Weird & Supernatural
A volume of nature stories
London, Macmillan, 1912.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original pictorial dark green cloth lettered in gilt.
A collection of short stories centred on nature, mysticism, and the numinous, Pan's Garden exemplifies Blackwood's distinctive fusion of supernatural fiction with spiritual and psychological inquiry. Blackwood (1869-1951) came to fiction late, publishing his first collection at thirty-seven after farming dairy cattle and running a hotel in Canada, prospecting for gold in Alaska, tending bar and reporting for the New York Evening Sun; long interested in Buddhism and the supernatural, he joined several occult societies including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and brought a practising occultist's seriousness to the weird tale. Mike Ashley, his bibliographer, calls the volume the definitive gathering of Blackwood's short stories, and it is entered in the standard genre bibliographies.
The drawings, the frontispiece and one heading each story, are by Walford Graham Robertson (1866-1948), painter, illustrator and author, costume designer for Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry, a major collector of William Blake who gave over twenty works to the Tate.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Macmillan, 1906.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth, lettered in gilt.
The gentlest apocalypse Wells ever arranged: a comet grazes the Earth, its green vapours dissolve into the atmosphere, and humanity wakes from "the Change" cured of jealousy, war fever, class hatred and the whole armature of pre-comet spite, narrated by a Midlands clerk who went into the Change murderous with sexual jealousy and came out of it sane.
The scandal was immediate and entirely deliberate: the transformed world's relaxed arrangements in love were read as an endorsement of free love, the Times Literary Supplement huffed, and Wells, then conducting his Fabian campaigns and his private life on similar principles, declined to reassure anybody.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1925.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original green blind-tooled cloth after design by Charles Ricketts, lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket repeating the Ricketts design, priced 10/6.
Gathering Yeats' early poetry and prose fiction, including the Celtic Twilight material, 'The Secret Rose', and the Stories of Red Hanrahan, as well as the lyrics of his first period.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1923.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original green blind-tooled cloth after design by Charles Ricketts, lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket repeating the Ricketts design, priced 10/6.
Gathering Yeats' major prose writings on the Irish dramatic movement alongside six plays including 'The Countess Cathleen', 'The Land of Heart's Desire', and the Four Plays for Dancers ('At the Hawk's Well', 'The Only Jealousy of Emer', 'The Dreaming of the Bones', and 'Calvary').
Thriller Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1956.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d.
An attractively jacketed edition of this romantic thriller set in wartime Marseilles in 1943. A 1957 British film of the same name was made from the novel, directed by Hugo Fregonese and starring Stephen Boyd and James Robertson Justice. The biographical context of Croft-Cooke's life adds another dimension: he had been imprisoned in 1953 for homosexual offences and, on release, moved abroad; after his release from prison in 1954, Croft-Cooke lived until 1968 in Morocco, fearing continued persecution in Britain for homosexuality. Seven Thunders was written during this self-imposed exile.
and other poems
London, Macmillan, December 1933.
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original blind-tooled sage cloth decorated in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An excellent example of the second impression of this collection by Yeats, the title poem from which had originally been published in 1929 by Fountain Press in a signed limited edition.
Non-Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1933.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, publisher's price label of 5s net to upper panel and spine.
George Saintsbury (1845-1933) was one of the most prolific and influential literary critics of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, holding the chair of English Literature at Edinburgh from 1895 to 1915.
Thriller Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1937.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Historical Fiction
A Drama of Divided Germany
London, Macmillan, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, clipped to front inside flap but with stamped price $2.00 present, possibly for export.
A political novel set amid the turmoil of late Weimar Germany, portraying a society destabilised by economic collapse, ideological extremism, and the erosion of democratic institutions. Its protagonist, a schoolteacher who persuades himself he can remain apolitical, is drawn into a world squeezed between "Hitlerites, Agrarians, and Communists." Written from a broadly left-democratic perspective, the novel captures the febrile atmosphere of the early 1930s; the original German edition appeared in 1932.The author Frank, an Austrian-born writer, journalist, and screenwriter would later be associated with films produced during the Nazi period, including Reitet für Deutschland, a commercially successful work endorsed by the regime and subsequently banned by the Allies in 1945.
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1998.
First edition, first impression. Signed presentation copy from the author, inscribed on title-page. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
The Herefordshire village of Ledwardine, steeped in cider and secrets, braces for the discovery of a tradition of murder.
Children's Books
London, Macmillan, 1902.
First edition. Small 4to. Original pictorial red cloth.
A collection of whimsical origin tales, including 'How the Leopard Got His Spots' and 'The Elephant's Child', written and illustrated by Kipling.
American Literature
New York, Macmillan, 1918.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original pictorial boards, rebacked in later plain board. Facsimile dust-jacket.
A posthumous collection of short stories, the title piece following a naturalist's encounter with a mysterious extraterrestrial artefact in the South Pacific, blending adventure with emerging sci-fi themes.
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1931.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
and other stories
London, Macmillan, 1904.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue blind-tooled cloth lettered in yellow.
Wharton explores marriage, societal expectation and individual compromise; the title-story sees a professor publish a faux scientific work and become trapped by his own success.
American Literature
London, Macmillan, 1976.
UK uncorrected proof copy. 8vo. Plain brown wrappers.
Doctorow's weaving of real historical figures (e.g. Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Emma Goldman) with fictional ones helps give it both documentary weight and narrative drama. It's one of his most recognised works. The use of ragtime (music, culture) as metaphor and structural mood is significant.
Children's Books
For Little Children
London, Macmillan, 1902.
First edition, first impression. Small 4to. Original red pictorial cloth.
This collection of origin stories explains how various animals acquired their distinctive features, such as "How the Leopard Got His Spots." The tales are known for their imaginative narratives and playful language.
American Literature
and other stories
London, Macmillan, 1905.
First UK edition, Colonial issue. 8vo. Original dark blue cloth lettered in gilt with blind-stamped decoration to upper cover.
The title story follows Ralph Orth, a writer who inherits an English estate and becomes obsessed with portraits of two children, leading to supernatural experiences. Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) was an American novelist known for her works on women's rights and historical fiction. She was a prominent literary figure in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Non-Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1932.
First edition, fourth impression. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Keynes' critical examination of the global monetary system in the aftermath of World War I. First published in 1923, John Maynard Keynes discusses the economic turmoil caused by inflation and deflation, advocating for stable currency management and policy interventions to mitigate economic instability.
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1997.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced £16.99.
"It is every mother's nightmare. Her child is missing, found murdered. Her lover is the prime suspect. It is every police officer's dread. A child murdered. A circumstantial case. It is every solicitor's dream. Twelve men and women will decide the verdict. But only you can decide if justice is done for the victim." (jacket blurb)
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1995.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced £15.99.
Sequel to Widows - Dolly Rawlins is free from prison. And she's only got one thing on her mind - the diamonds she stashed before the police caught her.
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 2003.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, with original publisher's promotional wrap-around.
The first edition of the first book in the author's acclaimed Shardlake series.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Macmillan, 1932.First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original orange cloth decorated in black to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.A stunning example of this wonderful Walpole edition, featuring the excellent jacket artwork by Rex Whistler. The tales present are:Maradick at Forty The Prelude to Adventure Portrait of a man with red hair Above the dark circus
Modern Literature
Selected Poems 1920 - 1947
London, Macmillan, 1949.
First edition, first impression. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
"For my darling Evelyn with best love from Edith", possibly Evelyn Waugh with whom she was well acquainted (she asked him to be her godfather when she converted to Catholicism in 1955); it could however also be her close friend Evelyn Wiel, with whom she stayed in France prior to the Second World War.
American Literature
New York, Macmillan, 1914.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original decorative pale blue cloth lettered in white.
A collection of short stories from the author of The Call of the Wild.
Detective Fiction
Neville (C.J., pseud. Cynthia Franklin) Salifu the Detective
London, Macmillan, 1950.
First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
The exciting story of an adventurous young African boy whose main ambition is to join the Gold Coast Police Force, encountering smugglers and other wrongdoers in the process.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket.
A penetrating satire on the life of a street in a seaside town, capturing the seedy gentility of the permanent residents of Barcelona Road.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original pink cloth. Dust-jacket.
The story of a young composer who, under the auspices of a mysterious millionaire, looks forward to a sumptuous production of his first symphony. Nice copy.
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
and other stories
London, Macmillan, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
'Short stories reflecting a wide field of human emotion' (jacket), by Irish playwright, novelist and short story writer MacMahon.
![Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland[-]Through the Looking-Glass, 1911](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/84706-300x300.jpg)
and Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there
London, Macmillan, 1911.
8vo. Original red cloth lettered and stamped in gilt.
A pleasing copy of Alice's adventures, including sixteen colour plates by Tenniel.
London, Macmillan, 1928
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly price of 7/6 on front flap.
Satirical science fantasy of a visit to another planet and the second volume of Eimar O'Duffy's Cuanduine (Spectrum of Fantasy p168)
Uncommon in a jacket. No copies for sale online currently.