London, Sampson Low, Marston, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. 8pp. advertisements at end. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, early issue with 2/9 price-sticker on top of original 2/6 price.
A scarce classic of Golden Age detective fiction, in an attractive dust-jacket. The book is accompanied by a letter from publishing bureau Curtis Brown to the author Moray Dalton, date 1947, returning three of her titles due to a lack of take-up for reprint by various publishers.
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!
Modern Literature
London, John Murray, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
One of two novels by Heseltine written under the pen-name 'Jane Dashwood'. '...the study of the events of twenty-four hours in the life of an English family, is beautiful and moving, written with a delicate precision and an insight into human nature that are remarkable.' (jacket).
Modern Literature
A Modern Allegory
London, A.B. Campbell, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
'Every Irishman, whatever his political opinions, will enjoy the unique solution of the age-old Irish Problem which provides a gentle satire on present-day world conditions.' (jacket blurb).
Modern Literature
London, Harold Shaylor, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The Welsh author's second novel, focussed on the monotony of life in a Welsh mining community. Attractive jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Heinemann, 1939
First UK edition. 8vo. Not original publisher's cloth, some sort of library binding. Photographic dust-jacket correctly priced at 7s 6d on front flap.
Published in US as 'Poor, poor Yorick.' A Hubin-listed title involving the dumping of a corpse off the coast of Connecticut and the apparent suicide by poisoning of a hostess on the eve of divorce.
Frederick Clyde Davis (1902-1977) was an American pulp writer. He was educated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and became a professional writer at the age of 22. Davis wrote several novels featuring his series detective, Professor Cy Hatch of which this is one.
Modern Literature
London, Williams & Norgate Ltd, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced at 7/6.
An autobiographical insight into the public school traditions and ambitions from the author's youth, including a comparison with the less constricting approaches of similar schools at the time of publication.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1935.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. 8pp. advertisements. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A very good first edition, first impression of this uncommon spy novel by G.Davison, part of a series that began in 1931 with The Man with the Twisted Face.
Modern Literature
Dawe (W. Carlton); [Beardsley (Aubrey, illustrator)] Yellow and White
London & Boston, John Lane; Roberts Bros, 1895.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale green cloth decorated in gilt.
One of the famous Keynotes series published by Lane, featuring designs presumed to be by Aubrey Beardsley. Tales of the pursuit of interracial marriage by white civil servants and the barriers they faced, and similar, by an Australian author. Uncommon.
African literature
London, Macgibbon & Kee, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown boards. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
First edition by Nigerian/Jamaican author Dawes, a partly autobiographical account of a love affair with the Jamaican language and landscape that also interrogates the racial politics of the 1950s & 1960s, and the search for self in a world divided by class.
Weird & Supernatural
and other sketches and vignettes
London etc., Humphrey Milford, 1921.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Printed dust-jacket.
A collection of short stories, many of a supernatural nature. De Montmorency's background was in law, but he was a prolific writer, "much of his published work is of a somewhat miscellaneous and transient character. He was one of the principal contributors to the series of monographs published by the Society of Comparative Legislation under the title of Great Jurists of the World, and he wrote the section 'Sea-policy and the Alabama claims' in the Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, volume 3 (1923). Selections of the articles which he contributed to The Times and the Contemporary Review were published under the titles of The Never-Ending Road (1916), The White Riders (1918), and The Admiral's Chair (1921)." (ODNB)
Weird & Supernatural
and other sketches in war-time
London etc., Humphrey Milford, 1918.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Printed dust-jacket.
A collection of short stories, many of a supernatural nature. De Montmorency's background was in law, but he was a prolific writer, "much of his published work is of a somewhat miscellaneous and transient character. He was one of the principal contributors to the series of monographs published by the Society of Comparative Legislation under the title of Great Jurists of the World, and he wrote the section 'Sea-policy and the Alabama claims' in the Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, volume 3 (1923). Selections of the articles which he contributed to The Times and the Contemporary Review were published under the titles of The Never-Ending Road (1916), The White Riders (1918), and The Admiral's Chair (1921)." (ODNB)
American Literature
London, Gollancz, 1954.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 12/6.
A surprisingly uncommon De Vries edition.
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.
Detective Fiction
London, Gerald Swan, [1943].
First UK edition, published for the 'Ace American Thrillers' series. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
An uncommon first UK edition, originally published in the US in 1940. The second of three well-regarded murder mysteries by Dean, set amongst the world of antique dealing.
Detective Fiction
Dean (Spencer, pseud. Prentice Winchell) Dishonour Among Thieves
London & New York, T. V. Boardman, 1959.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
A good example of the first UK edition of this work, issued as number 242 in the 'American Bloodhound Mystery' series.
Detective Fiction
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. 1p. advertisements. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
A tale of espionage, romance and Eastern exoticism, set just before the outbreak of WWI. An excellent copy.
Detective Fiction
Translated from the French by Maverick Terrell. First English edition, London, T. Werner Laurie, 1936. One of the prolific French author's whodunits. Dekobra (real name Maurice Tessier) was one of France's best-known authors during the interwar period, and several of his books were made into films.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Bell & Daldy, 1863.
First edition. 8vo. Original tooled brown cloth.
A compilation of imaginative representations of folk- & later tales. Uncommon.
Detective Fiction
A Judge Peck Mystery Story
London, George Newnes, [1936]..
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 2/6.
A stunning jacket on this first UK edition of Arkham House stalwart Derleth's second Judge Peck mystery, in which not one but three sons-in-law meet an unknown death. First published in the US in 1934. The splendid jacket artwork features a naked man on all fours, of course, holding a smoking gun.
Modern Literature
First edition, in early reprint wrapper priced at 2/6' (the first issue was priced 7/6').
London. Duckworth, 1925
A novel about the Irish ‘revolution’ in 1916.
Modern Literature
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A wonderful first edition of this novel, recounting the adventures, misadventures and epiphanies of a disparate collection of characters cloistered together in a large holiday house.
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!
Weird & Supernatural
London, Robert Hale, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in green with silver stamped logo to spine. Dust-jacket correctly priced 10s 6d.
One of the last novels by Cicely Sibyl Alexandra Dick-Erikson under the pseudonym Alexandra Dick (she also wrote as Frances Hay), a story of murder & satanism. Uncommon.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, W.H. Allen, 1978.
First edition. Ex-Library. 8vo. Original blue boards lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced £3.25.
An uncommon first edition from the Tom Baker era 'Doctor Who', by one of the authors most famously associated with the series; it is probable many copies went into the public library system.
Detective Fiction
London, John Hamilton, 1928.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
From Hamilton's Sundial Mystery Library series; a departure from Hamilton's more usual aeronautical vibe, and a seemingly scarce first edition in the original dust-jacket. A chance encounter with a sinister Chinese Secret Society sees the protagonist tossed into a world of intrigue, with a dash of romantic peril for good measure.
Detective Fiction
London, John Hamilton, 1928.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
From Hamilton's Sundial Mystery Library series; a departure from Hamilton's more usual aeronautical vibe, and a seemingly scarce first edition in the original dust-jacket. A chance encounter with a sinister Chinese Secret Society sees the protagonist tossed into a world of intrigue, with a dash of romantic peril for good measure.
Detective Fiction
London, Bles, 1935.
'Popular Edition', second printing. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Originally published in 1926, this attractive early edition in the Abbey jacket is a hard find; Dilnot was a journalist associated with true crime stories, in particular through his editorship of the Famous Trials series also published by Geoffrey Bles.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Michael Joseph, 1968.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
The third of Diment's spy novels featuring Philip McAlpine, whom critic Anthony Boucher described as "an agent who smokes hashish, leads a highly active sex life, kills vividly, uses (or even coins) the latest London slang and still seems a perfectly real (and even oddly likeable) young man rather than a reflected Bond image. The suitably sixties' jacket artwork is by Bill Botten, known for his J.G. Ballard jackets.
War, Invasion & Spy
New York, Dutton, 1967.
First US edition. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Dust-jacket, priced $3.95.
The first US edition of the first of Diment's spy novels featuring Philip McAlpine, whom critic Anthony Boucher described as "an agent who smokes hashish, leads a highly active sex life, kills vividly, uses (or even coins) the latest London slang and still seems a perfectly real (and even oddly likeable) young man rather than a reflected Bond image.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Michael Joseph, 1968.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
The second of Diment's spy novels featuring Philip McAlpine, whom critic Anthony Boucher described as "an agent who smokes hashish, leads a highly active sex life, kills vividly, uses (or even coins) the latest London slang and still seems a perfectly real (and even oddly likeable) young man rather than a reflected Bond image. The jacket artwork seemingly takes inspiration from Richard Chopping's James Bond jackets.
Horror & Gothic
London, Putnam, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket.
Seven Gothic Tales showcases Blixen's range and depth beyond her famed autobiographical piece Out of Africa. While the latter presents an intimate view of colonial Africa, Seven Gothic Tales takes readers on a different journey into the realms of the macabre, mystical and romantic, something which had intrigued the author from a young age. Rex Whistler's characteristic artwork lends itself perfectly.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London. Robert Hale, 1945
Dorothy Cameron Disney (1903-1992) was an American writer who wrote 9 mystery novels.
![Walt Disney, Sketch Book [of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs], first edition, 1938](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/84886-300x300.jpg)
[London], Collins, [1938].
First edition. 4to. Original tan cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
One of the more sought-after Disney books from its Golden Era, with no coeval American edition.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Ward Lock, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
The first book by the author of The Golden Fluid, contains fantastic elements, including a gem with occult powers. Excellent semi-abstract jacket artwork.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Ward Lock, 1935
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket price clipped. Three digits at base of spine indicates this is an early reprint.
Hubin listed title with strong sci-fi overtones in which an Oriental cadre of secret masters aspire to immortality through imbibing an elixir of unknown provenance, and by using advanced technology to preserve themselves. They threaten the world, but are defeated in the end (Blieler p61, the only title by this author listed).