Weird & Supernatural
An Anthology of Mystical Verse
London, Macmillan, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An interesting and ambitious work, compiling mystical poems from English and non-English traditions. Scarce in the dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1925].
First UK edition, first printing. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7'6.
An excellent first UK edition of this collection of nine stories by American writer Struthers Burt, author of the non-fiction, intriguingly entitled account The Diary of a Dude Wrangler (1924). Burt's papers are housed at Princeton University.
Modern Literature
London, Heath Cranton, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth, blocked in black. Dust-jacket.
Striking jacket artwork and a uncommon first edition, a collection of stories inspired by the sea.
![James Corbett, Gallows Wait, first edition, [1947]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84584-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1947].
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
An attractive first edition by the productive James Corbett, from Jenkins' 'House of the Green Label' series.
![James Corbett, The Somerville Case, first edition, [1949]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84602-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1949].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange boards, lettered in black. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Quite a lovely dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1989.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards lettered in silver. Dust-jacket, correctly priced £10.95.
A near fine first edition of the fourth title in Doherty's popular Hugh Corbett series.
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1988.
First edition. Signed by the author on title-page. 8vo. Original black boards lettered in silver. Dust-jacket, correctly priced £11.50.
A near fine, signed first edition of Doherty's first book in his Matthew Jankyn series.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1936.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Quite cool woodcut-style artwork adorns this first UK edition's jacket. Eberhart is an interesting author of detective fiction, not least for her ability to extend the same basic premise over nearly forty volumes!
Detective Fiction
London &c., Cassell, 1913.
First edition. 8vo. 4pp. advertisements. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
The first chapter of Mr. Edge's story is enough to indicate the mystery which is to be unravelled, and every succeeding chapter makes the mystery deeper until the final elucidation... (The Bookseller, Vol. 60, 1914).
An early detective fiction title, in a remarkably excellent pre WW1 dust-jacket. Exceptionally scarce, with only six copies recorded by WorldCat, and no copies in trade or at auction that we could trace.
Children's Books
London, Faber & Faber, 1939.
First edition, first impression. Large 8vo. Original yellow pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
The first edition of Eliot's famous whimsical poems featuring feline protagonists - famously of course the inspiration and source for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats. Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s, and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren. The illustrations in this edition were by the author himself, with subsequent editions illustrated by such luminaries as Nicolas Bentley, Edward Gorey and, most recently, Axel Scheffler of Gruffalo fame.
![Caroline Francis, Director's Corridor, first edition, [1936]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84578-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Hutchinson, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
One of only two murder-mysteries we could trace by this author, and published under Hutchinson's First Novel Library series (#46).
![Bruce Graeme, Blackshirt, first edition, [1925]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84608-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, T. Fisher Unwin, [1925].
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 3/6.
The notoriously difficult first edition of the first book in the Blackshirt series, by a founding member of the Crime Writer's Association. Despite the chipping, the upper panel with its wonderful artwork is intact.
Modern Literature
London, Macdonald, [1943].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
A light-hearted book. If you not like mean people, you will not be discouraged by the fate which overtakes the characters... (jacket blurb)
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1938.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of one of a series of popular novels based on the life and adventures of 'Calamity Jane' in the wild wild west. Uncommon in the dust-jacket, let alone in such condition.
Modern Literature
London, Eveleigh Nash & Grayson, [1926].
Film tie-in edition. 8vo. 3pp. advertisements. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket.
A handsome early edition of the sequel to The Sheik (1919); the first edition was published in 1925, with this edition issued to coincide with the popular film version starring Rudolph Valentino. Hull is credited with setting off a major and hugely popular revival of the "desert romance" genre of romantic fiction.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Robert Hale, 1943.
First edition, second printing, signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
The first reprint of the author's second novel, inscribed by the author: "To R J Minney with my best wishes Pamela Kellino". A nice association copy, presented by the author & actor Pamela Kellino to a prominent film-maker and film-producer. Kellino was married to the actor James Mason, and they developed a screen treatment from this novel together, both going on to also act in the actual film (1952). The book was subsequently published in America under the title Del Palma.
![William Le Queux, The Mystery of Mademoiselle, first UK edition, [1926]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84595-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1926].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A lovely first UK edition of this twenties tale of suspense by Anglo-French author Le Queux.
and the Million Elephants
London, Rich & Cowan, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12/6.
A fascinating account of a journey through the jungles of Indo-China. The photographic illustrations are by Gertrude Legendre née Sanford, an American woman of rather remarkable qualities: socialite, spy, explorer big game hunters, environmentalist and plantation owner, to name a few. She met Sidney Legendre during an expedition in Abyssinia.
Modern Literature
A Soldier of Humour and other stories
London, Chatto & Windus, 1927.
First edition, Centaur Library issue. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
The Centaur Library issue of these stories from the vector of vorticism Wyndham Lewis, printed from the first edition sheets but in different binding, and the series jacket design by the graphic artist Edward Bawden (as opposed to the boring typographic one on the first issue).
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A partly occult novel based on an Abbot's legacy curse dating back to the time of Henry VIII. Rare in the original, first impression dust-jacket.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The name's Bond...Christopher Bond... this Pre-James Bond is also caught up in the murky world of espionage. An attractive dust-jacket to boot.
Detective Fiction
London, Arthur Barker, 1949.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark pink cloth. Dust-jacket, clipped but with price '5s' still present.
Classic criminous stuff from hard-boiled good egg McCoy, made into a 1950s film starring James Cagney, famously awarded the ultimate accolade "banned in Ohio"...
War, Invasion & Spy
A Story of Modern Secret Service
London, Jarrolds, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original oatmeal cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Attractive first edition of this autobiographical work by the genuine female spy Marthe Mathilde McKenna née Cnockaert, awarded British, French and Belgian honours for gallantry for her espionage work, and subject of the 1933 film I was a Spy.
Detective Fiction
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. 1p. advertisements. Original cloth. Dust-jackets, correctly priced 7s 6d.
A very good first edition of this intriguing novel, based on the story Mon premier crime by Gustave Macé, in the series "La Police parisienne."
Detective Fiction
London, Michael Joseph, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in white. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Murder mystery set amongst beautiful Oxfordshire villages. A genuinely nice copy.
![Elliott O'Donnell, The Devil in the Pulpit, first edition, [1932]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84575-300x300.jpg)
Horror & Gothic
London, Denis Archer, [1932].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Sinisterly appealing jacket artwork graces this scarce first edition in jacket; classic horror stuff, with a clergyman possessed by the devil. Genuinely rare.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1938.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of the conjurer-turned-author Rawson's first book - uncommon thus in the rather nice jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1935.
'Popular Edition', second printing. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, with price-sticker '5/-' on spine.
A decent, early edition of this the second appearance of armchair detective Lancelot Priestley, who featured in a long-running series of novels during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
![John Rowland, The Death of Nevill Norway, first edition, [1942]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84599-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1942].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Thankfully not a suspiciously precognitive account of the Town Called Alice author's demise! Great jacket artwork though.
Detective Fiction
London, Constable, 1924.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6, with publisher's 'file' sticker to spine. Publisher's promotional card loosely inserted.
A tale of mild villainy and opportunism featuring a parasitical couple on the fringes of cosmopolitan society. Attractive jacket artwork by A. Mary Ryland.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1935.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth, lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6. With publisher's review slip loosely inserted.
A poetic novel from the pen of influential US poet, writer and educationalist Van Doren.
![Edgar Wallace, Planetoid 127 [-] The Sweizer Pup, first edition, [1929]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84582-300x300.jpg)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
#NAME?
London, Readers Library 'Crime Series', [1929].
First edition. Small 8vo. Original gilt-tooled red cloth. Dust-jacket.
An attractive copy and edition of these two Wallace tales, here published in book-form for the first time. Although attached to the Readers Library Crime Series, the first tale is decidedly Science Fiction. Uncommon thus.
Children's Books
London, Ward, Lock, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
One of the last books by a prolific author who had enjoyed literary success since 1900, as well as some controversy for her 1916 Sci-Fi book, The Last Weapon, A Vision, the anti-sentiment contained within resulting in the book being banned. Wilson was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.