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.
Modern Literature
London, Neville Spearman, 1956.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The first UK edition of Donleavy's controversial novel set in Dublin, banned both in Ireland and the United States of America for perceived obscenity. The work was first published in Paris by the Olympia Press, as part of their Traveller's Companion series, normally reserved for risque erotica, much to the chagrin of Donleavy. The author ended up in long-running legal wranglings with the publisher, finally actually taking ownership of the publishing house when it came up at auction.
American Literature
London, Constable, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth stamped in yellow. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
The first UK edition of the second in Dos Passos's 'USA Trilogy', in which he evaluates the damage done by World War I. Nineteen Nineteen focuses on the fear and social unrest on the home front.
Modern Literature
La Chapelle-Réanville, The Hours Press, 1929.
First edition, one of 300 copies on verge paper, from an overall limitation of 500, this unnumbered and assumed out-of-series for presentation. 8vo. Original brown boards, lettered in gilt to upper cover.
Important association copy of the fifth book issued on the Hours Press. The Hours Press was established in Normandy by Nancy Cunard who had obtained the equipment of the Three Mountains Press at a bargain price. "The success of the Hours Press was never in doubt except at the very beginning, when Cunard had only vague ideas of producing contemporary poetry. In its three years, the Hours Press was typographically insignificant (despite its exciting bindings), but in literary terms it was one of the most important of all the private presses". (Cave, The Private Press, p. 193).
Raymond Mortimer was a prominent British literary critic and editor, known for his influential work with the New Statesman magazine. His insightful analyses and cultured sensibilities established him as a leading figure in the British literary world during the mid-20th century.
Detective Fiction
Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes.
London, John Murray, 1917
First edition. 8vo. 6pp. advertisements. Original cloth.
A collection of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, including the titular short story, 'His Last Bow: The War Service of Sherlock Holmes'.
Detective Fiction
Detective Stories
New York, Murray Book Corporation, 1930.
'New Edition'. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket.
An intriguingly supernatural themed jacket elevates this omnibus of Holmes stories.
Detective Fiction
[pp.210-224 in The Strand Magazine, vol.LXV
London, Newnes, January - June 1923].
First edition. 4to. Publisher's bevelled pale blue pictorial cloth blocked in black & gilt.
An unsettling, cautionary Sherlock Holmes tale about drug-fuelled lust...and a certain amount of monkey business. Included in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927). Other authors present in this volume include P.G. Wodehouse (including 'Jeeves Takes Charge'), Aldous Huxley and E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Detective Fiction
London, Newnes, 1902.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth blocked in elaborate gilt to upper cover and spine, with inset black silhouette of the Hound to upper cover. With custom made morocco-backed cloth drop back box.
Without doubt one of the most thrilling and atmospheric adventures of everybody's favourite consulting detective, a glorious blend of goth pseudo supernatural and definitive Holmesian deductive scene stealing, The Hound of the Baskervilles exists very much in a realm of its own.
The novel, the third of four featuring Holmes, was the first tale to be published after Doyle threw his most notable creation off a waterfall, and its considerable commercial success was really the catalyst for Holmes' triumphal return to life. With more plots than Varney the Vampire (actually five in all, including red herrings...so we're exaggerating, because everyone knows Varney has about 750), it seems very much a harking back to the Victorian style of creeper, very Le Fanu or Wilkie Collins, with its diary entries, and letters, unearthed manuscript and doom laden portents uttered by gloomy locals staring out of windows overlooking marsh land. It's glorious and deeply enjoyable, and pretty scarce in this bright, sublime condition. Easily the best copy we have ever handled.
Detective Fiction
London, Newnes, 1905.
First edition. 8vo. Plates. Advertisements. Original blue cloth.
A collection of thirteen Sherlock Holmes stories originally published in the Strand Magazine and Collier's. Sherlock Holmes was resurrected after apparently meeting his end at the Reichenbach Falls nearly a decade earlier. The collection features the detective's signature deductive reasoning and showcases some of his most intricate and thrilling cases.
Detective Fiction
London, John Murray, 1929,
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Rare in dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, John Murray, 1940.
Cheap Edition reprint. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/- with 2/6 price sticker overlaid.
A neat edition of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tale The Sign of Four, with the iconic dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Newnes, 1893.
Third edition. 8vo. Original brown pictorial cloth decorated in various colours.
A decent example of the rare third edition of Doyle's second novel to feature the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Weird & Supernatural
and other Naval Stories. As originally Told to the Marines by one of themselves.
Portsmouth, Charpentier, 1896.
True first edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth stamped in gilt.
A rare collection of nautical tales, many of a weird and supernatural bent. The collection is referenced in Bleiler's Guide to Supernatural Fiction, the main entry given to the 1899 Simpkin, Marshall edition, but noting 'There is an earlier edition of this book (Charpentier; Portsmouth, England 1896), which has not been seen.'
William Price Drury (1861-1949) was himself in the Royal Marines, as was the previous owner of this copy, General Sir Lewis Stratford Tollemache Halliday.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Nelson, 1926.
First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
African adventure revolving around the hunting for ivory. Featured in Reginald's Science fiction and fantasy literature.
Detective Fiction
Edinburgh & London, William Hodge & Company, Limited, 1927
First edition, inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket.
A very good copy. Inscribed by the author, one presumes, thus: 'To dear Winifred, with much love from an affectionate old friend Winnie, in remembrance of her visit to Station House. June 1927.' An easy to find book, but very uncommon both inscribed and in jacket. Contains a novel and two shorter pieces.
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [c.1920].
Large 8vo. 14 plates with captioned paper guards. Original blind-tooled blue cloth, gilt lettering to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
A wonderful copy of Dulac's illustrated stories of Hans Christian Andersen, originally published in a different format in 1911. Rare in the original dust-jacket, especially in such condition.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Heinemann, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket.
A good first edition of Dunsany's classic humorous novel about an alcohol-loving clergyman who thinks he is the reincarnation of a dog...the jacket artwork says it all.
Modern Literature
London, Constable and Company Ltd, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractive first edition, the story revolves around the compelling attraction of some monolithic stones in the highlands of Scotland and the spell that they weave.
Detective Fiction
London, John Crowther, 1946
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth stamped in silver. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
A superior copy of this uncommon first edition by the enigmatic Mary Durham, present in the correct first issue dust-jacket. The story features the author's serial character Chief Inspector York.
Travel
London, Harrap, 1938.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 9/-.
Amelia Earhart's absorbing account of her ill-fated last flight around the world, begun in 1937, comprising her diary entries and other notes - a classic of aviation history. Amelia Earhart was twice the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air: initially in 1928 as a passenger just a year after Lindbergh's pioneering flight and then in 1932, flying solo.
War, Invasion & Spy
First edition
London, Putnam, 1933.
Signed and inscribed by the author one month after publication (March 1933). A Hubin-listed secret service adventure set in London and India.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1942.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
A compelling murder mystery set amongst the old sugar plantations of Louisiana. Uncommon.
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!
Weird & Supernatural
London, R. & L. Locker, 1947.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Striking jacket artwork on this semi-weird tale of arcane rites in the Brazilian forest.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Robert Hale, 1952 [1953].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9/6.
Good first UK edition of this tale of romance and espionage, 'a breath-taking romance loaded with the dynamite of military secrets and international intrigue.' (jacket blurb)
Modern Literature
London, Robert Hale, [c.1950s].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
"Margo Haynes is lovely and lovable but her love is dangerous" (jacket blurb).
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1952.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
An attractive first UK edition, packed with thrills, romance, mystery, and suspense.
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.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London. Arthur Baker, 1949
Curt Prentice drives across more than half a continent to kill Judd Mason in revenge for the deaths of his wife and brother-in-law. An uncommon pulp title by an author who became a Hollywood scriptwriter. Among the works for which Edgley became known are the scripts for many episodes of Perry Mason.
Detective Fiction
London, The Literary Press, [c.1930].
First edition thus. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/-.
An early edition of this well-known Hollywood murder mystery, made into a 1929 film with Chester Conklin.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London. Ward Lock, 1936
To a quiet West Country village comes Claude Weir, mystery man after which peace is transformed into horror. A very attractive example from the Golden Age era.
Modern Literature
A Tragedy of Manners
London, Denis Archer, 1933.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author to bohemian writer Edith Templeton. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price on spine ablated.
An attractive, inscribed first edition by the illustrator, writer and costume designer Beresford Egan. The full-page inscription is to the writer and bohemian Edith Templeton:
"For Edith Templeton, Have I exhumed this memory that she may perform a post mortem, & which can have but one verdict - MURDER in all degrees. Beresford Egan. 1951."
There follows a short, seemingly unpublished poem in Egan's hand:
"Time does not fly / Nor does a memory fade / Time is the Father / Who / Incestuous lies / With Memory, unfaded / True / But ever faithless Jade. BA"
Illustrated Books
A Novel in Black and White [London], Denis Archer, 1933. First edition. 8vo. Original terracotta cloth lettered in black. Glassine dust-jacket priced fifteen shillings net. An excellent example of this work derived from a lecture given by Egan in 1933 on the subject of drawing, and featuring drawings by the 20th century master of pen & ink himself. What truly sets this copy apart is the presence of the original glassine dust-jacket, extremely uncommon.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, 1963.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of this novel by Nigerian author Ekwensi, with possibly the most extensive "synopsis" to ever grace a dust-jacket's inner flaps.
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.