Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1939. First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, without price (Colonial issue?) A Haycraft Queen Cornerstone, and a scarce first edition in the original jacket. This is the eighth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and the third novel in which Alleyn's love interest, the painter Agatha Troy features, hastening the imminent departure of Nigel Bathgate (Alleyn's "Watson").
London, Digby, Long, 1900.
First edition. 8vo. Advertisement leaf, publisher's catalogue at end dated October 1900. Original pictorial cloth blocked in white, black & green.
A very attractive turn-of-the-century title by the author of The Beetle. Listed in Hubin.
London, Methuen, [1916].
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's catalogue at end. Original blue cloth.
The adventures of one of Marsh's most intriguing characters, Miss Judith Lee, a young teacher of deaf pupils whose lip-reading ability involves her with mysteries that she solves by acting as a detective.
Detective Fiction
Marsh (Richard, pseud. Richard Bernard Heldmann) The Marquis of Putney
London, Methuen, 1905.
First edition. 8vo. Publisher's catalogue at end dated March 1905. Original red cloth blocked in gilt.
One of the obscurer titles by the author of The Beetle. Hubin-listed.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Digby, Long, 1910.
First edition. 8vo. 3pp. advertisements. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt.
An uncommon book by Richard Marsh, author of gothic horror classic The Beetle (1897), the title tale here reflecting his talent for anticipating the impact of new technology. Only a handful of copies recorded in institutional holdings.
Weird & Supernatural
25th impression.
London, Ernest Benn, 1931
A very rare example. There are no copies of this edition online let alone with a near fine wrapper.
Horror & Gothic
A Mystery
London, Skeffinton & Son, 1898.
Fourth edition. 8vo. Title printed in red & black, frontispiece and 3 plates, patterned endpapers. Original dark pictorial cloth lettered in gilt & black.
An early edition, in very good condition, of the author's most well-known title, a classic of Gothic horror.
"In 'The Beetle' Marsh introduces the supernatural entity known variously as 'The Oriental', 'The Woman of Songs' or 'The Beetle'. This malignant, deformed creature is inhabited by the soul of an ancient Egyptian princess...[and] can turn at will into an insect, or alternatively into a man or a woman or an enigmatic amalgam of both." - Richard Dalby, Book and Magazine Collector No. 163 (1997).
Detective Fiction
a Demon
London, F.V. White, 1900.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark brown cloth lettered in gilt and with inset red image to upper cover.
A first person account by John Ferguson of his friend Edwin Lawrence's brutal murder, the beautiful woman who dropped through his window on the same night and the subsequent quest to solve the murder.
Weird & Supernatural
and Mr. Ely's Engagement
London, James Bowden, 1899.
First edition. 8vo. Frontispiece, 12pp. advertisements. Original green pictorial cloth blocked in black & white, lettered in gilt to spine, partly uncut.
An excellent first edition of this work by the author of the oft underrated gothic classic The Beetle.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The name's Bond...Christopher Bond... this Pre-James Bond is also caught up in the murky world of espionage. An attractive dust-jacket to boot.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A collection of nine short stories that explore various moral and ethical dilemmas faced by different characters in different settings and situations, from the author of The Four Feathers and Fire Over England.
Detective Fiction
London, New York, Toronto, Hodder & Stoughton, 1913.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in black to upper cover, spine lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket with inset colour illustration.
An early, rare example of a dust-jacket featuring artwork seemingly solely commissioned for the jacket, rather than repeating a frontispiece or plate from the book. This was an important time of transition for dust-jackets, moving away first from the disposable, purely advertorial type and then those that just repeated an internal design.
Writing in Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers (London, 1980), Daniel P. King noted "In the mystery genre, [Mason] made ample use of the psychological element - and in doing so, was in advance of his time."
Detective Fiction
London, Gollancz, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Printed yellow dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good first edition of John Cecil Masterman's first novel, a murder myster set against a backdrop of Oxford academia, starting a trend soon taken up by Gollancz stablemates Michael Innes and Edmund Crispin, and further down the line perhaps Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse books...
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Charles Griffin, [1930s].
8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
A lovely copy of this sci-fi collection in the Verne vein; uncommon imprint.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
First edition, first issue binding.
London. Charles Griffin & Co, [1909]
Early Sci-Fi with a fin de siècle perspective on interplanetary voyaging across the solar system. A companion volume to his The Stolen Planet novel. In Bleiler.
Weird & Supernatural
Mathers (Helen, pseud. Ellen Buckingham Mathews Reeves) The Juggler and The Soul
London, skeffington, 1896.
First edition. 8vo. Title printed in red & black. Original blue cloth with red & design.
A rare work of sci-fi interest, with themes involving Hypnosis, experiments in Medicine, and reanimation of the dead.
Detective Fiction
London, Jarrolds, [1927]. First edition thus. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6. Although originally published in 1909, this later edition is quite superb in the original dust-jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Cassell, 1958
Supernatural novel that served as the basis for the 1999 film of the same name.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1919.
First edition, first issue (4pp. ads including three titles by Israel Zangwill). 8vo. Original sage green cloth lettered and decorated in black, with author's device.
A very nice first issue of Somerset Maugham's famous first-person novel inspired by the life of French painter Paul Gauguin.
American Literature
New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced $11.00.
The first edition of the first book in the 'Border trilogy' by the recently deceased Cormac McCarthy, a best-selling work that was adapted into a 2000 film starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz, directed by Billy Bob Thornton.
Detective Fiction
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1940.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original tan cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An early title by this American author, featuring her popular serial character, the psychiatric sleuth Basil Willing.
Detective Fiction
London, Arthur Barker, 1949.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark pink cloth. Dust-jacket, clipped but with price '5s' still present.
Classic criminous stuff from hard-boiled good egg McCoy, made into a 1950s film starring James Cagney, famously awarded the ultimate accolade "banned in Ohio"...
American Literature
London, Arthur Barker, 1935.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original decorative cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
The first UK edition of McCoy's disturbingly titled Great Depression era classic, adapted for film by Sydney Pollack in 1969.
Children's Books
London, Macdonald, 1959.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original grey cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
A very nice first UK edition of this key work in the Zorro canon.
War, Invasion & Spy
A Prophetic Novel
London, Grayson & Grayson, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red.
A prophetic novel indeed, anticipating Churchill's anxiety at the potential readiness of Germany to have at its disposal long-range, high-speed bomber planes. The work was inspired by Stanley Baldwin's 1932 speech to the House of Commons in which he described the threat aerial bombing represented, and suggested that preemptive offence would be the only defence in such circumstances.
War, Invasion & Spy
A Story of Modern Secret Service
London, Jarrolds, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original oatmeal cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Attractive first edition of this autobiographical work by the genuine female spy Marthe Mathilde McKenna née Cnockaert, awarded British, French and Belgian honours for gallantry for her espionage work, and subject of the 1933 film I was a Spy.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Jarrolds, [1937].
First edition. 8vo. Original oatmeal cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Attractive first edition - the British Empire is in danger after a dubious disarmament policy, with the threat of war looming large on the horizon...
Weird & Supernatural
London, Hutchinson, [1932].
First edition. 8vo. 40pp. publisher's catalogue at end dated Autumn 1932. Original claret cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
The danger of a demoniacally loving woman, as suggested by the somewhat startling jacket artwork.
Modern Literature
Being the second part of 'The Realists'
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An attractive Abbey jacket graces this work by prolific author McKenna, following the political career of Ambrose Sheridan.
Detective Fiction
London, John Hamilton, [1939].
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7/6.
A striking dust-jacket design on this rare work set in Malaysia, a strange blend of murder mystery and the weird, with no copies in trade at the time of listing.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Philip Allan, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
An uncommon first edition, written by 'Geoffrey Aylett' creator Vivian Meik, an Indian-born author. A 'Yellow Peril' classic.
Non-Fiction
London, Philip Allan, [1927].
First edition. 8vo. Original sage boards with printed spine label. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An analysis of the societal need for syncopated dance as evidenced by the popularity of jazz in the 1920s, by self-described music lover Robert William Sigismund Mendl.
Detective Fiction
London, Church & Foster, [1966].
First edition. 8vo. Original pale boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
A very good first edition of this tale of Scotland Yard battling with the Mafia, and the mysterious Dr Khan...
Weird & Supernatural
London, Constable, 1936.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original green boards. Second printing dust-jacket, price-clipped but with 3/6 price on spine.
One of the finest works by an author known for his ability to "build up a unique sense of unease" (Brian Stableford, St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers, 1998).
Weird & Supernatural
London, Jarrolds, 1927. An early edition of Metcalfe's first published book, a collection of macabre tales, including the excellent 'Paper WIndmills'.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, 1974.
First edition, second impression. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped, with publisher's promotional bellyband.
The second printing of the joint Booker Prize Winner (with The Conservationist, by Nadine Gordimer) in 1974.