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.
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.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Methuen, 1926.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth with imprint Burns Oates to foot of spine. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A lovely first edition of this satire on the spiritualist movement of the 1920s: a radio enthusiast finds a way to communicate with spirits using wireless.
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).
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1935.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
Inscribed with compliments from the author, an important Zionist who advocated peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in Mandatory Palestine.
Historical Fiction
London, Methuen, 1948.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in white. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
The third and final volume in the author's Neustrian Cycle.
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...
Non-Fiction
London, Methuen, 1928.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue clot. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
A nice copy of this work on conjuring, one of several titles in this field by Blyth.
Children's Books
London, Methuen, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A good first edition of the sixth book in Blyron's St Clare's series.
Children's Books
London, Methuen, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original green pictorial cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5s.
An uncommon early work by Enid Blyton, which focuses on the sorts of real animals you may find on Britain's waysides across a collection of stories. Distinctly uncommon in the jacket.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1962.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards with decoration to spine. Dust-jacket, with price 18s net and code '2/251/2' to inside front flap.
The first UK edition of Kesey's famous novel that explores the rebellion of psychiatric patients against an oppressive mental institution, led by the charismatic Randle McMurphy.
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.
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.
Detective Fiction
Marsh (Richard, pseud. Richard Bernard Heldmann) The Marquis of Putney
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.