Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Comprising: The Fellowship of the Ring (first edition, fourth impression); The Two Towers (first edition, second impression); The Return of the King (first edition, first impression).
London, George Allen & Unwin, 1955.
First editions, mixed impressions, vol.III p.49 with sagging text and number '4'. 3 vol., 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jackets.
A really nice first edition set of Tolkien's epic masterpiece of fantasy fiction, the single most impactive work of this genre, and one that continues to inspire to this day, for example with the new Amazon series 'The Rings of Power'. The jackets here are clean and bright, and have done a splendid job of protecting the books beneath.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
or, There and Back Again
London, Allen & Unwin, 1974.
Third edition, ninth impression. 8vo. Original green pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced £2.50.
A lovely example of the third edition of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece for children.
Modern Literature
London, Heath Cranton, 1935.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A rare work in the jacket, let alone inscribed, on the subject of drug-taking. The author has inscribed the half-title, 'With all affection to my friend Clarice Sadler from Nellie Tom-Gallon'.
Detective Fiction
London, Michael Joseph, 1969.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced £1.50.
One of Mitchell's crime capers featuring architect Timothy Herring.
Detective Fiction
London, Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 1931.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 7s6d.
An attractively stylised jacket by D.V. Barry, on a murder mystery by American adventurer, stage actress, novelist and screenwriter Virginia Tracy.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Cassell, 1917.
A collection of eleven tales, one of which is a locked room mystery and two of which have definite weird content. Not mentioned by Bleiler.
“The Mystery of Howard Romaine”
involves the disappearance of a coffin and a body from a locked room (Adey p.300)
The Cuckoo Clock" is a tale of delirium involving the transmigration of a soul into a cuckoo clock. "The Fatal Fairy" is about a man who kidnaps a fairy at dawn, whereupon it turns into a monstrous baby vulture -- until he releases it a day later.
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager. This collection appeared in the year of his death.
Very scarce in jacket.
Modern Literature
A romance of the air London, Wright & Brown, [1935]. First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket. A passionate predecessor to the "Mile High Club"...? An excellent dust-jacket, regardless.
South Africa, Trigonometric Survey Office, [c.1945]. 4 volumes (complete). Small folio (c. 340 x 210 mm) when closed. Large linen-backed folding maps in original pictorial boards. A complete set of this important work relating to the air routes in Africa at the time, comprising: Ndola/Germiston, Ndola/Nairobi Kisumu, Nairobi Kisumu/Khartoum and Cairo/Khartoum. The scale is 1:1,000,000. The maps show air routes, aerodromes, landing grounds, prohibited areas, air corridors, overhead high tension cables and magnetic course. Rare complete.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1961.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, 12s6d.
The first book by Scottish author Trocchi to be published in the UK, following the banning of his controversial novel Cain's Book (1960).
Knap U Engels Op (Brush up your English)
London, Dent, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
From the famous 'Brush Up' series.
Modern Literature
London, Chapman and Hall Ltd., 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original near black cloth lettered in orange to spine.
Uncommon first edition, especially in the jacket, of this British Empire tale.
Children's Books
London, Ward Lock, 1917.
First edition. Publisher's File Copy. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth, with publisher's file copy label to upper cover. Dust-jacket, with publisher's file copy label to upper panel.
A truly wonderful first edition by Australian author Lilian Turner, enhanced by being the publisher's file copy. Jackets from this period are scarce, especially in this condition, and in this case the jacket has preserved the book beneath splendidly.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1954.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 12s.6d
The tale of a small boy who wanders into the heart of a fantastical African forest, the dwelling place of innumerable wild, grotesque and terrifying beings. A key work of modern African literature, a companion-piece to Tutuola's first book The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952).
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1955.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth, spine gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6.
A departure from the Nigerian author's previously preferred first person narrative, Tutuola's Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle was his third book, an imaginative tale with a theme of slavery that runs through it. The main gift inscription here is interesting, written by one 'David', asking "Does this represent the beginning of a West African literature?".
Modern Literature
and his dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town
London, Faber & Faber, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
"This astonishing story…was written in English by a West African, and is in part the product of African folk-lore, stimulated by European inventions." (jacket).
A very good copy of this debut novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola, the first African novel published in English outside of Africa, praised by Dylan Thomas as "brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching". Tutuola's works, often drawing upon Yoruba traditions & folklore, were well received in the UK & US (far more than they were originally in his home country), drawing international acclaim and helping open up African writing to a wider audience.
Given the recent prices achieved by this and other similar works by African authors at auction it seems probable that we are experiencing something of a, possibly overdue, reappraisal & resurgence of interest in these writers.
The jacket is designed by the well-known artist & illustrator Barnett Freedman.
Detective Fiction
Sydney, Australia, Angus & Robertson, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A scarce first edition by the Australian writer Upfield, set in a farming community in western Australia, featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) of the Queensland Police Force.
Detective Fiction
Syndey, Angus & Robertson, 1936.
True first edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
The first in his "Bony" series. The novel tells the story of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, a half Aboriginal detective from the Northern Territory of Australia, who is sent to investigate the murder of a pilot in the remote Diamantina River district.
Modern Literature
London, Cassell, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very pleasing first edition of this classic Vachell title.
Modern Literature
London, The Queensway Press, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An important work in the context of Indian English fiction, recounting the life of three generations in a family of high-caste Brahmins.
London, Hogarth Press, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, 7s6d.
The first edition of Van der Post's first novel, published under the aegis of Leonard & Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press. The work was considered significant at the time due to its perspective on race relations in South Africa. An attractively jacketed first edition.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1935.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth, lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6. With publisher's review slip loosely inserted.
A poetic novel from the pen of influential US poet, writer and educationalist Van Doren.
Detective Fiction
Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
Arresting jacket artwork on this first book edition featuring series character Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf. The story was previously serialised in The Red Book Magazine under the title 'The Lone Wolf's Breed'.
Detective Fiction
London, Hammond, Hammond, 1947.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped with price-sticker for '3/6'.
An attractive example of this uncommon title by a seemingly relatively obscure author...
Historical Fiction
London, Sampson Low, Martson, Searle, & Rivington, 1891.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.
A decent first UK edition of this surprisingly scarce Verne title, an adventure novel by Jules Verne about the life of a family in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) during the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 that sought an independent and democratic republic for Lower Canada.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Early edition, Likely rebound copy of original paperback edition and rare as such.
London, Ward Lock and Tyler, 1876
![Jules Verne, Abandoned, [c.1920]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/84672-300x300.jpg)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sampson Low, [c.1920].
8vo. Original red pictorial cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
An attractive jacketed edition of this mysterious islands tale by Verne.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Likely rebound copy of original paperback edition
London, Sampson Low, 1876
Author's Illustrated Edition
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sampson Low, 1878.
First UK edition. Publisher's catalogue at end. 8vo. Original brown cloth decorated in gilt & black.
The first edition in English of Verne's sci-fi classic of a comet's collision with the earth which bears away part of the planet, and its inhabitants. This translation alters the text considerably with additions and emendations, paraphrases dialogue, and rearranges material, although the general thread of the story is followed. The translation was made from the serial version of the novel, published January to December 1877.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, George Routledge, 1887.
8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
A rare, very good example of this sixpence "pulp" edition of Verne's SciFi classic.
Children's Books
Courier of the Czar
London, Sampson Low, Marston, n.d..
8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Early jacketed edition.
Children's Books
The Final Adventure of the Swiss Family Robinson
London, Sampson Low, Marston, n.d..
8vo. Original red pictorial cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
A decent early jacketed edition of this extension to the adventures of the Swiss Family Robinson.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
A real curiosity for Verne collectors. A key title with each volume issued by a different publisher.
London, Ward Lock (vol 1) Sampson Low (vol 2) 1876
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1873.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth blocked in black and gilt.
The scarce first UK edition of Jules Vernes' nautical sci-fi classic, following a professor and his companions as they embark on a dangerous journey aboard the technologically advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by the enigmatic Captain Nemo.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Sampson Low, Masrton, Searle, & Rivington, 1876.
Ninth UK edition. 8vo. Original pictorial green cloth blocked in black and lettered in gilt.
An excellent example of an early edition of Verne's sub-aquatic classic.
London, Jenkins, [1921].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/.
An early dust-jacket, with wonderful jacket artwork.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Herbert Jenkins, [1942].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A striking first edition of this romantic, behind-the-scenes thriller of the Secret Service by a prolific author.