Modern Literature
London, John Day, 1967.
First US edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced $5.50.
In this moving story Chinua Achebe catches perfectly the atmosphere of African village life, the beautiful proverb-laden language of the Ibo and their touching, strangely formal customs of worship and hospitality. (jacket)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Faber, 1963.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
Science fiction short stories by a leading British light of the genre, inscribed to his 'Aunt Bodger'.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1959.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d
A very nice first edition of this sinister sci-fi novel, by ex Merchant Seaman Frank Crisp.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Ward Lock, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
The first book by the author of The Golden Fluid, contains fantastic elements, including a gem with occult powers. Excellent semi-abstract jacket artwork.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Selwyn & Blount, [1920].
First edition, [one of 500 copies]. 8vo. Original boards with printed paper spine label. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
A rather remarkable copy of Hope Hodgson's first published verse collection, scarce in such condition and the original dust-jacket: "...most of what [Hodgson] wrote in this kind is here published for the first time. And in his poems, as in his prose, it is the mystery, the strength, the cruelty, the grimness and sadness of the sea the most potently appeal to him... For him the voices of the sea are the sighing or calling of its multitudinous dead, and there are lines in which he hints that one day he, too, will be called down to them..." A. St John Adcock's introduction. The attraction of Davy Jones' locker was not the author's demise ultimately however, instead he died in action during the First World War.
Modern Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1929.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d, with the original Choice of the Book Society wraparound band.
The distinctive first UK edition of Hughes' High Wind in Jamaica, a genre redefining work set largely on the high seas - with pirates! Uncommon in the original wraparound.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Printed yellow dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good first edition of John Cecil Masterman's first novel, a murder myster set against a backdrop of Oxford academia, starting a trend soon taken up by Gollancz stablemates Michael Innes and Edmund Crispin, and further down the line perhaps Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse books...
Modern Literature
London, Duckworth, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale green cloth.
A decent first edition, sans jacket, of Anthony Powell's first, highly acclaimed novel, witnessing the decline and fall of a characteristically seedy section of London society.
Modern Literature
London, Hurst & Blackett, [1905].
First edition thus. 8vo. Original green cloth decorated in gilt.
Contains three separate supernatural/fantasy novelettes, "The Seventh Dream," "The Doctor's Secret," and "The Turkish Baths."
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
A Story between Jest and Earnest
London, Methuen, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped and with wartime price sticker '3/-' to inside front flap.
Stapledon's famous take on the Übermensch idea, in the even more famous "odd" dust-jacket. Rare in such condition.
Detective Fiction
London, Hurst & Blackett, [1937].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6 and with Colonial Issue price sticker to spine.
Striking jacket artwork and very good condition make this UK first a compelling copy for collectors of the Peter Clancy novels.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good first edition of one the of later, stand-alone titles by this crime writer.