London, Methuen, 1926.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractively illustrated book on southern India.
Modern Literature
A just possible story
London, Methuen, 1908.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth, spine gilt.
The Greek god Apollo returns to earth in human form to investigate the nature of mortal men.
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1946.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original purple boards lettered in green to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 5s.
Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel on the world of film-making in Britain during the atrocities of Nazism.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Methuen, 1928.
Third UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Chessmen of Mars, originally published in the US in 1922, continues the adventures of John Carter on the dying planet of Barsoom.
Non-Fiction
...edited by R.L. Smith-Rose
London, Methuen, 1922.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Published at the start of the public broadcasting boom, this popular handbook explains how broadcasting works and what listeners might hear.
![Smith (C[hristine]. Denison) Hobden Holiday](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/86767-300x400.jpg)
![Alternative view of Smith (C[hristine]. Denison) Hobden Holiday](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/86767_2-300x400.jpg)
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1934.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractive novel by an author who had garnered previous respect for poetry.
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
'An unusual book which breaks new ground in the triangle complication' (jacket blurb).
The Story of a Minor Siege
London, Methuen, 1898.
First edition. Ex college library. 8vo. Original red cloth ruled and blocked in gilt.
This book provides a first-hand account of the 1895 Siege of Chitral, where British forces, under the command of Sir George Scott Robertson, were besieged in Chitral Fort following a local coup. The narrative offers insights into British military strategy and the geopolitical significance of the region during the Great Game.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Methuen, 1934.
Second edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A philosophical and speculative science fiction novel, exploring the interconnectedness of human lives across vast timelines.
Detective Fiction
London, Methuen, 1933.
17th edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 1/-.
Detective fiction from the pen of 'Christopher Robin' creator A.A. Milne, one of three such crime titles he wrote (others being The Fourth Wall (1928) and the play The Perfect Alibi (1928)). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
A Story Between Jest and Earnest
London, Methuen, 1935.
First edition, softcover issue. 8vo. Original salmon wrappers with front cover from the hardback dust-jacket mounted to upper wrapper (Currey binding C with price "2/-").
One of Stapledon's best novels, exploring the idea of a Nietzschean superman existing beyond the conventional ideas of morality… These softcover issues were issued a few years after the hardback edition, made up from the surplus sheets of the first printing. This is the scarce first issue of this softcover 'remainder'.
London, Methuen, 1920.
Second edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
Four brilliant men have died mysteriously - and the only clue is the carved tail of a golden scorpion, left beside their bodies. Classic stuff from the creator of Fu Manchu. First published in 1919.
Children's Books
London, Methuen, [1908].
Early edition. 8vo. Advertisements dated February 1908. Original pictorial red cloth lettered in gilt to spine.
A handsome copy of this early edition of Mitford's adventure tale, originally published in 1904.
Detective Fiction
London, Methuen, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
An attractively jacketed first edition of this crime thriller featuring Gregg's recurring detective, Inspector Cuthbert Higgins.
Detective Fiction
London, Methuen, 1922.
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's advertisements at rear. Original green cloth lettered and decorated in gilt to spine.
Rare detective fiction first edition by 'Christopher Robin' creator A.A. Milne, one of three such crime titles he wrote (others being The Fourth Wall (1928) and the play The Perfect Alibi (1928)). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.
"And an excellent story it is! Anthony Gillingham light-heartedly unravels the mystery, standing at the head of a long, and soon extending queue of humorous sleuths who gave a new and refreshing slant to the business of fictional crime. 'What fun! Here's a body!' sums up the style; yet this fantasy, with its brilliant dialogue, finely-drawn scenes from the night-life of the 'twenties and credible characters, hold the reader until the final page is turned." (Quayle, The Collector's Book of Detective Fiction, pp.107-108).
London, Methuen, 1915.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in blind to upper cover and gilt to spine.
Grace Ellison (d. 1935) was a journalist and suffragette with a fascination for Turkish culture. This book, first published in 1915, is a collection of accounts originally written for The Daily Telegraph about her stay in the harem of a Turkish nobleman. Keen to dispel the sensationalist Western view of the harem, Ellison paints an intimate portrait of the luxurious but secluded life of women in their segregated portion of the household. Subjects covered include fashion, social events, polygamy and the bonds between family members.
London, Methuen, [1916].
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's catalogue at end. Original blue cloth.
The adventures of one of Marsh's most intriguing characters, Miss Judith Lee, a young teacher of deaf pupils whose lip-reading ability involves her with mysteries that she solves by acting as a detective.
London, Methuen, 1905.
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's catalogue at end dated March 1905. Original red cloth blocked in gilt.
One of the obscurer titles by the author of The Beetle. Hubin-listed.
Detective Fiction
Rohmer (Sax, pseud. Arthur Henry Ward) The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu
London, Methuen, 1913.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red cloth stamped and lettered in gilt to upper board and spine.
The book that kickstarted the Fu-Manchu phenomenon, a keystone of the "Yellow Peril" trend in genre fiction in the late 19th/early 20th century: "the first sustained duel between detective Nayland Smith and that fiend and fanatic, that most malign and formidable personality, that adept in all the arts and sciences..." (see Queen's Quorum 64).
Horror & Gothic
London, Methuen, 1897.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked & lettered in gilt.
A very good first edition of this collection of short stories by Wells, comprising ghost stories, tales of horror and even a cautionary tale about an apple.
American Literature
A cycle of the Southern Hills
London, Methuen, 1930.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of an important work on the Appalachians, a series of dialect sketches focusing on a single Southern community that was praised for its realism. The author, who co-created the 1920s little magazine The Modern Review, died in a car accident in 1931, after attending a 'bootlegger' near Cherokee. Scarce especially in a jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good copy of this first edition by the author more well-known for public school stories for boys.
being a record of travel in Southern Arabia. With an appendix on the rock inscriptions by A.F.L. Beeston.
London, Methuen, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
A very good first edition of Philby's account of his journey from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean, in his role as Ibn Saud's official advisor. An important work, notable for Philby being the first European to enter Abha, capital of Najran, the frontier district between the Wahhabis and the Yemenites, and the second to visit Shabwa, where he was the first to thoroughly examine the city's ruins.
19th century literature
London, Methuen, 1894.
First edition, first printing. 2 vols. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth lettered in gilt.
The true first edition of the second work by Mapp & Lucia creator E.F. Benson. We can trace no copies of the first edition at auction or in commerce, and only one copy clearly recorded in WorldCat (the British Library only has the Tauchnitz edition published the same year). This is the first printing, in two volumes and with the advertisements dated 'October 1893' and only listing Benson's first book, Dodo. Unfortunately, the work was not well received or commercially successful, despite publisher Methuen's best efforts, which included reprinting the work in one volume with spurious statements suggesting the books was so popular it had been through multiple impressions to meet demand... The story concerns Eva Grampton, who accepts a marriage proposal from the young aesthete Lord Hayes. When Eva meets the handsome Reggie, however, she begins to regret her decision...
19th century literature
A Modern Grotesque
London, Methuen, 1907.
Fifth edition. Small 8vo. Original read cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
A rare jacketed edition of this intriguing insight into the nature of English fin-de-siecle grotesquery, and in particular the role of the then "modern woman". The author was widely regarded as one of the leading writers of fiction in the English-speaking world at the time, but has become somewhat forgotten in the mists of time it seems.
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.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Methuen, 1914.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth gilt.
A humorous tale in which magic beans from the East give Alfred Burton an uncompromising devotion to truth and beauty.
Children's Books
London, Methuen, July 1925.
Tenth edition, deluxe issue. 8vo. Original leather, gilt, gilt edges.
A wonderful, seemingly unread example of the deluxe leather-bound issue of the first title to feature Christopher Robin, originally published in November 1924.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Methuen, 1939.First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, cheaper issue jacket correctly priced 4s.6d.A scarce edition of this the third title in Burroughs' 'Pellucidar' series, set in a hollow earth environment. Wonderful jacket artwork.
![Alternative view of Hull (E[dith]. M[aud].) The Captive of Sahara](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/84087_2-300x450.jpg)
Modern Literature
London, Methuen,, 1932.
Second edition. 8vo. 8pp. advertisements. Orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
A handsome early edition of this follow-up to The Sheik (1919). Hull is credited with setting off a major and hugely popular revival of the "desert romance" genre of romantic fiction, helped by the Rudolph Valentino film adaptations.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Methuen, 1918.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth, lettered in black.
An early and uncommon Sax Rohmer first edition, set in Egypt with the inscrutable Abu-Tabah taking on the villain role from Fu Manchu. The book is notable for introducing a more explicitly weird & supernatural element.