influence. This lyrical nature work portrays the lives of Atlantic sea creatures, the sandpiper, a mackerel, an eel, across the seasons, blending scientific observation with poetic narrative.
Modern Literature
Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun. 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.
Non-Fiction
A Challenge to the Comfortable
Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1936.
First edition, first impression. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3s 6d.
Inscribed from the author to A.P. Rossiter, presumably the Shakespeare lecturer (1903-57). The work features a preface by His Grace the Lord Archbishop of York, William Temple. Temple was a notable figure in the Church of England, particularly recognised for his advocacy for the working classes.
Detective Fiction
London, Thomas Nelson, 1931.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A romantic crime tale weaving lost diamonds, clandestine lovers and international intrigue... Plus an excellent dust-jacket to boot. Scarce.
![Taffrail. [Dorling (Henry Taprell, pseud.)] Pirates](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/87118-300x300.jpg)
![Alternative view of Taffrail. [Dorling (Henry Taprell, pseud.)] Pirates](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/87118_2-300x300.jpg)
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1929].
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A naval adventure based on Royal Navy encounters with pirates in the Canton Delta. The narrative focuses on authentic sea combat and maritime tactics.
Modern Literature
London, Constable, 1935.
First UK edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A sprawling novel of music, ambition, and complex relationships. It features composer Edmund Abbey, his wife, and her admirer, with interwoven flashbacks across the artistic and operatic world. In attractive Barbosa jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Ward, Lock, 1933.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped, code '511' to spine.
Classic inter-war era nautical thriller, from the author of The Death Ship (1933).
Detective Fiction
London, John Long, 1939.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Extremely uncommon Hubin-listed title, in excellent dust-jacket. Seemingly the only criminous novel by the author.
Detective Fiction
London, Sampson Low, Marston, [1930].
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.`
The adventures of Jerry Scant, a gipsy, who unwittingly becomes involved with an international gang of smugglers.
Modern Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1962.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 18s., with original publisher's promotional band.
Murdoch's sixth novel, a domestic drama unfolding after the death of Fanny Peronett. Retired civil servant Hugh Peronett sees his acerbic son Randall's life unravel through an affair, while Hugh reignites a long-dormant romance with his former lover, novelist Emma Sands, all framed within simmering family tensions...
![Belloc Lowndes (Mrs [Marie]) Who Rides on a Tiger](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/87112-300x300.jpg)
![Alternative view of Belloc Lowndes (Mrs [Marie]) Who Rides on a Tiger](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/87112_2-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Heinemann, 1936.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A psychological murder tale centred on John Pomfret and his cousin Zella Blunt. The title refers to the proverb "Who rides on a tiger can never dismount".
Detective Fiction
...concluded by Torquemada
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1937.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Regarded as Fletcher's most "atmospheric and engrossing" mystery of the later years, finished posthumously by Edward Powys Mathers, aka 'Torquemada'.
Detective Fiction
London, Smith, Elder, 1910.
'New Edition'. 8vo. Original red cloth, lettered in gilt.
The second Sherlock Holmes novel, notable for introducing Mary Morstan (Watson's future wife) and marrying adventure with colonial themes (imperial India, the 1857 rebellion).
Non-Fiction
With a foreword and epilogue by Dr. Robert Collis
London, Secker & Warburg, 1954.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original burgundy boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Brown's celebrated autobiography recounts his life being born with cerebral palsy, learning to write and paint using only his left foot, and eventually gaining fame for both his art and his self-reliant spirit. Adapted into the acclaimed 1989 film My Left Foot, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
Detective Fiction
London, Michael Joseph, 1956.
First editions, first impression. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s 6d.
Mexican vultures, Mexican murders, and a Mexican sleuth.
Detective Fiction
London, Macdonald, 1961.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original black boards lettered in yellow to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 12/6.
A detective novel featuring series sleuth Ludovic Travers.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, n.d. [c.1922].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Unusual crime themed novel missed by Hubin of a young English aristocrat who departs for the United States with the intent to become a 'western' outlaw. During a hold up on the Southern Pacific railroad, he encounters a lady in distress.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Subtitled 'Being Romances of Old London and of that which Never Dies The Good lives on eternally Only the baser things can die '.
Modern Literature
London, Stanley Paul, 1924.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Born Gertrude Soilleux Webster, this prolific Edwardian novelist was noted for boldly addressing feminine sexuality and social expectations; several of her works were deemed risqué and occasionally banned from public libraries.
Modern Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1964 [1963].
First edition, first impression. 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 Study of Modern Writers and Beliefs
London, Jonathan Cape, 1935.
First edition, second impression. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, clipped but with price 8s. 6d. present.
An interesting copy, inscribed by Spender 'To Tony with love from Stephen December 9, 1939'. Presumably this would be to Tony Hyndman, Spender's lover whom he lived with between 1933 & 1936. This inscription was around the time that relationship had ended, with Spender marrying Inez Pearn that month, after an engagement of only three weeks. Hyndman is referred to as 'Jimmy Younger' in Spender's memoir World Within World.
Modern Literature
A Novel... A New and Complete Translation from the Russian, by Constance Garnett
London, Heinemann, 1901.
First edition thus. 2 vol. 8vo. Blind-stamped 'presentation copy' to title-pages, titles printed in red & black. Original dark green cloth.
Tolstoy's classic novel, following the tragic affair of Anna Karenin, wife of a St Petersburg aristocrat, and Count Vronsky. Her social fall and doomed passion unfold alongside a parallel narrative of Levin, whose philosophical quest culminates in familial and spiritual resolution. Preceded by the Vizetelly edition.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1939.First trade edition, first impression. Royal 8vo. Original red cloth ruled and lettered in silver to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.A near fine first edition of Joyce's key work of literary modernism, a hallucinatory, dream-like narrative centred on the Earwicker family that weaves myth, history and language into a cyclical structure.
![Wood ([Ellen] Mrs. Henry) East Lynne](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/87093-300x300.jpg)
![Alternative view of Wood ([Ellen] Mrs. Henry) East Lynne](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/87093_2-300x300.jpg)
Victorian Literature
London, Richard Bentley, 1861.
Second edition. 3 vols. 8vo. 19th century half calf over marbled boards, spines gilt.
Second edition of the best-selling novel of the nineteenth century, going through fifteen editions in the five years following its first publication in 1861. Remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot centring on infidelity and double identities. There have been numerous stage and film adaptations.