War, Invasion & Spy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original light blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Ronald Standish of the Secret Service steps up to assist Bulldog Drummond in this attractive first edition.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first collection of stories focused on Ronald Standish of the Secret Service, by the creator of Bulldog Drummond.
War, Invasion & Spy
‘Taffrail’ (Captain Taprell Dorling, D.S.O., R.N.) The Man from Scapa Flow
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original near black cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Nautical fiction by an author with first hand experience of naval service. Includes an evocative account of a journey by sleeper train to the Orkney Islands in the period just before the Second World War.
Detective Fiction
First edition, inscribed by the author on the frontispiece.
London. Lincoln Williams, 1935
According to the Bear Alley blog the book is listed in the English Catalogue of Books as having appeared in February 1935 and it was listed under the pen-name "Trill". The publisher Lincoln Williams went into administration in July 1935 so the book probably wasn’t reprinted. Trill was a pen name for Harry C. Liebart according to Hubin. Very scarce in a jacket.
Detective Fiction
or, The Murder in the Red Barn
London, John Lane The Bodley Head, 1943.
Second edition thus, reprint. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
A modern rendering of the popular 19th-century melodrama relating to a high-profile murder case of 1827. Here with an introduction by the playwright Montagu Slater, famous for his work with Benjamin Britten.
Travel
[Beckford (William)] Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha.
By the author of "Vathek"
London, Richard Bentley, 1835.
First edition. 8vo. Engraved mezzotint portrait frontispiece, half-title, xi, 228pp. Later full tan morocco gilt, by Riviere.
An attractive association copy of Vathek author William Beckford's memoir of his travels in Portugal. Beckford first travelled to Portugal in 1787, mostly staying in the environs of Lisbon and Sintra; he returned in 1793, taking up residence in a coastal villa overlooking the Tagus estuary, from where he planned this excursion to the nearby monasteries. Although he found Alcobaça gloomy and "Saxon", Batalha intrigued and enchanted him. It was also said to have had a significant influence on various aspects of his famous, constantly evolving designs for Fonthill Abbey.
This copy is from the library of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, with his bookplate and Epsom library bookstamp - many of the books from "The Durdans" were sold at auction in 1933, including eighty-six Beckford titles, which is presumably when this book came onto the market. The Rosebery family has a long association with Beckford, bibliographically, the first Lord Rosebery buying prodigiously from the auction of Beckford's library at the Hamilton Palace sales in the 1880s. Further books and manuscripts from the Rosebery family collection, housed in Barnbougle Castle in Scotland, were sold at auction in 2009.
in testimony of the divinity of Christ: with scripture illustrations and remarks
York, for the author, 1825.
Third edition. Special presentation copy from the author. 8vo. 19th century cathedral binding with blind & gilt tooling, marbled fly leaves.
A special presentation copy of this work on divinity, with a calligraphic plate mounted to front fly leaf signed by the author, dedicated to Lord Eldon for his work in extolling the virtues of Christianity.
American Literature
London, John Long, 1923.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A rather stunning first UK of this famous account of Missouri life. Although Croy was primarily a humorist, this is a serious, realistic novel in the vein of Theodore Dreiser and Thomas Hardy.
Children's Books
London, Sampson Low, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial boards and matching dust-jacket.
A good copy of this title from the 'Cherubs' series of books, uncommon in the dust-jacket. Hodgetts was most famous as the creator of the character Toby Twirl, a Rupert-the-bear-esque character based on a soft toy owned by the illustrator for the series, Edward Jeffrey.
Modern Literature
An anthology of stories chosen by their own authors
London, Faber & Faber, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Contributors include Martin Armstrong, A.E. Coppard, Louis Golding, James Laver, H. de V. Stacpoole and Alec Waugh.
Detective Fiction
London, Drane's, [1924].
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An uncommon first edition of this collection published by an uncommon imprint. Many of the tales revolve around a consulting detective agency in Calcutta, as in the author's coeval work Benjamin & Co., and despite a tendency towards some rather "old school" jingoism and misogyny do include some rather wonderfully evocative sketches of colonial life in India.
Modern Literature
London, Drane's, [1924].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
Compelling jacket artwork graces this compilation of short stories, mostly of an Oriental bent. An uncommon imprint.
African literature
London, Heinemann, 1987.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original pale green boards. Dust-jacket, priced £10.95.
A fine inscribed first printing of Achebe's Booker Prize shortlisted work.
Modern Literature
London, John Day, 1967.
First US edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced $5.50.
In this moving story Chinua Achebe catches perfectly the atmosphere of African village life, the beautiful proverb-laden language of the Ibo and their touching, strangely formal customs of worship and hospitality. (jacket)
African literature
London, Heinemann, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 13s6d.
A lovely first edition of this tale of Lagos corruption by Nigerian writer Achebe, the scarce second volume in Achebe's landmark 'African trilogy'.
Modern Literature
New York, Mcdowell-Obolensky, 1959.
First US edition, second issue (with reviews to rear panel). 8vo. Original grey boards. Dust-jacket, priced $3.95.
One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'. Achebe's first book, and the first part of the author's 'African Trilogy', Things Fall Apart is the compelling story of one man's battle to protect his community against the forces of change. Scarce.
Detective Fiction
London, Philip Macdonald, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
A very good first edition, featuring the author's second major series character, Roger Bennion.
Children's Books
Agg (Howard) and Cecile Adair. Meetoo and the Little Creatures.
The Story of an Adventure
London, Harrap, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
Lovely illustrations and jacket artwork complement and enhance this cute book for children, about animals who save themselves from a flooding river by sailing off in a top hat.
Weird & Supernatural
London, R. Everingham for R. Bentley [...] and Dan Brown, 1694.
Third printing of the second edition in English. 8vo. Engraved frontispiece portrait, pp.[18], 368, [1 (final blank)]. Contemporary calf, rebacked in later calf lettered in gilt.
The third printing of the second English translation of Agrippa's De Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientiarum, originally published in Antwerp in 1530. The work was first translated into English in 1569, followed by this 17th-century translation in 1676, 1684, and 1694.
Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), German occultist, astrologer and alchemist to Emperor Charles the Fifth of Germany. Agrippa enjoyed a varied, if somewhat insecure career as a physician, diplomat, teacher and soldier, arousing the enmity of the Inquisition for his defense of a witch.
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.
War, Invasion & Spy
Chatto & Windus, London, 1929 first edition
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Faber, 1963.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
Science fiction short stories by a leading British light of the genre, inscribed to his 'Aunt Bodger'.
Modern Literature
London, Sampson Low, [1933].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A very good first edition of this uncommon title, on which this author's reputation primarily resides.
Modern Literature
The novel of the play by Arnold Ridley and Bernard Merivale
London, Selwyn & Blount, 1928.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Striking jacket artwork adorns this tale of railway sabotage.
Modern Literature
Lagos, Nigerian Printing & Publising, [1959].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 12/6.
A nice example of the true first edition of this depiction of the contradiction of Yoruba culture and the Christian missionaries. It was republished as part of Heinemann's influential 'African Writers Series'.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A truly pleasing example of Ambler's second political thriller, notably scarce in the jacket, and especially in such condition.
Modern Literature
London, Peter Davies, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Frontispiece portrait, plates. Original cloth. Photographic dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
A scarce find in the dust-jacket. The book chronicles Anahareo's adventures with the faux apache 'Grey Owl' as they travelled along the waterways of Northern Ontario, having met in Canada when she was 19. Not to be confused with the later Devil in Deerskins: My Life with Grey Owl, which is written after she had purportedly become aware that Grey Owl was in fact an Englishman named Archibald Stansfeld Belaney... Anahareo did not achieve the same fame as Grey Owl, but she played an important role in the conservation and animal rights movement, something she had been passionate about throughout her life.
Detective Fiction
First UK edition.
London. William Heinemann Ltd, 1937
Crime novel about small-time bank robbers, best known perhaps as the basis for the 1948 film They Live By Night, starring Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell. A 1974 Robert Altman film, starring Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall used the original title but deviated further from the original novel.
Modern Literature
London, Piatkus, 1980.
First UK edition, first hardback edition. 8vo. Original burgundy boards. Dust-jacket, without price.
The first hardback printing of Virginia Andrews' darkly psychological, grimly compelling thriller, the first in a series which was eventually, upon the author's death, taken over by a ghost writer. The book was first published in the US in paperback. Copies often turn up without a price as in this case.
Horror & Gothic
First edition. Includes stories by, E.S. Knights, Hester Gorst, Elliott O'Donnell, John Ratho, Charles Lloyd and others. London, Philip Allan, 1933 In our experience the most elusive of the Creeps series with no copies currently for sale online.
Modern Literature
Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1970.
First US edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $5.95.
A very good first edition of Ghanaian author Armah's second novel, recounting the experiences of a Ghanaian man's return to Ghana after an education in the US.
London, Stanley Paul, 1927.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Advertisements. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Detective fiction with spy thriller overtones, courtesy of Anglo-Canadian author 'Anthony Armstrong' - striking jacket artwork; scarce.
War, Invasion & Spy
Armstrong (Anthony) and Bruce Graeme. When the Bells Rang, A Tale of What Might Have Been.
First edition.
London, Harrap, 1943.
The authors imagine the consequences of a Nazi invasion ultimately defeated. A rare title listed in Bleiler but not in Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy.
Modern Literature
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1925.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale sage cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Attractive dust-jacket, a love story set against the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1923.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1935.
Features series character Spike Tracey who is studying the local paper for promising openings in crime when one literally blows in on his doorstep.
Rare in wrapper especially one as good as this.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1933.
When the dignified life of Steven Kester came to an undignified end there were several people with potential motives. Serial character Spike Tracy acts as detective and solves the mystery.
Rare in d/w.