Detective Fiction
Gilbert (Anthony, pseud. Lucy Beatrice Malleson) He Came by Night
London, Collins Crime Club, 1944.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An uncommon '40s title, in better condition than normally found.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1970.
Uncorrected proof copy. 8vo. Original wrappers. Dust-jacket, ?price-clipped.
Collins proofs are distinctly uncommon.
Modern Literature
London, A M. Philpot, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6 on spine and with later 1/- sticker to upper panel.
An uncommon work, in great jacket, by this prolific Scottish author, who produced a remarkable 120 books, plays and essays from 1877 onwards, many under the pseudonym 'Rita'.
Non-Fiction
London, Putnam, 1908.
Sixth edition. 8vo. Original printed wrappers, priced sixpence.
An early edition of this classic of feminist theory, reflecting on women's economic reliance on men, first published in 1898. A landmark treatise in the struggle for gender equality.
Sexuality & Erotica
London, Jarrolds, [1932].
First edition, first printing. 8vo. 39pp. publisher's catalogue dated Spring 1932 at end. Original blue cloth, dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
A tale of sacred & profane love, by an author best known for his science fiction, adventure stories, and historical fiction books for children. This definitely a more adult venture.
Historical Fiction
London, Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1936.
First UK edition, second printing. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, price redacted on inside front flap.
The author's most famous novel outside Germany, in which he describes Nazism as an epidemic and Hitler as a hysteric. However, despite Glaeser's works being put on the Nazi's hate-list for burning, the author returned to Germany from Switzerland in 1939, branding other émigré writers as traitors, and swearing an oath of allegiance to the Reich.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Allen & Unwin, 1932.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, with price-sticker 4/6.
The author's first published novel, a compelling sci-fi work reminiscent of the best works of H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon (a friend of Gloag). The story is of a race of cat people who harness the power of time-travel to visit our planet on multiple occasions, including the 'beginning of the great war of 1999, and the results of that war 400 and 10,000 years later', as well as Jerusalem a few days after the crucifixion. A rare work in the jacket, let alone inscribed; the author has inscribed this copy on the front free endpaper, 'John Gloag October 4th 1932. (Publication night at the Read's).'
Detective Fiction
Mills and Boon, London, 1937
First edition
Detective Fiction
London, Mills & Boon, 1929.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
The first UK edition of this crime thriller; Mills & Boon today have a reputation for "romantic fiction", but they were early champions of several subsequently famous authors, including Jack London and P.G. Wodehouse.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Golding (William), John Wyndham and Mervyn Peake. Sometime, Never
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12s6d.
An intriguing combination of authors: "Each of the three 'tales of imagination' in this book is by a master of the art, and there is enough incident and invention in each of them to surpass most full-length novels." (jacket blurb). The Peake tale Boy in Darkness features Titus, from the Gormenghast books.
Detective Fiction
Goodchild (George) and C.E. Bechhofer Roberts. The Jury Disagree
London, Jarrolds, 1936.
'First cheap edition' (i.e. second edition). 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A compelling 'true crime' collaboration between prolific crime fiction author George Goodchild and the biographer and critic Bechhofer Roberts, a.k.a. 'Ephesian'. First published in 1934.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original light orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A very good copy of this uncommon Goodchild title, the second in his Inspector McLean series.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original maroon cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
A very good first edition of the further adventures of Goodchild's most famous character, Inspector McLean.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
A very good copy of this Inspector McLean title by prolific author Goodchild.
Detective Fiction
London, Ward Lock, 1935
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket priced at 3/6 on front flap and also has tell tale 3 digits on spine indicating a slightly later issue.
Hubin listed title featuring the author's regular detective Insepctor Mclean and his rather fuller-witted assistant Sergeant Brook
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/-.
Non-stop Inspector McLean - what more could you ask for?
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.
A rather lovely copy of this non-McLean title by Goodchild.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Excellent jacket artwork on this the last criminous title by Goodwin; a fugitive tale and a rare book in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Putnam, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket,
Scotland Yard is baffled by a series of deaths climaxing in that of an oil magnate.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Heinemann, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark pink boards. Dust-jacket, pried 13s 6d.
The first edition of this keystone sci-fi work, fascinating on numerous levels, not least for the 'space-folding' capabilities of the indigenous 'dominant beings'.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A great first edition of this uncommon 'thirties title in the jacket. The tale of one man's increasingly desperate attempts to avoid mediocrity.
American Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1951.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
The US author's debut novel, and the most well regarded and critically acclaimed of his works, winner of the 1967 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel.
Detective Fiction
London, T. Fisher Unwin, [1925].
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 3/6.
The notoriously difficult first edition of the first book in the Blackshirt series, by a founding member of the Crime Writer's Association. Despite the chipping, the upper panel with its wonderful artwork is intact.
London, Hutchinson, [1937].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, early issue priced 3/6.
A very good first edition, in early jacket, of what is widely held to be one of the best shipboard murder-mysteries ever written. By the author the original 'Blackshirt' books.
London, T. Fisher Unwin Ltd (Ernest Benn Ltd), 1927 [but 1928?]..
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, second impression (stated, and priced 3s.6d., with Benn imprint to spine).
The second of the author's famous 'Blackshirt' series, nothing to do with Oswald Mosley (or Rodney Spode), rather a 'Raffles'-esque character, author by day, cracksman by night. Early issues of the first and second titles are both known scarcities, especially in the jacket. The book itself has no impression indicated, suggesting it is the first; however, the list of works by the same author facing the title-page includes Passion, Murder and Mystery, which was not published until 1928 (BL). Benn & Fisher Unwin merged in 1926, and this title seems to have been absorbed into Benn's 3/6 Library in 1928 or 1929.
The last time this title surfaced at auction was in 2019, when it made $1875.
Detective Fiction
London, Harrap, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first mystery written under the pseudonym "David Graeme", introducing Raoul de Rohan, an ancestor of the later Blackshirt character that first appeared in 1925.
Weird & Supernatural
Graham (Winifred, pseud. Matilda Winifred Muriel) The Gods of the Dead
London, Rider, 1912.
First edition. 8vo. Original blind-tooled purple cloth.
A rare work of a weird & supernatural bent, Egyptian mummies, reincarnation, ghosts, that sort of thing... Winifred Graham was a a prolific author, though this title was the only one of hers to make it into Bleiler's Guide to Supernatural Fiction (and he was not exactly gentle with it therein!). Distinctly uncommon.
Modern Literature
A Novel of Cornwall
London, Ward Lock, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
The book that started it all... also one of the most attractive dust-jackets from the series. Sales of the novel increased by 205% after the premiere of the 2015 television adaptation.
Weird & Supernatural
A Ghost Story
London & New York, Routledge, [1876].
Routledge's Christmas Annual for 1876. 8vo. Illustrations; advertisements. Original pictorial wrappers.
The first appearance of this classic Victorian ghost story by Scottish author Grant, in Routledge's Christmas Annual for 1876. Rare in the original wrappers.
Detective Fiction
Gray (Berkeley) [Brooks (Edwy Searles)] Six Feet of Dynamite
First edition, Collins, 1941. Edwy Searles Brooks was a UK novelist who wrote under a number of pseudonyms including Berkeley Gray and Victor Gunn. This is a rare work from his canon. From the library of Anthony Lejeune.
Detective Fiction
First edition, London, Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Rare London Knopf imprint, in the remarkable striking dust-jacket designed by Shaw.
Detective Fiction
London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
'Takes us from Australia to Hollywood and provides us with plenty of exciting and hilarious incident in addition to a romance that has a proper ending.'
War, Invasion & Spy
Written by himself. Foreword by Field-Marshal Earl Haig.
London, John Murray, 1924
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 15/-.
A scarce work in the original dust-jacket; an impressive autobiographical study by a man of equally impressive military standing, with a career spanning almost 35 years and seeing action in India, Africa and Sudan, as well as service in New Zealand and Cyprus. The foreword is by Field-Marshal Douglas Haig, a divisive figure in military history, garnering the unfavourable, and possibly unfair, moniker 'The Butcher of the Somme' for his strategic role in WW1.
Weird & Supernatural
or, the Dwarf and the Seer: A Caledonian Legend
London, Joseph Emans, 1824.
First edition. 8vo. Contemporary calf, rebacked in later calf.
A Gothic novel set in medieval Scotland, surprisingly uncommon with only 3 copies recorded in institutional holdings.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
A first edition from master storyteller Graham Greene, the tale of ne'er-do-well Anthony Farrant, who has boasted, lied and cheated his way through jobs all over the world.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London, Heinemann, 1955.
A tale of romance, gambling, revenge and redemption, subject to two film adaptations.