War, Invasion & Spy
1914-18 Experiences of War Resisters.
London, Cobden-Sanderson, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An impressive roster of names avowed not to violently participate in war, including Siegfried Sassoon, Bertrand Russell and Olaf Stapledon.
Detective Fiction
Bellairs (George) [pseud. Harold Blundell]. Death Spins the Wheel
London, John Gifford, 1965. First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10s6d. A fine copy of this classic Inspector Littlejohn yarn...the case of the dead roulette player.
London, Gifford, [1949].
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An intriguing dust-jacket complements this detective Inspector Thomas Littlejohn yarn.
War, Invasion & Spy
First UK edition, Faber, 1936. Hans Schindler Bellamy (1901-1982) was a populariser of the unorthodox "Glazial-Kosmogonie" or "World Ice Theory" of the Austrian cosmologist Hans Hörbiger. Unfortunately, following his death his theories were embraced by the German far right and incorporated into National Socialism as a rejection of "Jewish" science. In this volume Bellamy describes Hoerbiger's theory in detail, and its application to world myths, and his subsequent books develop the theory in light of the Bible, the Atlantis myth, and the Tiahuanaco ruins.
Modern Literature
Stories of Several Worlds. First edition, Heinemann, 1938.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Chapman & Hall, 1912.
'New and Cheaper Edition'. 8vo. 2pp. advertisements. Original cloth.
The first U.K. edition was published in 1909. One of only 2 fantasy titles written by Bennett, the other being The Ghost published in 1907.
According to Joshi, it is an elaboration of a short story of the same title and concerns Maurice Loring, a writer on music, who suffers a heart attack and appears to die. His soul leaves his body and experiences the wonders of the afterlife. Described as a 'unusual contribution to the literature of the cosmic'.
Detective Fiction
early issue (stating 7th Thousand on title), some minor spotting, original red cloth, dust-jacket, some minor chipping to edges but overall a very good example, publisher's price sticker on spine, 8vo, Skeffington, [c.1930].
Modern Literature
First edition, Heinemann, 1900. A pleasing first edition of this early novel by the creator of Mapp and Lucia.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Heinemann, 1906.
First UK edition, second impression. 8vo. Original pictorial yellow cloth.
A solid first edition, second impression, of this tale of the supernatural by Mapp and Lucia creator E.F. Benson.
Weird & Supernatural
and other stories
London, Cassell, [1920].
First edition. 8vo. Original decorative cloth, spine slightly sunned.
A very good copy of this collection by the creator of the Mapp & Lucia series, which includes, alongside the titular story alongside The Blackmailer of Park Lane, The Dance on the Beefsteak, The Oriolists In the Dark, The False Step and The Case of Frank Hampden. Some tales with supernatural tones.
19th century literature
London, Methuen, 1894.
First edition, first printing. 2 vols. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth lettered in gilt.
The true first edition of the second work by Mapp & Lucia creator E.F. Benson. We can trace no copies of the first edition at auction or in commerce, and only one copy clearly recorded in WorldCat (the British Library only has the Tauchnitz edition published the same year). This is the first printing, in two volumes and with the advertisements dated 'October 1893' and only listing Benson's first book, Dodo. Unfortunately, the work was not well received or commercially successful, despite publisher Methuen's best efforts, which included reprinting the work in one volume with spurious statements suggesting the books was so popular it had been through multiple impressions to meet demand... The story concerns Eva Grampton, who accepts a marriage proposal from the young aesthete Lord Hayes. When Eva meets the handsome Reggie, however, she begins to regret her decision...
Weird & Supernatural
London, Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1928.
Early jacketed edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket.
A rare jacketed issue of this important work by Father Benson, lauded in his own day as one of the leading figures in English literature, having written the notable novel Lord of the World (1907). This collection of supernatural horror stories, originally published in various periodicals and later collected in book form, examines "that horrible sense of silence round about us, in which dreadful forces are alert and watching us."
Weird & Supernatural
London, Isbister, 1904.
First edition, fourth printing. Title printed in red & black. 8vo. Original dark blue cloth blocked in white to upper cover and lettered in gilt to spine.
An early printing of this famous collection of supernatural tales, recounted from the perspective of an old Roman Catholic priest.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Hutchinson, 1942
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket correctly priced at 8/6 on front flap.
A catastrophe novel in which a warring world is brought to its senses by a greater common enemy than Hitler (whom of course the Allies were fighting at the time of the book's publication) Blieler p21
Modern Literature
First UK edition, Collins, 1926. A jazz age title about a novelist, Henry Blackstone ‘who has never attained the wide popularity to which his gifts entitle him’ whose travails make him ‘vulnerable to, and ripe for the crisis which comes when he meets Mrs Thurlow’.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
One of the harder Berkeley first editions to find in the original, correctly priced jacket, with the ominous hangman's gallows picked out against a black background - scarce in such condition.
War, Invasion & Spy
First edition.
London, Paladin Press, 1951.
A novel set in the ruins of post war Berlin in which a war weary population live in cellars beneath the rubble of their devastated homes. Featuring the Wesen family, it provides a vivid depiction of the struggle between the Communists and the Free Democracy of the West for the possession of a bewildered people.
Rare in jacket. No copies online at time of listing.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original pink cloth. Dust-jacket.
The story of a young composer who, under the auspices of a mysterious millionaire, looks forward to a sumptuous production of his first symphony. Nice copy.
Detective Fiction
London & Melbourne, Ward, Lock & Co., 1937
First edition. 8vo. 2pp. advertisements. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7'6.
A game leads to theft and murder, leaving Detective-Inspector Richard Courtenay with a quandary ...who was 'King Oscar'? A very attractive dust-jacket.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1953.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 9s 6d and with publisher's printed overlay to foot of front inside flap.
The Demolished Man was the first novel by Alfred Bester, who up until its publication had been best known for his Sci-Fi short stories. It was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. Uncommon in such a nice example of the rather cool dust-jacket, very different from the more austere first US edition.
War, Invasion & Spy
[Pretoria, South Africa,, privately printed, 1974].
First, private printing. Inscribed by the author. 4to. Original green imitation morocco lettered in gilt.
The first, privately printed edition of this account of the Battle of Delville Wood, the first major engagement of World War One entered into by the South Africans, taking place on the Western Front. For six days and five nights a soldier was killed every minute, with one South African soldier dying every three minutes... Inscribed by the author, 'To Dear Robbie with affection from Arthur 1975.' The book was republished in 1986 by E.F. Slatter, Pretoria. Not in the British Library.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1942].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first of fourteen 'Tiger Lester' titles, written under the pseudonym "Don Betteridge", in an attractive dust-jacket.
Antiquarian
Newcastle, Sol. Hodgson and Edward Walker, 1797 & 1804.
First edition. 2 vol., 8vo. Later full calf, spines gilt compartments within raised bands, leather spine labels.
An attractive, leather-bound set of Bewick's famous British Birds, splendidly illustrated by him throughout.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1930.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of the fourth Charlie Chan book by Biggers, who set out to create a character that was the opposite of the 'yellow peril' portrayal of Orientals as villains that was the trend at the time. Uncommon in the dust-jacket.
![Clifton Bingham, The Animals' Rebellion, first edition, [c.1890]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84613-300x300.jpg)
Children's Books
London & New York, Ernest Nister, [c.1890].
Oblong 4to. Original cloth-backed pictorial boards.
Comical verses by Nister's popular lyricist Clifton Bingham, perfectly illustrated by C.H. Thompson. Vintage Victorian children's book.
Children's Books
First edition, Macmillan, 1913. Author’s presentation copy to Louis Parker. Louis Napoleon Parker was an English dramatist, composer and translator. Signed ‘from AB (author)’ on front end paper. Very rare survival in a jacket especially inscribed.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Cassell, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 15/.
The early autobiography of legendary weird fiction author Algernon Blackwood, describing the author's life, adventures and misadventures in North America between his twentieth and thirtieth years. Uncommon in the dust-jacket. Precedes the US limited edition (1924).
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London, Macmillan, 1914.
A collection of three long tales and a couple of short stories. The weird fiction historian ST Joshi has acclaimed Incredible Adventures as possibly "the premier weird collection of this or any other century’’.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Macmillan, 1915
First edition, later impression, inscribed by the author on front free endpaper and with additional gift inscription from him mounted to same; 8vo. 8pp. advertisements; typed Blackwood poem loosely inserted. Original red cloth, lettered in gilt, t.e.g. Dust-jacket.
First published in 1909, this is at least the fourth reprint. The inscriptions seem to imply a correction on the author's behalf, the first inscribed to 'Miss Norton', the second 'Miss Naughton'.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Faber & Faber, 1959.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
The first UK edition of US author Blish's Hugo Prize winning Sci-Fi classic, notable for being one of the first in this genre to try and involve religious theory.
Horror & Gothic
London, Robert Hale, 1963.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
First UK edition of this collection of thirteen macabre and often shocking tales, from the author of Psycho.
![L.G. Blochman, Midnight Sailing, first UK edition, [1939]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/84616-300x300.jpg)
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Collins Crime Club, [1939].
First UK edition. Ex-Library. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.
Cool jacket artwork, depicting a man with a red briefcase hastening up some steps with the number '9', but not the story of a Chancellor of the Exchequer in panic, instead a departure from the crime fiction Blochman was more well-known for, into the murky world of espionage.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Collins, 1940.
First UK edition. 8vo. 3pp. advertisements. Original mauve cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/3.
Attractive jacket artwork for this surprisingly uncommon and highly collectable British edition, combining international intrigue of German & American spies in Central America, with exotic backgrounds, humour and romance.
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1979.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced £3.95.
Harder-boiled than most, PI Matt Scudder gets to grips with a death of an unlikely couple in Greenwich Village.
Modern Literature
Portrait of an Immigrant
London, Cape, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A marvellously written fictionalised account of the author's wife's family's story of migration from Russia to East London, by the author of Jew Boy.
Non-Fiction
London, Methuen, 1928.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue clot. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
A nice copy of this work on conjuring, one of several titles in this field by Blyth.