Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Joshua Clunk makes his full-length novel debut in this work, having appeared previously in short stories only. The work also features a cameo by Bailey's other recurring character, Reggie Fortune.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of the fourth Charlie Chan book by Biggers, who set out to create a character that was the opposite of the 'yellow peril' portrayal of Orientals as villains that was the trend at the time. Uncommon in the dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue cloth blocked in orange. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6 (later issue).
The first edition of the author's first novel, in an early issue jacket (1930s), introducing Superintendent Henry Wilson. Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/3.
Inspector French investigates a poisoning in this uncommon first edition. The handwritten note to the jacket spine refers to the American edition.
Detective Fiction
New York, Farrar & Rinehart, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An excellent first edition of this the second work by Daly, an often under-appreciated author these days; her serial character Henry Gamadge is a bibliophile and expert on rare books & manuscripts, no less!
Detective Fiction
London, Macmillan, 1975.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown boards. Dust-jacket.
A distinctly uncommon example of the first edition of the first Inspector Morse novel, notoriously hard to find in such good order, the text-block terribly prone to browning, and the book often turning up after being through the public library system, something this copy has thankfully been spared!
War, Invasion & Spy
Fairlie (Gerard) and ‘Sapper’ [pseud. H.C. McNeile]. Bulldog Drummond on Dartmoor
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An important work in the Bulldog Drummond canon, marking the transition from 'Sapper' to Fairlie. The two had worked on the story together, but McNeile died before it was finished, leaving Fairlie to take on the mantle.
Detective Fiction
Hale (Christopher, pseud. Frances Moyer Stevens) Stormy Night.
A Detective Story London, Heinemann, 1937. First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket. A woman dead in the sleet at the bottom of an empty swimming pool, with two bullets in her body, but only one wound...
London, Gollancz, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first edition of the fifth novel to feature John Appleby, a young Detective Inspector in the Metropolitan Police, straddling detective and spy fiction admirably.
Detective Fiction
Philadelphia & New York, Lippincott, [1942].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
An enigmatic woman, a hat like a pumpkin, and a murdered wife - things aren't looking good for Scott Henderson in this gripping mystery thriller by Woolrich writing as William Irish.
Detective Fiction
Irish (William, pseud. Cornell Woolrich) Somebody on the Phone
Philadelphia & New York, Lippincott, 1950.
First edition. 8vo. Original teal cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.
A collection of six stories by Woolrich under his well-known pseudonym 'William Irish'. The title story was the basis for the 1952 film Don't Ever Open That Door.
Detective Fiction
New York, Wilfred Funk, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
The last of seven crime thrillers by psychologist C. Daly King; this time the protagonist Walter Lord is all at sea, in several senses, as he tries to resolve a double murder, kidnap and matters of the heart simultaneously, bewildering even his stalwart companion Dr L. Rees Pons.
Detective Fiction
New York, Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
Aeronautical crime-thriller featuring King's series character Michael Lord, investigating murder aboard a transcontinental flight. An intricate plot combined with "locked room" element, the mystery was praised by The New York Times as "a very thrilling story." Very much in the S.S. Dine vein, and one of only seven genre titles recorded by this author.
Modern Literature
London, Collins and Harvill, 1960.
First English edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
The famous autobiographical reminiscences of the Sicilian nobleman Giuseppe Tomasi, Duke of Palma and Prince of Lampedusa. Memorably transferred to the big screen in an ambitious bilingual project, starring Burt Lancaster.
Detective Fiction
New York, Macaulay Company, 1922.
First US edition. 8vo. Original dark chocolate pictorial cloth blocked in orange. Dust-jacket.
A lovely first edition in English of this title featuring Arséne Lupin, Leblanc's famous counterpoint to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. This the issue with the 'Smoke of the.45' at the top of the lower panel advertisements.
Detective Fiction
London, Harrap, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket.
The first crime fiction work by this prolific author, published as part of Harrap's 'Sealed Mysteries' series. Each member of a small party at a cabaret on the night a murder is committed is suspected and then eliminated through evidence.
Detective Fiction
A Novel
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Considered one of Oppenheim's best works, opening with a fantastic description of the boring life of Mr Peter Cradd,and the transformation he undergoes when he inherits a fortune. A useful insight into middle class life in England in the thirties, and the dreams of downtrodden... A nice Bip Pares jacket to boot.
Detective Fiction
London, Eldon, [1951].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
Excellent jacket artwork graces this Anthony Adams crime thriller by American writer Pratt, originally published in the States under the author's pseudonym Timothy Brace.
Detective Fiction
London, Eldon, [1951].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Excellent jacket artwork graces this Anthony Adams crime thriller by American writer Pratt, a.k.a. Timothy Brace.
Detective Fiction
A Mystery Story
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price neatly excised from spine.
The jacket's menacing photographic artwork enhances this early Dr Priestley title. An uncommon book in the original jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Stanley Paul, 1934.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
A compilation of amazing facts, objects and places as recorded by the then phenomenally prolific Ripley.
Detective Fiction
Rolls (Anthony, pseud. Colwyn Edward Vulliamy) The Vicar’s Experiments
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
"...the case of a country clergyman who happens to be a homicidal maniac..." (jacket blurb). The first crime thriller by Vulliamy, writing as Anthony Rolls.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Richards Press, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractive first edition of this later novel by the 'original' King of Redonda, here in the decidedly uncommon, and rather appealing dust-jacket. "Matthew P. Shiel (I believe he was Irish) wrote a few novels I thought highly worth reading. At the moment I can call to mind only two titles which I've read: Children of the Wind and How the Old Woman Got Home." (Paul Bowles, author of The Sheltering Sky).
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Comprising: The Fellowship of the Ring (13th impression); The Two Towers (10th impression); The Return of the King (9th impression).
London & Boston, George Allen & Unwin; Houghton Mifflin, 1963-62.
First edition, mixed impressions. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jackets, priced 21s.
An attractive first edition set of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece, enjoying yet another renaissance now with the new Amazon series, The Rings of Power.
Detective Fiction
Sydney, Australia, Angus & Robertson, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A scarce first edition by the Australian writer Upfield, set in a farming community in western Australia, featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) of the Queensland Police Force.
Modern Literature
London, Cassell, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very pleasing first edition of this classic Vachell title.
London, Hogarth Press, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, 7s6d.
The first edition of Van der Post's first novel, published under the aegis of Leonard & Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press. The work was considered significant at the time due to its perspective on race relations in South Africa. An attractively jacketed first edition.
Detective Fiction
London, Fisher Unwin, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
An important work by Thrilling Stories of the Railway author Canon Whitechurch, more famous perhaps for its insight into the author's working method as outlined in his preface. An uncommonly good example.
Weird & Supernatural
A Weird Legend
London, W.J. Sinkins, 1893.
First edition. Inscribed by C.H. Ross. 8vo. Floral endpapers. Original green cloth stamped in red.
A very good example of this rare first edition, a weird, Hugoesque tale about a wild child called Terra who is unleashed from the bowels of the earth to wreak havoc on the fortunes of Lord Netherdale and his family with her wicked & wanton ways. Inspired by the story of Mademoiselle Leblanc, the mysterious savage of Soigny, near Chalons, who died in Paris in 1780, it is probable that this work is also leveraging the pervading fin-de-siècle anxiety about the emerging 'new woman'.
This copy is inscribed by one of the authors, C.H. Ross, on the half-title, 'Miss Emily Burgess, with Charles Ross's kind regards, Feb 19th 1905.'