Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Hutchinson, [1926]
The continuing adventures of Allan Quatermain, set in the middle of the Dark Continent ruled by a huge, pale man with a strange knowledge of future events. One of two works published posthumously.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
First edition, first issue binding.
London. Charles Griffin & Co, [1909]
Early Sci-Fi with a fin de siècle perspective on interplanetary voyaging across the solar system. A companion volume to his The Stolen Planet novel. In Bleiler.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition thus.
London. Reader's Library, [1934 according to COPAC but could be earlier]
Death by poisoning in a locked bedroom at Staups, an isolated manor house on the Yorkshire Moors. Weird elements, a supposedly cursed jewel and sacrificial knives looted from the temple of Aztec descendants living in Central America, Author’s first crime novel, published in the UK by Bles in 1927.
War, Invasion & Spy
First edition.
London. Hutchinson, [1940]
Part of the ‘First Novel’ series. Hutchinson’s First Novel Library would go on to publish a total of 139 titles in the series before ending in 1951, comprising first novels, often by authors using a pseudonym.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London, Putnam, 1936
A very elusive political satire in which a Scottish shirt maker - Andrew McAndrew - corners the market for political shirts. In the novel the author satirises the symbolic power of the shirt with garments whose actual colour imbue the wearer with a political attitude. What’s not to like about a novel that pokes fun at Oswald Mosley’s Fascist Blackshirt movement.
Detective Fiction
First edition. London, Methuen 1922 A Hubin listed mystery in the very elusive jacket which has some visual similarity to the jacket design of ‘Mysterious Affair at Styles’, Agatha Christie’s first novel, published two years earlier. John Moroso was a New York based writer who contributed to various publications in the 1910s and 1920s and also wrote a story about life in an east side New York City ghetto titled The Stumbling Herd, which was made into a silent film in 1926
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Cassell, 1939
The story centres on the murder of Mr Norwitch found stabbed in an antiques shop. The author worked in an antiques store and clearly draws heavily on this experience. According to authoritative website www.classiccrimefiction.com, UK first editions in original jackets are rare especially this title.
Weird & Supernatural
25th impression.
London, Ernest Benn, 1931
A very rare example. There are no copies of this edition online let alone with a near fine wrapper.