Detective Fiction
London, The Literary Press, n.d..
First edition thus. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket.
What was the secret of Chesterton Square?
Modern Literature
seven addresses given for love of the star
Adyar, Madras, India, Theosophical Publishing House, 1917.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth.
An important work by a key figure in early 20th century spiritualism, and in Theosophy in particular; discoverer of Krishnamurti, no less.
Detective Fiction
New York, Macaulay Company, 1922.
First US edition. 8vo. Original dark chocolate pictorial cloth blocked in orange. Dust-jacket.
A lovely first edition in English of this title featuring Arséne Lupin, Leblanc's famous counterpoint to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. This the issue with the 'Smoke of the.45' at the top of the lower panel advertisements.
Detective Fiction
London, Jonathan Cape, 1956.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 13s.6d.
A very good first edition of this murder mystery, featuring series character Miss Hogg and her faithful chum Milly Brown, and a lost manuscript by Emily Brontë... Austin Lee was a prolific author, also writing under the pseudonyms John Austwick and Julian Callender.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1960.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
A very good example of the distinctive first UK edition of Harper Lee's famous novel.
Modern Literature
London, The Hogarth Press, 1959.
First edition, first issue (with piano factory fire mentioned). 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket.
The first edition of this famously captivating memoir of rural life in a bygone era, as seen through the eyes of a young boy growing up in the idyllic Gloucestershire countryside.
Detective Fiction
Lees (Hannah, pseud. Elizabeth Head Fetter) and Lawrence Bachmann. Death in the Doll’s House
London, John Murray, 1944.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
Psychological elements in a murder mystery involving a six-year-old child... basis for the 1950 film Shadow on the Wall.
and the Million Elephants
London, Rich & Cowan, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12/6.
A fascinating account of a journey through the jungles of Indo-China. The photographic illustrations are by Gertrude Legendre née Sanford, an American woman of rather remarkable qualities: socialite, spy, explorer big game hunters, environmentalist and plantation owner, to name a few. She met Sidney Legendre during an expedition in Abyssinia.
Detective Fiction
London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1967.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of the first book by Lemarchand, introducing CDI Tom Pollard and his assistant Sergeant Toye of Scotland Yard.
Detective Fiction
First Crime Circle Edition.
London. Thornton Butterworth, 1935
Fabulous stylistic dustjacket art by Bip Pares.
War, Invasion & Spy
Leonard (Charles L., pseud. Mary Violet Heberden) Sinister Shelter
London, Museum Press, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth with silver lettering and red skull motif to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 9/6.
Intrigue split across the US, Italy and Argentina in this rare spy thriller.
Detective Fiction
Leonard (Charles L., pseud. Mary Violet Heberden) The 4th Funeral
London, Museum Press, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth with silver lettering and red skull motif to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 9/6.
When a doctor's wife suspects that her husband's supposed suicide is actually murder, Paul Kilgerrin finds his plans for leaving Belem, Brazil, suddenly cancelled. He also believes that it is murder...
Detective Fiction
London, W.H. Allen, 1983.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket.
We are kept off balance throughout this icy, understand thriller...brilliant (Newsweek review).
Detective Fiction
London, Readers Library Crime Series, n.d. [c.1930].
Readers Library edition. Small 8vo. Original gilt-tooled burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket.
A really nice copy of this edition of The Floating Prison by Phantom of the Opera author Leroux, first published in English in 1922.
Weird & Supernatural
Translated by Edgar Jepson.
London, Hurst and Blackett, 1912.
First UK edition. 8vo. 24 page publisher's catalogue to rear dated Autumn 1912. Original black cloth lettered & blocked in gilt.
A 1903 novel by Gaston Leroux, author of The Phantom of the Opera. The story follows M. Theophrastus Longuet who is possessed by the soul of 'Cartouche', a notorious brigand from the 18th century. Longuet begins to exhibit Cartouche's personality traits, including a love of violence and a disregard for authority. He also begins to wear a black feather in his hat, which is Cartouche's trademark... A pleasing example of an uncommon edition.
Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1950.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d, with publisher's original promotional wraparound.
A great example of the first edition of Lessing's first book, set in South Africa under white rule, chronicling societal disintegration.
Modern Literature
London, Michael Joseph, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9s6d.
The first edition of the author's second book, a collection of stories set in South Africa. One of the author's defining works.
Children's Books
Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Charming first edition of the first of six books recounting the adventures of Wonk the koala, illustrated by the artist & writer Joan Kiddell-Wonk.
Horror & Gothic
A Romance of the most intense Interest
London, John Williams, 1826.
8vo. Handsomely bound in full speckled calf gilt, with gilt dentelles and spine compartments within raised bands, by Wallis.
A sumptuous edition of Lewis' horror classic, possibly issued to coincide with a post war (Peninsular) revival in all things gothic.
Modern Literature
Are They Human?
London, Allen & Unwin, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Despite the worrying title, actually a defence of the Jewish people at the time of mounting anti-semitism in Europe, the title itself a play on another '30s publication, The English: are they Human by G.J. Renier.
Modern Literature
A Soldier of Humour and other stories
London, Chatto & Windus, 1927.
First edition, Centaur Library issue. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
The Centaur Library issue of these stories from the vector of vorticism Wyndham Lewis, printed from the first edition sheets but in different binding, and the series jacket design by the graphic artist Edward Bawden (as opposed to the boring typographic one on the first issue).
Weird & Supernatural
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A partly occult novel based on an Abbot's legacy curse dating back to the time of Henry VIII. Rare in the original, first impression dust-jacket.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, John Hamilton, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A rare dust-jacket. One of this author's less common and more interesting titles, a Mad Scientist's attempts to block off the sun's rays and cause the end of the world. Produced for Hamilton's Sundial Mystery Library series.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, John Hamilton, [1938].
First edition. 2pp. advertisements for the 'Ace Series'. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, dated 3s.6d.
'In a tiny plane, far above the Sahara, Michael Wright directs the operations of Doctor Oberlin's mighty fleet of bombers as it flies northward to encompass the destruction of Europe.' (jacket blurb)
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1937].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Another attractive first edition by Wright & Brown, written by one of their more prolific authors.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1938].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An attractive first edition of this modern tale of romance, from an uncommon imprint.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good first edition, with evocative jacket artwork by Wright & Brown work-horse W.J. Roberts.
Detective Fiction
First edition, ‘7th thousand’.
London, Skeffington, [1932].
Skeffington often used ‘7th thousand’ label on title page to try and show that their titles were in high demand so this is not necessarily a reprint.
A Hubin-listed mystery featuring the author’s serial character, detective-crook Jimmy Traynor.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London. Philip Allan, 1925
Anthology covering amongst other things murders, mutinies, maroonings and other tales of horror on the high seas. Scarce in jacket.
Uncategorized
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A lovely first edition of this uncommon tale of Anglo-Indian love. The jacket artwork is by the renowned illustrator Charles Robinson, brother to W. Heath, and must number among his last commissions (as he died in 1937).
Modern Literature
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A great first edition of this tale of romance, dance and dangerous rivalry. Exotic dancing seems to be something of a theme with this author, who also wrote Orient Pearls, The Slave Market and A Dancer of India. Excellent jacket artwork.
Detective Fiction
Lorac (E.C.R., pseud. Edith Caroline Rivett) The Theft of the Iron Dogs
London, Collins Crime Club, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A fascinating mystery set against a backdrop of the beautiful Fell country of Lunesdale in Lancashire.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1950
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original boards, Dust-jacket.
A near fine example of this the first book by the author using this pseudonym. An uncommon classic of crime fiction, revolving around a sudden death at a cocktail party.
Sexuality & Erotica
Translated by Charles Hope Lumley
New York, for William Godwin, 1933.
First US edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
The first US edition of the first English-language translation of this text, preceded by the Fortune Press edition of 1929, and the original French edition in 1901. Beresford Egan's characteristic illustrations reflect perfectly the wit & satirical glee of the text, a tale of the pursuit of amorous hedonism.
Horror & Gothic
Detective Fiction
London, Hutchinson, 1939.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Apparently derived from a theatrical anecdote given to the author by George du Maurier, building upon the author's literary reputation for combining exciting incidents with psychological interest.