Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1950.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d, with publisher's original promotional wraparound.
A great example of the first edition of Lessing's first book, set in South Africa under white rule, chronicling societal disintegration.
Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d.
The first edition of the author's second book, a collection of stories set in South Africa. One of the author's defining works.
Modern Literature
London, Peter Davies, 1957.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
Essential reading for anyone with literary authorial leanings.
American Literature
London, Constable, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth stamped in yellow. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
The first UK edition of the second in Dos Passos's 'USA Trilogy', in which he evaluates the damage done by World War I. Nineteen Nineteen focuses on the fear and social unrest on the home front.
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, Macmillan, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue/green cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
"Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come first. Follow me." A very good first edition of Muriel Spark's most famous novel.
Modern Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An attractive first edition of the author's second novel, in the wonderful Edward Bawden dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Pendulum Publications, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The semi-autobiographical first book by Frances, who would go on to great success with hardboiled US-style thrillers written under the pseudonym Hank Janson. These books were phenomenally successful in their time, opening the way for a variety of copycat British authors writing in a similar vein, but they did also court controversy when a murder supposedly inspired by one of the Hank Janson titles led to the publishers being taken to court and successfully prosecuted for obscenity (the author managed to avoid a similar fate on it seems a technicality). The publisher Pendulum was set up by Frances, with a doctor friend of his.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1958.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The second novel in Burgess's Malayan trilogy, set in Dahaga (Malayan for 'thirsty) and following the rise & fall of British expat Victor Crabbe, a microcosm of the waning influence of the British Empire.