Detective Fiction
London, Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1934.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
One of sherlockophile Starrett's honest & clever continuations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1939.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original teal cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A good first UK edition of Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning epic, charting the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California, and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers.
Modern Literature
London, Jonathan Cape, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt at spine. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A tale of deprivation and adversity set near the mouth of the Thames. Scarce in jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Chatto & Windus, 1925. A collection of tales published posthumously, first in 1905. Includes The Body Snatcher, centred around the time of Burke & Hare's exploits.
Weird & Supernatural
A tale of love and adventure in Western China
London, The Sheldon Press, [c.1925].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/d.
A scarce book in the original dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
A Novel
London, Cassell, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractive first edition by this author of romantic literature set in South Africa and Rhodesia, a writing career which began in 1903 with Virginia of the Rhodesians.
Horror & Gothic
Harry Richmond [and] Rhoda Fleming
London, Constable, 1901.
First 6d paperback edition,[bound in a Publisher's Binding with two other 6d novels]. 8vo. Original red cloth titled and decorated in black and gilt to spine and front board.
A publisher's bound example of the rather frail first paperback edition, bound without wraps in a sammelband with two popular George Meredith novels from the same 6d library. Unusual thus.
Horror & Gothic
New York, Grosset & Dunlap,, [c.1927].
First stage play edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket.
A great edition of Stoker's gothic masterpiece, issued to tie-in with the Broadway adaptation starring Bela Lugosi in his first major English-speaking role.
Horror & Gothic
London, Constable, 1901.
First abridged edition, printed in double column; bound with Doyle (Arthur Conan) The Sign of Four, 1899; Maclaren (Ian) The Days of Auld Lang Syne, 1901; [Russell (William Clark, pseud. John Watson) A Strange Voyage], [c.1900]. 8vo. Together in contemporary dark cloth.
A decent sammelband of Victorian literature including the scarce abridged edition of Dracula, originally published in paperback. Stoker oversaw the abridgement himself, cutting around 15% from the original text.
Horror & Gothic
And Other Weird Stories
London, Routledge, 1914.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth, upper cover blind-tooled, spine lettered in gilt.
A very good first edition of this collection of Stoker's tales. It is believed that 'Dracula's Guest' is actually the deleted first chapter from the original Dracula manuscript, but it was removed by the publisher's owing to the length of Dracula. In the preface to the present book, Florence Bram Stoker writes, "I have added an hitherto unpublished episode from Dracula. It was originally excised owing to the length of the book, and may prove of interest to the many readers of what is considered my husband's most remarkable work."
Horror & Gothic
New York & London, Harpers, 1904.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth decorated in green & white.
A very good first edition of this supernatural tale about an ancient Egyptian queen's mummy taken to England to be resurrected. Classic Stoker.
Horror & Gothic
London, Heinemann, 1903.
First edition, first issue (with Chapter XVI present). 8vo. Original red cloth with blind-tooled scarab motif to covers, lettered in black to upper cover, with gilt lettering to spine.
One of the rarer Stoker titles as a first edition, probably due to the fragile nature of the production. This edition features the original ending, before it was updated to a slightly more upbeat version.
Horror & Gothic
London, Heinemann, 1909.
First edition. 8vo. Original deep red cloth titled & decorated in gilt & black. Two pieces of Heinemann promotional ephemera advertising their 6 shilling novel series with The Lady of The Shroud listed, and a separate flyer for a work by Frank Danby (a.k.a. Julia Frankau).
Most other works by Stoker tend to suffer somewhat in the shadow of the monolith that is Dracula, and The Lady of the Shroud is in this category; a brisk and enthusiastic foray into disquieting spectres and family obsessions that opens with an excerpt from "The Journal of Occultism" in a rather trademark Stoker fashion. Scarce.
Horror & Gothic
London, Rider, 1911.
First edition. 8vo. Original bright red ribbed cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board, decorated in blind.
One of the slightly "fatter" copies, which we instinctively feel might denote an earlier part of the print run. A very handsome copy indeed of the book that is counted as second only to Dracula itself as showcasing Stoker's extraordinary ability with the grisly and the horrifying.
Horror & Gothic
London, Heinemann, 1905.
First edition. 8vo. Original deep red cloth titled in gilt. With a note from Stoker tipped in to the front flyleaf on Bedford Street notepaper dated 1st September 1905.
An extremely handsome association copy of a rare piece of Stoker. The note from Stoker reads:
"My Dear Hatton, I hope you will care for my new novel The Man, of which a copy herewith...[illegible in peak Stoker fashion], Heinemann from September 8th, Yours ever, Bram Stoker."
The Hatton in question is almost certainly Joseph Hatton, friend and collaborator of Stoker, and a celebrated (at the time) author in his own right, who had worked with Stoker on a couple of rather sizeable projects including The Reminiscences of Henry Irving in America, and the "Crowdsourced from the Usual Suspects" late Victorian portmanteau thriller which was "The Fate of Fenella."
![Bram Stoker, The Snake's Pass, inscribed first edition, [1890]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/84735-300x300.jpg)
Horror & Gothic
London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1891 [but 1890].
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original red cloth stamped in gilt and bordered in blind.
A rare beast, Stoker's first novel, published on the 18th of November 1890, with the title post-dated 1891. Preceding Stoker's most famous work Dracula by 6-7 years, this adventure novel concerning the discovery of lost treasure and the crown of the legendary king of the snakes is set in Western Ireland, and contains some interesting subtle gothic notes foreshadowing the author's later works.
Inscribed on the half-title, 'G. Biggs from Bram Stoker 20.11.90', under which someone, probably G.Biggs, has helpfully also noted in pencil, '2 days after publication'.
Modern Literature
London, Bodley Head, 1968.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 28s.
The first UK edition of US author Stone's first novel, winner of both the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, and a William Faulkner Foundation Award for best first novel. The film was transferred to the big screen in 1970, as WUSA, starring Paul Newman.
Weird & Supernatural
London, William Rider, 1922.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Printed dust-jacket.
A pleasingly good, jacketed example of this work on handwriting and what it can tell us about someone's character.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1963.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange boards. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d.
A chess tournament murder provides a puzzle for Nero Wolfe.
Detective Fiction
New York, Vanguard Press, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple cloth with gilt spine. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.
The true first edition of the first published book by Rex Stout, a surprisingly significant work in the context of 20th century literature, both as a pioneering work of psychological fiction and as the first work of the modern period to utilise "second-person" narrative. A far cry perhaps from the detective fiction Stout would go on to be known for, the work is comprised of sixteen chapters, interlinked by italicised passages representing the progressive psychological perspective. The book was published by The Vanguard Press, created in 1926 to take advantage of a $100,000 grant from the left-wing Garland Fund; Rex Stout served as president of the press from 1926 until 1928. The excellent jacket artwork is by the well-known artist Winfred Earl Lefferts, who would go on to do jacket artwork for several of Stout's Nero Wolfe titles, including The League of Frightened Men (1935), The Rubber Band (1936) and The Red Box (1937).
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1958.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10/6.
Three stories that see series characters Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin tested to the limits of their ingenuity. An excellent example of the jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1949.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Striking jacket artwork on this collection of three Nero Wolfe tales; uncommon.
Detective Fiction
Strange (John Stephen) [Tillett (Dorothy S.)] Picture of the Victim.
First edition.
London. Collins, 1938
Fourth novel to feature photographer and detective Barney Gantt. Gantt finds his most elusive subject, camera-shy millionaire Jesse Jordon, dead and gets mixed up with the most obvious suspect.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1934].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An attractive jacket on this Wright & Brown title from the early thirties; a woman is exhausted and disillusioned, and sets off on an adventure of self-discovery.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, [1926].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue pictorial cloth. Dust-jacket.
Geneva Stratton-Porter's last novel, a story about a World War I veteran who regains his heath through the restorative power and beauty of nature.
Detective Fiction
London, Rich & Cowan, [1948].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Stephen Conway keeps a promise to a dead army buddy to show Alexander Dean, the renowned playwright and mystery writer the manuscript of his play.
Weird & Supernatural
Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1925
First edition. 8vo. Original light blue cloth lettered in red on spine and upper board. Dust-jacket.
Contains fourteen stories of which five are supernatural and another, the longest story, explores the theme of lesbianism.
Rare in jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
Stage school murder; an uncommon Collins Crime Club, by a former director of Methuens, no less.
Detective Fiction
First edition. London. Wright & Brown, 1935 Set in Burma, the story concerns the British manager of the ruby mines of Mogok has been away, attempting to track down a leopard that had been attacking livestock. He returns to discover his stand-in at the office lying dead on the floor, the safe door open and its contents stolen. Very scarce in jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 15s.
The first of two books by Alistair MacLean under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. Important scientists and their partners go missing after responding to a newspaper advertisements.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Collins, 1962.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 16s.
The second of two books by Alistair MacLean under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. Chemical warfare hangs ominously over the City of London.
Horror & Gothic
London, The Fortune Press, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Yellow dust-jacket, printed in black, price-clipped.
The first edition of this collection of ghost stories, compiled and edited by the lycanthophile Montague Summers; uncommon in the dust-jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Frederick Muller, 1958.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 21/-.
A nice copy of this biography of 'The Great Beast', one of several written on this topic by Symonds, who also edited Crowley's autobiography. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Symonds' appreciation of Crowley diminished the more he found out about the occultist, and he soon turned his attention to more literary fantasies.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1940.
The second of the novels featuring amateur female detective Jane Carberry.
Rare in jacket. No copies online at time of listing.
Sports & Pastimes
London, Putnam, 1935.
First English edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket.
Big-Game Hunting in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda. Uncommon in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A very good example of this uncommon cricket-related crime novel, which invites the reader to solve the crime by following the clues.