War, Invasion & Spy
With an introduction by V.I. Lenin
New York, International Publishers, [?1926].
8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $1.50.
An early reprint by the publishing house of the USA Communist Party of Reed's famous firsthand account of the 1917 Russian October Revolution, originally published in 1919. The introduction by Lenin was first added to an edition published in 1922. The NYPL records an edition published by International Publishers and ascribes the date to 1926, but we could not locate a date preceding 1939 for the Eugene Varga title promoted on the rear inside flap, so it may be later.
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
The first detective fiction title by archaeologist and raconteur Glyn Daniel, introducing Sir Richard Cherrington, an eminent but slightly eccentric archaeologist. Uncommon.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, 1934. First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6. Another great example of thirties jacket artwork commissioned by publishers Wright & Brown, this time for their 3/6 series.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1922].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A Craig Kennedy novel. The mysterious death of Stella Lamar, a famous movie star, who collapses on the set of her latest film, leads to Kennedy and Jameson being called in to investigate the case, immersing them in the world of cinema. Adapted into a movie in 1923.
Modern Literature
A Traveller's Tale
London, Collins, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown buckram. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A "little odyssey" by one of Ireland's most popular authors.
Detective Fiction
London, Museum Press, 1952.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
A nice UK first of this title, from a series of novels featuring Inspector Christopher McKee, head of the fictitious Manhattan Homicide Squad.
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1957.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 10/6.
A very good first UK edition of this Inspector McKee novel by the American author Helen Reilly, who derived much of her work from her research into the New York Homicide squad.
Detective Fiction
Rare crime title, all other copies I have seen of this title are described as ‘7th Thousand’.
London, Skeffington, [1930 according to COPAC]
Reasonable to assume this was a publisher gimmick to show titles were popular.
The startling story of an English woman who failed to secure common justice from the government of South Africa
London, Trefoil Publishing Company, 1933.
First edition. Signed presentation inscription from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Full length inscription by the author on the front inside flap of the jacket, written in November 1932, describing the recipient, one [?]Mrs Jeffreys, as a "shining light" and passing on Christmas greetings.
Detective Fiction
Rhode (John, pseud. Cecil John Charles Street) Dead Man at the Folly
London, Collins Crime Club, 1935.
Sixth impression. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Classic Dr Priestley territory here courtesy of genre master Rhode.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1935.
Sixth impression. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Classic Dr Priestley territory here courtesy of genre master Rhode.
Detective Fiction
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1935.
'Popular Edition', second printing. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, with price-sticker '5/-' on spine.
A decent, early edition of this the second appearance of armchair detective Lancelot Priestley, who featured in a long-running series of novels during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
Detective Fiction
A Mystery Story
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price neatly excised from spine.
The jacket's menacing photographic artwork enhances this early Dr Priestley title. An uncommon book in the original jacket.
Detective Fiction
New York, Dodd, Mead, 1941.
First US edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
A mysterious beam of light wreaks havoc in this Dr Priestley novel. Nice jacket artwork.
Detective Fiction
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1935. Popular edition first reprint. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 4/6 (second issue?). An uncommon early issue of this rare Rhodes title, originally published in 1928, the jacket featuring the original classic artwork by well-known artist Abbey; one of this prolific author's earliest books, set against a yachting culture backdrop.
Detective Fiction
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
One of the last Lancelot Priestley novels by this prolific writer.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, May, 1938.
Ninth impression. 8vo. Paperback. Dust-jacket, with 'Crime Club 6d'.
Rhode's novel is centered around the great annual motor rally at Torquay. Fog, car "crash" and and an erroneous verdict of accidental death leads to a murder investigation.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1925
First edition, publisher's file copy. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket correctly priced at 7/6.
Collection of short stories and novelettes including one WW1-themed tale 'Out of Darkness' by an author best known for Mrs Wiggins of the Cabbage Patch.
Alice married Cale Young Rice who was a poet and playwright in 1902. They spent most of their life traveling the world and becoming known in the literary scenes of New York and London.
Winners and Losers appears to be the only book they wrote together.
Rare in jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1939.
First UK edition, first impression, stamped 'Special Presentation Edition' on copyright page. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red to spine. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s. 6d. net.
The first UK edition of the author's first book. Amateur sleuth Jake Justus is on the case in this Chicago lakeside murder-mystery, and a large amount of alcohol is apparently consumed... Scarce in the original dust-jacket.
'Craig Rice' was a pseudonym for Georgiana Ann Randolph (1908-1957). J. Randolph Cox notes in Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers (London, 1980) that "...the warmth and humanity in her writing were matched by a sense of form and discipline all her own. She never forgot that the primary purpose of the detective story was entertainment."
Modern Literature
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1940.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/3.
Great jacket artwork on this first edition, a story of love, passion, water rights and handsome cabelleros, set amongst the pampas of northern Argentina. Presented from the author to his wife at the time of publication.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Constable, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Uncommon first edition, with witchcraft in large part serving as a metaphor for womanhood; the main character is not magical, but has been stigmatised and shunned by her community for her illegitimate children and for practising abortion.
Detective Fiction
A Story of Crime
[London], Collins Detective Story Club, n.d. [c.1930].
First edition thus. Small 8vo. Original near-black leather over limp boards, blocked in gilt.
A disappearing corpse, a supernatural theory, and a genuinely shocking finale... This title was originally published in 1907 as 2835 Mayfair, before being brought back to life for Collins' Detective Story Club, one of the first 12 classic crime books chosen for the series.
Detective Fiction
A Story of the Baccarat Club
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1929].
First edition. 8vo. Blind-stamped presentation copy to front free endpaper. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
One of the more decidedly criminous titles by Irish author Jessie Louisa Rickard, one of the founders of the Detection Club in 1930. Moody artwork by the artist John Morton-Sale.
Horror & Gothic
London, Faber, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. dust-jacket, 9s6d.
An uncommon anthology of ghost tales published by Faber, including authors such as Wilkie Collins and Rudyard Kipling.
Detective Fiction
London, Frederick Muller Ltd, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced for 9/6.
Excellent jacket artwork on this first edition by Australian writer and playwright Rienits, the work that garnered him success in the UK and led to him becoming a successful scriptwriter for the BBC.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1928
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, likely a second issue as it is priced 3'6 on spine.
A tale about a fifteen year old child - Hazel Wood - who has the gift of second sight - of being able to see things taking place far away from her.
Uncommon in jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Stanley Paul, 1934.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
A compilation of amazing facts, objects and places as recorded by the then phenomenally prolific Ripley.
Modern Literature
London, Hurst & Blackett, [1905].
First edition thus. 8vo. Original green cloth decorated in gilt.
Contains three separate supernatural/fantasy novelettes, "The Seventh Dream," "The Doctor's Secret," and "The Turkish Baths."
Modern Literature
London, Hurst & Blackett, 1918.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/ and stating '20th thousand'.
A later title, but a characteristically passionate & emotive novel by the author of the notorious The Quick or the Dead? (1888). Scarce in such an early issue dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
London, George Allen & Unwin, 1924.
First English edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
...a most delightful picture of the 'interior' of a well-to-do Amsterdam printer-publisher's house (jacket blurb). A nice example of a 1920s dust-jacket, by the British painter, illustrator and linocut artist Dorothy Burroughes.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Jonathan Cape, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark pink cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Attractive art-deco style jacket artwork adorns this unusual tale about three people being brought back into British society after a life in the jungles and swamps of Borneo. Scarce.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, John Hamilton, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3s6d.
A solid first edition of a classic aviation tale by prolific writer George E. Rochester, drawing on his own experience in the Royal Flying Corps; bandit menace in the air above Tibet, bad Buddhists, and more…
War, Invasion & Spy
London, John Hamilton, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth with black spine labels. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Howard and Carstairs face aerial threat from the eponymous pirates of the air, in this aviation thriller drawing upon the author's own experiences in the Royal Flying Corps.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, John Hamilton, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Further aeronautical tales of peril from Rochester, drawing to some degree on his own experiences with the Royal Flying Corps. Jacket artwork by one of the best at this sort of thing, Howard Leigh.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, John Hamilton, [1936].
First edition. Ace Series. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3s.6d.
A solid first edition of a classic aviation tale by prolific writer George E. Rochester, drawing on his own experience in the Royal Flying Corps; bandit menace in the air above Tibet, bad Buddhists, and more...
Weird & Supernatural
And other Dartmoor Legends
London & Exeter, Andrew Melrose; James G. Commin, [1901].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.
An intriguing collection of atmospheric folk tales from Devon; titles include 'The Vengeance of Belus', 'The Bards of the Wood of Wistman', 'The Nymph Tamara' and 'The Pixies of Ockington Wood'.