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.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London. Gollancz, 1934
Novel about a doctor in a small town, written by one-time house physician at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Uncommon.
Detective Fiction
A Series of Reminiscences and Adventures in Many Lands
London, Hurst & Blackett, [1926].
First edition. Large 8vo. Plates. Original red cloth lettered & ruled in black. Dust-jacket, early issue, with '1st Cheap Edition' and 2/6 to the spine.
An excellent copy of this compilation of nine stories by Ashton-Wolfe, drawing upon his years immersed in the world of crime, first as an assistant to Alphonse Bertillon, the great advocate of criminal anthropometrics, in Paris, then as an interpreter in the British law courts. The striking jacket artwork is by Hookway Cowles.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1953.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s 6d.
The first of Asimov's influential science fiction series, a cornerstone of modern speculative fiction. The UK edition came out two years after the US.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
New York, Gnome Press, 1952.
First edition, first printing, first state. 8vo. Original red boards lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly listing 26 titles on lower panel and priced $2.75.
The first edition of the second volume in Asimov's epic Foundation trilogy, one of the original monumental works of science fiction. Here in the correct first issue dust-jacket, in pleasing condition.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Boardman, 1955.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black boards stamped in silver. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d.
An uncommon edition of this title, the second chronologically in his 'Galactic Empire' series.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Michael Joseph, 1958.
First UK edition, publisher's review copy with notification pinned to front free endpaper. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 13s6d.
A sci-fi crime thriller by Asimov, the second in his 'Robot' sequence, following on from The Caves of Steel.
Detective Fiction
New Stories of Murder and Mystery
New York, Charles Scribners, 1928.
First US edition. 8vo. Original pictorial orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
One of several anthologies compiled by the writer and socialite Lady Cynthia Asquith, herself known as an author of ghost stories. Uncommon in the original dust-jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, James Barrie, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
A pleasing first edition of this collection of weird & supernatural tales, containing many of Lady Asquith's best-known tales. The contents mirror those of her 1947 anthology, This Mortal Coil, but with 'The Follower' omitted and 'The Nurse Never Told' retitled as 'From What Beginnings?'.
Detective Fiction
London, The Readers Library, n.d. [1933].
First edition thus. Small 8vo. 2pp. advertisements. Original cloth, gilt. Dust-jacket, adverts printed to reverse.
An attractive pre-war edition, in good jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Duckworth, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
...a critical and sympathetic picture of modern life and its social problems...is it better to escape, or to play one's part? (jacket)
Illustrated Books
London, Macmillan, 1897.
Illustrated edition. 8vo. Original gilt decorative cloth.
An attractive illustrated edition of Austen's most underrated work, with an introduction by Austin Dobson.
Children's Books
London, Edmund Ward, 1964.
First edition. Oblong 12mo. Original dark blue pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 5/6.
First edition of the nineteenth book in the Rev. Awdry's famous 'Railway Series'.
Children's Books
London, Edmund Ward, 1967.
First edition. Oblong 12mo. Original dark-blue pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
First edition of the twenty-second book in the Rev. Awdry's famous 'Railway Series'.
Children's Books
London, Edmund Ward, 1963.
First edition. Oblong 12mo. Original pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
First edition of the eighteenth book in the Rev. Awdry's famous 'Railway Series'.
Children's Books
London, Edmund Ward, 1959.
First edition. Oblong 12mo. Original pale yellow pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
First edition of the fourteenth book in the Rev. Awdry's famous 'Railway Series'.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A collection of six stories showcasing the forensic talents of feature cases of Mr. Reggie Fortune, a surgeon working for Scotland Yard.
Detective Fiction
London, Ward Lock, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket.
An uncommon first edition, featuring Bailey's serial character the surgeon Mr Fortune.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Joshua Clunk makes his full-length novel debut in this work, having appeared previously in short stories only. The work also features a cameo by Bailey's other recurring character, Reggie Fortune.
Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1957.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original reddish brown cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 15s.
The first UK edition of American author Baldwin's second novel, following his famous semi-autobiographical work Go Tell it on the Mountain. The novel is viewed as an important work on sexuality, focusing on an American man in 1950s Paris navigating a tense love triangle and grappling with his sexual identity, with things made yet more complicated by a murder and an execution. The work was ranked number 2 on a list of the best 100 gay and lesbian novels compiled by The Publishing Triangle in 1999.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
and Other Stories
London, Jonathan Cape, 1976.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced £3.50.
An attractive, albeit ex-library, copy of this important collection of Ballard stories, in the distinctive wrap-around Bill Botten jacket.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Classic stuff by Jean Barre, here writing under her own name rather than a pseudonym.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1934].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Another attractive first edition by Wright & Brown, written by one of their more prolific authors.
Children's Books
Barrie (J.M.) and May Byron. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
London, Hodder & Stoughton, c.1929.
Small 4to. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Barrie's famous Peter Pan, in a rerendering by May Byron and featuring Rackham's splendid illustrations.
Children's Books
The original text of Peter & Wendy...newly illustrated by Edmund Blampied
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1939.
First Blampied edition. Small 4to. Illustrations and plates. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
A wonderful illustrated edition of Barrie's classic for children.
Historical Fiction
London, Methuen, 1948.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in white. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
The third and final volume in the author's Neustrian Cycle.
Weird & Supernatural
A practical treatise in support of the assertion that the hand-writing of a person is an infallible guide to his character
London, William Rider, 1919.
Third edition, revised & enlarged. 8vo. Original cloth. Printed dust-jacket.
A scarce graphological work, particularly in the original dust-jacket and in such condition. The eldest daughter of an eminent London newspaper man, Rosa Baughan was a prolific writer on spiritualist subjects, including graphology, divination and the influence of the stars.
London, Bles, 1937.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth, dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
Attractive first UK edition of this important work by the author of The Grand Hotel, set during the 1906 Dutch intervention in Bali.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Ernest Benn, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth stamped in orange. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A spy thriller, previously serialised in The Daily Mail, "with the publication of the book Mr. Baxter will join the small and distinguished order of Shockers Extraordinary to the British Empire." (jacket blurb)
Horror & Gothic
London, Sands & Company, 1899.
First edition. 8vo. Woodcut device to title. Original pictorial cloth lettered in gilt to spine.
A gothic mystery novel set on the English moors involves a country squire in danger and his son investigating threats to his life, tracing back to an Indian subplot. Central to the tale are a mad prince, a Dartmoor escapee, multiple disguises, a vengeful Indian thug...and extensive cycling. The story opens with a unique 'face at the window' moment. Uncommon, notably compared to its American counterpart.
Illustrated Books
First edition. London, The British Broadcasting Corporation, 1931. One of the wonderful BBC Handbooks, in attractive dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
and other Tales of Adventure
London, Hodder & Stoughton, n.d. [c.1930].
Early edition. 8vo. Original red decorative cloth. Dust-jacket, no price.
A lovely copy of this compilation of stories by American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player Rex Beach.