Weird & Supernatural
London & Boston, John Lane; Roberts Bros, 1895.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple decorative cloth.
One of the most well-known and collectable of Lane's important 'Keynotes' series, this being the seventh in the series, and the first of two appearances therein for the "King of Redonda" (the other being his influential work Shapes in the Fire, number XXIX). Aubrey Beardsley provided the title-page/cover designs and most if not all of the monogram key devices for the series up until vol.XXIII. Prince Zaleski was Shiel's first published work, drawing inspiration in part from the detective tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and comprising three mysteries: "The Race of Orven", "The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks", and "The S.S.", each to be solved by the eponymous Zaleski, an eccentric Russian nobleman living in exile in a derelict Welsh abbey.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sheed & Ward, 1935.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
"In 1935, Mitchell's book Traveller in Time, set in Ireland in 1942, explores a fantastic development of the age of television in the context of Irish history. Colm MacColgan, her traveller, uses his invention of "Tempevision" to tune in to events at different times and places in the past, observing the impacts of the Irish around Europe and beyond." (Wikipedia)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1969.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original burgundy boards. Dust-jacket, price sticker 25/-.
The first UK edition of the author's first novel, a standout work in his canon; rites-of-passage+generation ships.
Detective Fiction
London, Ernest Benn, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A continental rest cure for inquiry agents Maurice & Cyril rapidly becomes their most exciting experience.
Detective Fiction
Poison in Africa
London, Ernest Benn, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original off-white boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Uncommon murder mystery set in Africa and involving poison. Adam Broome was a pseudonym of Godfrey Warden James, born 1888. He had two series characters Inspector Bramley and Commissioner Denzil Grison, whose stories are set in Africa.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, with 'overseas edition' printed to spine.
A very good first edition of this uncommon weird & supernatural title about the transference of a soul and the resultant implications.
Modern Literature
London, MacGibbon & Kee, 1957.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
A picaresque novel set in London and following the experiences of a newly arrived Nigerian youth and his official mentor.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sampson Low, Masrton, Searle, & Rivington, 1876.
Ninth UK edition. 8vo. Original pictorial green cloth blocked in black and lettered in gilt.
An excellent example of an early edition of Verne's sub-aquatic classic.
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, William Rider, 1922.
'New Edition'. 8vo. Original blue cloth stamped in lighter blue. Dust-jacket.
Rare jacketed edition of Stoker's gripping tale of secrets and supernatural forces set against the treacherous backdrop of a coastal town, where a writer becomes entangled in a mysterious love affair and unearths a haunting truth.
Modern Literature
La Chapelle-Réanville, The Hours Press, 1929.
First edition, one of 300 copies on verge paper, from an overall limitation of 500, this unnumbered and assumed out-of-series for presentation. 8vo. Original brown boards, lettered in gilt to upper cover.
Important association copy of the fifth book issued on the Hours Press. The Hours Press was established in Normandy by Nancy Cunard who had obtained the equipment of the Three Mountains Press at a bargain price. "The success of the Hours Press was never in doubt except at the very beginning, when Cunard had only vague ideas of producing contemporary poetry. In its three years, the Hours Press was typographically insignificant (despite its exciting bindings), but in literary terms it was one of the most important of all the private presses". (Cave, The Private Press, p. 193).
Raymond Mortimer was a prominent British literary critic and editor, known for his influential work with the New Statesman magazine. His insightful analyses and cultured sensibilities established him as a leading figure in the British literary world during the mid-20th century.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of this tale of international intrigue and deadly peril.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Heinemann, 1896.
First UK edition, first impression, issue with rear advertisement for The Time Machine on terminal leaf preceding publisher's list, beginning with The Nigger of the "Narcissus" and ends with Chun-ti-Kung by Claude Rees. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth, with publisher's monogram in black to lower board.
A very good first UK edition of Wells' "weird science" classic, contemplating the blurred lines between man and beast, civilisation and savagery...
Historical Fiction
London, Sampson Low, Martson, Searle, & Rivington, 1891.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.
A decent first UK edition of this surprisingly scarce Verne title, an adventure novel by Jules Verne about the life of a family in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) during the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 that sought an independent and democratic republic for Lower Canada.