Detective Fiction
First edition. London. Collins, 1927 ‘[a] swift-moving thriller...gives a vivid picture of life in New York’s underworld.’ (jacket blurb) A very good, unsophisticated example of this title by prolific Canadian author [William] Hulbert Footner, listed in Hubin but wrongly dated as 1929 (the date of the first US edition) therein. We could find no copies of this the true first edition on WorldCat’s database for institutional holdings. Exceedingly scarce in the original dust-jacket. From the collection of Adrian Homer Goldstone, 1897-1977 (bookplate). Goldstone was a renowned Californian book-collector, particularly well know for his bibliographies of Arthur Machen and John Steinbeck, both of which were published through the University of Texas.
Detective Fiction
More Madame Storey Mysteries.
London, Collins Crime Club, 1933
First edition, second impression (i.e. first Cheap Edition, published the same month as the first). 8vo. 4pp. advertisements. Original orange cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 3'6 (1st Cheap Edition).
A very good copy of this compilation of short stories by the prolific author Hulbert Footner, featuring his well-known protagonist Madame Rosika Storey. Scarce in the dust-jacket. Preceding the US edition by four years.
Detective Fiction
Further Crime Investigations of Madame Storey.
London, Collins Crime Club, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth (red issue). Dust-jacket, second state, correctly priced 3/6.
The ongoing exploits of Footner's serial character, the brilliant lady detective, Madame Storey, set in Paris. The second issue jacket is to a wholly different design than the first, and as a result considered highly collectable.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1930
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket correctly priced at 7/6.
Hubin-listed tale involving the escapades of a couple of multi-millionaires' sons who come up against a band of rum-runners.
No copies in commerce at time of listing.
Weird & Supernatural
Fortune (Dion, pseud. Violet Mary Firth Evans) The Demon Lover
London, Noel Douglas, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark green cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
The rare first edition of occultist Dion Fortune's first novel, revolving around a secret society of mystics in London, and the machinations of their leader, Lucas. Fortune co-founded the 'Fraternity of the Inner Light', an occult organisation that promoted philosophies which she claimed had been taught to her by spiritual entities known as the Ascended Masters.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Eveleigh Nash & Grayson, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A scarce weird & supernatural 30s title, rare in the original dust-jacket, with its ominous play on "what the butler saw".
Modern Literature
A self-portrait in Ideas
London, Jonathan Cape, 1965.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 30s.
Fowles' "self-portrait in ideas", in which he tries to represent the necessity of the individual not to conform. Published on the heels of his success with The Collector.
Modern Literature
London, Pendulum Publications, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The semi-autobiographical first book by Frances, who would go on to great success with hardboiled US-style thrillers written under the pseudonym Hank Janson. These books were phenomenally successful in their time, opening the way for a variety of copycat British authors writing in a similar vein, but they did also court controversy when a murder supposedly inspired by one of the Hank Janson titles led to the publishers being taken to court and successfully prosecuted for obscenity (the author managed to avoid a similar fate on it seems a technicality). The publisher Pendulum was set up by Frances, with a doctor friend of his.
![Caroline Francis, Director's Corridor, first edition, [1936]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84578-300x300.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Hutchinson, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
One of only two murder-mysteries we could trace by this author, and published under Hutchinson's First Novel Library series (#46).
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The continuing adventures of arch deductionist Dr Thorndyke. A tricky first edition in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
New York, Dodd Mead, 1958.
First US edition. 8vo. Original green cloth stamped in black. Dust-jacket, priced $2.
Great jacket artwork on this US compilation of eight Dr Thorndyke stories.
Detective Fiction
related by Christopher Jervis, M.D.
London, Chatto & Windus, 1916.
First edition, reissue with tipped-in title 1916. 8vo. Original first edition cloth.
A nice first edition of a Haycraft-Queen cornerstone, relating stories of medical detection. The book uses the first editions sheets and binding, but has an updated title-page.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1934.
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original blind-tooled red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
An attractive early impression of this 'Yellow Jacket' Dr Thorndyke tale, bringing the good doctor's famous forensic mind to bear once more.
Detective Fiction
A Story of Crime by...Ex-Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard Author of "The Crime Club" [London], Collins Detective Story Club, n.d. [c.1930]. First edition thus. Small 8vo. Original near-black leather over limp boards, blocked in gilt. Originally published in 1913, and the source for the 1917 film of the same name. Froëst was apparently incredibly strong, and could tear a pack of cards in half and snap a sixpence "like a biscuit"...nice.
Detective Fiction
Frome (David, pseud. Zenith Brown) Mr. Pinkerton and the Old Angel
London, Longmans, Green, 1939.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, with price-sticker 3/6.
A very nice first UK edition of one of the later Pinkerton titles, distinctly uncommon in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
Frome (David, pseud. Zenith Jones Brown) The Body in Bedford Square
London, Longmans, 1945.
Third edition. 8vo. Original grey/green cloth. Dust-jacket, with 5/- price-sticker to inside front flap.
An attractive reissue of this classic London-based murder mystery.
Modern Literature
First edition. Author’s first novel.
London, Constable, 1935
This is an exceptional novel about ordinary people. Each of the central characters lives in the same tenement building in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, an area inhabited by Jewish immigrants. Rare in d/w.
Weird & Supernatural
a narration of the perilous sojourn therein of George Cowper, mariner, etc.
London, Henry J. Drane, [1897].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial light grey-green cloth.
Castaways on uncharted island fall under seemingly supernatural power of life and death held by the Mighty Justin, Lord of the Land of the Living Dead. In fact, the island is permeated by deadly volcanic gas for which Justin alone possesses an antidote that is administered only to loyal subjects. Bleiler p. 78.a
A good copy of a scarce book rarely found in decent condition.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Michael Joseph, 1945.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A very good first UK edition of aviator Ernest Gann's exciting, realistic aeronautic adventure set in the far north of Canada.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Asian adventure from Haggard-esque author Gompertz. Uncommon in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1948.
First UK edition. Small 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A nice example of this Perry Mason title; to aid her sick boyfriend, Sally Madison tries to swindle wealthy Harrington Faulkner with a cure for his sickly exotic fish. However, things take a dark turn when the fish disappear and Faulkner is found dead.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1949.
First UK edition. First UK edition. Small 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
Attractive first UK edition of this Perry Mason title.
Lost Race
London, Harrap, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
"The adventures in this stirring African jungle story are of the Rider Haggard type, recounted with unhesitating conviction, so that the illusion of reality is perfectly established." (jacket blurb)
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 9/-.
A dramatic story of crime and detection featuring series character Inspector Gilbert Larose.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1935.
Featuring serial character Gilbert Larose The Poisoned Goblet tells of the efforts by a gang to kidnap the child of Lady Ardane.
Fabulous dustwrapper art. A desirable title.
![H.L. Gates, The Red Dancer of Moscow, film tie-in edition, [1928]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/85378-300x300.jpg)
Modern Literature
London, The Readers Library Publishing Company Ltd., [1928].
Film tie-in edition. Small 8vo. Original boards with elaborate gilt working. Dust-jacket.
Stunning wrap-around artwork graces this Readers Library edition, issued to coincide with the silent film adaptation starring Dolores Del Rio. Possibly the first UK edition too.
Modern Literature
London, Collins, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original wine red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A recounting of the early part of the twentieth century through the filter of childhood memories, by an author more well known for his botanical writings.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, John Long, 1937.
A Hubin-listed murder mystery. The only one written by the author whose real name was Richard Henry Horsfield.
It is set in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada and features an Eskimo detective called Nootka. A wealthy mining prospector enlists the help of nine other claim-stalkers, four of whom are subsequently murdered by methods as novel as they are gruesome. Two of them take place in ‘impossible’ circumstances.
Very rare in jacket.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
The Story of Adams and Eva
London, Duckworth, [1928].
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A rather wonderful oddity, both in terms of the jacket artwork and the contents. Bleiler in his Science-fiction, the early years found it particularly worthy of attention, calling it a 'glib and frothy account of doings among the British upper crust', before outlining the strange plot that involves a disintegrating universe and part of the Italian Tyrol being blasted off into space to form a new Eden. He finishes noting, 'The scientific nonsense might cause a reader to wonder whether the book is an elaborate exercise in irony and paradox, but author's purpose seems to be societal. In any case, the book is almost unreadable. One marvels that it has been perpetually reprinted.' One to step back and admire more then, perhaps.
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).'