Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Translated by Lawrence Hyde.
London, Bles, 1925.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A great first edition in English of Čapek's novel about a secret explosive formulation and the trouble it causes, not least for its inventor, the chemist Prokop: "a rich and wildly imagined work, unusual in its almost orgiastic baroque exploration of power, sexuality, and guilt." (Bleiler). The wonderful art deco jacket artwork sets the mood perfectly! The original Czech edition was published the previous year.
Detective Fiction
Quiroule (Pierre, pseud. Walter William Sayer) The Painted Death
London, Nelson, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
"A close-knit plot and first-rate story"...with Amazonians thrown in to boot. Scarce.
Detective Fiction
London, Ward Lock, 1919.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original green cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An excellent copy of this uncommon first edition, especially rare signed and in the original dust-jacket. British-born journalist and novelist Fletcher us considered to be one of the foremost detective fiction writers of his day.
Children's Books
Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Charming first edition of the first of six books recounting the adventures of Wonk the koala, illustrated by the artist & writer Joan Kiddell-Wonk.
Children's Books
London, Ward Lock, 1917.
First edition. Publisher's File Copy. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth, with publisher's file copy label to upper cover. Dust-jacket, with publisher's file copy label to upper panel.
A truly wonderful first edition by Australian author Lilian Turner, enhanced by being the publisher's file copy. Jackets from this period are scarce, especially in this condition, and in this case the jacket has preserved the book beneath splendidly.
![Alternative view of Lindsay (David [Tod]) The Ninth Plague](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84629_2-300x400.jpg)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, John Hamilton, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A rare dust-jacket. One of this author's less common and more interesting titles, a Mad Scientist's attempts to block off the sun's rays and cause the end of the world. Produced for Hamilton's Sundial Mystery Library series.
London, John Hamilton, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Origial blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
From Hamilton's Sundial Mystery Library series. "An experiment in sensational fiction in which careful and detailed character drawing comes second to an absorbing plot." (jacket blurb)
Detective Fiction
London, John Hamilton, 1928.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
From Hamilton's Sundial Mystery Library series; a departure from Hamilton's more usual aeronautical vibe, and a seemingly scarce first edition in the original dust-jacket. A chance encounter with a sinister Chinese Secret Society sees the protagonist tossed into a world of intrigue, with a dash of romantic peril for good measure.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The continuing adventures of arch deductionist Dr Thorndyke. A tricky first edition in the jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Grant Richards, 1925.
First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An intriguingly Hardy-esque novel by John Cowper Powys, preceding his breakthrough work Wolf Solent.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1916.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
A rare dust-jacket, and uncommon book.
"Cobb wrote humorous stories set in Kentucky, and he is considered part of the American literary regionalism school. These stories were first collected in the book Old Judge Priest (1915), whose title character was based on a prominent West Kentucky judge named William Pitman Bishop. Joel Chandler Harris wrote of these tales, 'Cobb created a South peopled with honorable citizens, charming eccentrics, and loyal, subservient blacks, but at their best the Judge Priest stories are dramatic and compelling, using a wealth of precisely rendered detail to evoke a powerful mood.'" (Wikipedia)
Detective Fiction
Hull (Richard, pseud. Richard Henry Sampson) Left-Handed Death
London, Collins Crime Club, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.
An uncommon first edition in the jacket; a government official's investigations into an engineering company's failing business leads to murder...
Modern Literature
London & New York, Harper, 1900.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked in gilt.
A decent H.G. Wells first edition. Young, impoverished and ambitious, science student Mr Lewisham is locked in a struggle to further himself through academic achievement.
Detective Fiction
New York, Dodd, Mead, 1941.
First US edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
A mysterious beam of light wreaks havoc in this Dr Priestley novel. Nice jacket artwork.
![L.G. Blochman, Midnight Sailing, first UK edition, [1939]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84616-300x300.jpg)
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Collins Crime Club, [1939].
First UK edition. Ex-Library. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.
Cool jacket artwork, depicting a man with a red briefcase hastening up some steps with the number '9', but not the story of a Chancellor of the Exchequer in panic, instead a departure from the crime fiction Blochman was more well-known for, into the murky world of espionage.
![Clifton Bingham, The Animals' Rebellion, first edition, [c.1890]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84613-300x300.jpg)
Children's Books
London & New York, Ernest Nister, [c.1890].
Oblong 4to. Original cloth-backed pictorial boards.
Comical verses by Nister's popular lyricist Clifton Bingham, perfectly illustrated by C.H. Thompson. Vintage Victorian children's book.
London, Harrap, 1938.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 9/-.
Amelia Earhart's absorbing account of her ill-fated last flight around the world, begun in 1937, comprising her diary entries and other notes - a classic of aviation history. Amelia Earhart was twice the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air: initially in 1928 as a passenger just a year after Lindbergh's pioneering flight and then in 1932, flying solo.