Horror & Gothic
a Book of Ghost Stories
London, Philip Allan, 1928.
First edition. 8vo. Woodcut device to title. Original black cloth.
A solid first edition of this collection of tales by a well-respected author, including his celebrated black magic yarn 'He cometh and he Passeth by'; Bleiler called these "excellent stories".
![Alternative view of Lowndes ([Marie Adelaide] Belloc) And Call it Accident](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/84366_2-300x400.jpeg)
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.
Horror & Gothic
London, Quality Press, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 10/6.
An eye-catching first edition recounting the adventures of a ghost hunter. Scarce.
Detective Fiction
London, Philip Allan, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
A collection of short stories, drawn from the case-book of Gribble's series character Superintendent Anthony Slade.
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.
Modern Literature
London, Wright & Brown, [1934].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.
A great copy of the UK first edition of this classic ocean-liner romcom, by an American screenwriter, actress, and novelist active during the 1920s through the 1950. Famously brought to the big screen in 1932.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [1930].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An uncommon "Lost Race" title, notable also for the rather smashing jacket artwork by well-known illustrator J. Morton Sale.
![Alternative view of Nisbet ([James] Hume) The Land of the Hibiscus Blossom:](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/84355_2-300x400.jpeg)
A Yarn of the Papuan Gulf
London, Ward & Downey, 1888.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial blue cloth.
A very nice first edition of the scarce first book by this well-known author & artist, best remembered for his ghost stories and weird fiction. Nisbet was born in Scotland, but moved to Australia at the age of 15, with many of his works based on or inspired by his travels in that region of the world.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
New York, Frederick A. Stokes, February, 1910.
Second edition. 8vo. Original red pictorial cloth.
The second edition of this weird sci-fi tale of Egyptologists and suspended animation, published within one month of the first edition. Scarce.
Detective Fiction
London, The Literary Press, [c.1930].
First edition thus. 8vo. Original green cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/-.
An early edition of this well-known Hollywood murder mystery, made into a 1929 film with Chester Conklin.
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
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.
Detective Fiction
London, Sheed & Ward, 1946.
First edition. 8vo. Original grey boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10s 6d.
A religious reflection on the Old Testament, from priest & crime writer Knox, who previously attempted to codify the detective fiction genre through his own ten commandments, Knox's 'Ten Rules for Detective Fiction'. Knox was also the subject of Evelyn Waugh's The Life of Ronald Knox (1959).
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Paul, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped with price sticker of 6/-.
An uncommon first edition thriller by an enigmatic author.
Detective Fiction
London, Michael Joseph, 1977.
First edition. 8vo. Original burgundy boards. Dust-jacket, priced £3.75.
A nice copy of this later Mrs Bradley title by "The Great Gladys".
Detective Fiction
London, Peter Davies, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original tan cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The Ventriloquist, by E. Belasyse, is a much better crime story. It is written with a commendable simplicity, for one thing. If it is a first novel, it is unusually well planned and executed. The people are real." (Illustrated London News, vol.187).
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1934.
First edition, reprint. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, with price sticker 2/6.
A darn decent copy of this difficult title to find in a contemporary jacket.
Detective Fiction
A Cracksman Novel
London, John Lane The Bodley Head, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3s 6d.
Russian aristocrat exile turns to crime in America, and elsewhere.
Detective Fiction
Gunn (Victor, pseud. Edwy Searles Brooks, aka Berkeley Gray) Three Dates with Death
London, Collins Crime Club, 1947.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 3s.6d.
A pleasing first edition of the twelfth novel in the author's "Ironsides" Cromwell series.
Children's Books
his travels and perils
London, S.O. Beeton, n.d. [1865/66].
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth, gilt tooled spine.
The rare true first edition in book form of this adventure tale, serialised previously in Boys Own in 1865. Ward Lock took over Beeton in 1866 and republished the title that year under their own imprint.
Detective Fiction
London, Drane's, [1924].
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An uncommon first edition of this collection published by an uncommon imprint. Many of the tales revolve around a consulting detective agency in Calcutta, as in the author's coeval work Benjamin & Co., and despite a tendency towards some rather "old school" jingoism and misogyny do include some rather wonderfully evocative sketches of colonial life in India.
![Alternative view of Bodkin (M[atthias] McDonnell) Behind the Picture](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/84330_2-300x400.jpg)
Weird & Supernatural
London &c., Ward, Lock, 1914.
First edition. 8vo. Original blind-tooled green cloth lettered in gilt.
A fresh & bright first edition of this art-theft tale by Irish writer Bodkin, creator of Paul Beck and the bicycling lady detective Dora Myrl. A wonderful Velasquez painting is stolen from a house in County Galway.
![Alternative view of Walters ([John] Cuming) Sneape's Spirit](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/84329_2-300x400.jpg)
Weird & Supernatural
and other Fantasies and Stories
London, Francis Griffiths, 1901.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
An uncommon collection of short stories by a relatively obscure imprint, many of a magical or mysterious bent; the title tale is one of a dual existence, topical today perhaps given the talk of an avatar driven metaverse...
Weird & Supernatural
A Book of Romances, Fantasies, Whimsies, and Levities
Edinburgh & London, William Blackwood, 1900.
First edition. Publisher's presentation copy with blind-stamp to title. 8vo. Original dark green cloth lettered in gilt.
An author who turned his pen to various genres, including crime fiction and weird & supernatural. Rare.
![Alternative view of Praed (Mrs [Rosa] Campbell) The Body of His Desire.](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/84327_2-300x400.jpg)
Weird & Supernatural
A Romance of the Soul London &c., Cassell, 1912.First edition. 8vo. Original cloth.A solid first edition copy of this occult tale by Australian author Rosa Praed, underlined eventually by the reformative qualities of Christianity.
Detective Fiction
New Stories of Murder and Mystery
New York, Charles Scribners, 1928.
First US edition. 8vo. Original pictorial orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
One of several anthologies compiled by the writer and socialite Lady Cynthia Asquith, herself known as an author of ghost stories. Uncommon in the original dust-jacket.
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.
![Alternative view of Teed (G.H[amilton].) Five in Fear](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/84324_2-300x400.jpg)
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Smith, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
Attractive, somewhat menacing dust-jacket artwork graces this tale published under an uncommon imprint.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, John Lane The Bodley Head, 1919.
First edition. 8vo. Advertisements. Original blue cloth ruled in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s.
A very good early dust-jacket, uncommon thus. This collection of tale comes from the pen of Scottish author Gerald Grogan, author of the sci-fi novel A Drop in Infinity (1915); the author was killed in the First World War, in 1918.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1924.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A great first edition of this collection of tales by Max Carrados and Kai Lung creator Bramah; includes his sci-fi story 'The War Hawks', a brief sequel to his only sci-fi novel, What Might Have Been: The Story of a Social War (1907). Rare thus.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth.
A very good example of this uncommon cricket-related crime novel, which invites the reader to solve the crime by following the clues.
Modern Literature
London, Hutchinson, 1951.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, clipped and with price-sticker of 5/.
A very good first UK edition of this collection of seven tales by William Irish, a.k.a. Cornell Woolrich, in striking stylised jacket reflecting the pugilistic title story. Rare.
Detective Fiction
London, John Hamilton, 1929.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A pleasing example of this first edition, seemingly one of only two titles by this author. A conspiracy to murder a leading art expert unravels... Scarce.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Stanley Paul, 1909.
First edition. 8vo. Advertisements. Original green cloth.
A superb first edition of this key work in Hope Hodgson's canon, here in the seemingly less common green cloth, as opposed to red (no priority being definitively established). The tale recounts a ship crew's strange & terrifying experience as their reality comes into contact with an alternative, darker mirror world. Bleiler was a huge fan of Hope Hodgson, calling his novels "visionary accounts that have no real parallels in English literature". Of this particular title he noted:
"One of the great sea novels. highly original in detail and well done. Although it is overshadowed as visionary horror by the more spectacular The House on the Borderland and The Night Land, as a work of art, it is finer." (The Guide to Supernatural Fiction).
A revised version of the ending was anthologised, under the title "The Silent Ship".
Weird & Supernatural
Graham (Winifred, pseud. Matilda Winifred Muriel) The Gods of the Dead
London, Rider, 1912.
First edition. 8vo. Original blind-tooled purple cloth.
A rare work of a weird & supernatural bent, Egyptian mummies, reincarnation, ghosts, that sort of thing... Winifred Graham was a a prolific author, though this title was the only one of hers to make it into Bleiler's Guide to Supernatural Fiction (and he was not exactly gentle with it therein!). Distinctly uncommon.
Children's Books
London, Collins, 1972.
First UK edition. Large 8vo. Original pictorial boards, issued without jacket.
One of the good Doctor's most famous titles, a topical tale of environmental awareness.
Children's Books
London, Museum Press, 1945.
First edition. Oblong 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
One of the popular children's books by a prolific author of the time.
Children's Books
London, Museum Press, 1946.
First edition. Oblong 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
One of the popular children's books by a prolific author of the time.
Children's Books
London, Dennis Dobson, 1968.
First edition. 4to. Original pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Developed from a story by Milligan for a BBC short film (one of the Beeb's first television colour films).
Children's Books
London, Gawthorn, [1944].
First edition. Oblong 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
An uncommon first edition in the original jacket, very much in keeping with the format and vogue of an earlier era...
London, Jenkins, [1921].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/.
An early dust-jacket, with wonderful jacket artwork.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Methuen, 1914.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth gilt.
A humorous tale in which magic beans from the East give Alfred Burton an uncompromising devotion to truth and beauty.