Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, [c.1930].Early reprint. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 3/6.A very good early printing of this key title by Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace, aka The King of Mystery Fiction.
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.
Detective Fiction
London, Rich & Cowan, [1948].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Stephen Conway keeps a promise to a dead army buddy to show Alexander Dean, the renowned playwright and mystery writer the manuscript of his play.
![Bram Stoker, The Snake's Pass, inscribed first edition, [1890]](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/84735-300x300.jpg)
Bram Stoker Birthday
London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1891 [but 1890].
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original red cloth stamped in gilt and bordered in blind.
A rare beast, Stoker's first novel, published on the 18th of November 1890, with the title post-dated 1891. Preceding Stoker's most famous work Dracula by 6-7 years, this adventure novel concerning the discovery of lost treasure and the crown of the legendary king of the snakes is set in Western Ireland, and contains some interesting subtle gothic notes foreshadowing the author's later works.
Inscribed on the half-title, 'G. Biggs from Bram Stoker 20.11.90', under which someone, probably G.Biggs, has helpfully also noted in pencil, '2 days after publication'.
Detective Fiction
London, Hutchinson, [1925].
First edition. 8vo. Original dark red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Seemingly a bizarrely scarce edition of this crime fiction title, with the BL and WorldCat only recording the Tauchnitz edition. It first appeared in serial form in Hutchinson's Magazine, 1924.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An uncommon first edition, featuring Marsh's series character Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard.
Modern Literature
London, Faber & Faber, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
The second collection of poetry by Irish poet MacNeice, with the correct blurb to the jacket's front inside panel: 'Mr. MacNeice's position as a poet was incontestably established in 1935 by his first volume of Poems. He is one of the few poets to-day none of whose poems could have been written by anyone else. His second volume has been awaited for some time: now that it has arrived, it needs no advertisement.'
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1926.
First edtion, 'file copy'. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
"The Alps - an ex-spy - and Edris!"
An uncommon 'twenties title to find in the original jacket, this the publisher's file copy.
Horror & Gothic
New York, G. Howard Watt, 1929.
First US edition, first printing. 8vo. Original grey cloth lettered in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced $2.00.
A rare edition of this classic of ghoulish horror, especially in the correct first issue dust-jacket with correct number of reviews and price.
Modern Literature
London, J. & R. Maxwell, [1887].
First edition. 8vo. Original olive cloth with orange lettering and ruled in blind.
An uncommon first edition; the author lost her sight at the age of seven, but went on to become a prolific writer for magazines and author of several novels.
Detective Fiction
Johns (Foster, pseud. Gilbert Vivian Selders) The Victory Murders
London, Harrap, 1927.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
'Armistice Night Murders in Paris, London, and New York' (jacket). An uncommon title in the jacket, from the pen of a prolific American author and cultural critic.
Detective Fiction
Frome (David, pseud. Zenith Jones Brown) The Body in Bedford Square
London, Longmans, 1945.
Third edition. 8vo. Original grey/green cloth. Dust-jacket, with 5/- price-sticker to inside front flap.
An attractive reissue of this classic London-based murder mystery.
Detective Fiction
London, Bles, 1935.
'Popular Edition', second printing. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Originally published in 1926, this attractive early edition in the Abbey jacket is a hard find; Dilnot was a journalist associated with true crime stories, in particular through his editorship of the Famous Trials series also published by Geoffrey Bles.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Bell & Daldy, 1863.
First edition. 8vo. Original tooled brown cloth.
A compilation of imaginative representations of folk- & later tales. Uncommon.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Frederick Muller, 1938.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
Blessedly not the Ash-Tree Press edition that is normally the only way one finds this rare title these days, and with a nice personal inscription from the author, but unfortunately it looks like someone tried to suppress this weird & supernatural compilation through drowning! The slightly damaged inscription reads 'To Mrs Hindes w[ith] the [author]'s compliments and very pleasant memories [of] a happy evening. Frederick Cowles 21st January 1941'.
Modern Literature
and other stories
London, Macmillan, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
'Short stories reflecting a wide field of human emotion' (jacket), by Irish playwright, novelist and short story writer MacMahon.
![Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland[-]Through the Looking-Glass, 1911](https://lycanthiabooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/84706-300x300.jpg)
and Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there
London, Macmillan, 1911.
8vo. Original red cloth lettered and stamped in gilt.
A pleasing copy of Alice's adventures, including sixteen colour plates by Tenniel.
Children's Books
London, Blackie, 1886.First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth.Henty's tale of the Luddite Riots.
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...
Modern Literature
Translated... by Felix W. Crosse.
London, Alfred A. Knopf, 1928.
First edition in English. 8vo. Original green cloth with white title label to spine. Dust-jacket.
The first English language edition of Brod's first major novel. The translation of the title has been criticised by many, as the eponymous protagonist does not achieve redemption on his path to God. Uncommon.
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.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Columbine, [1939].
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, overlaid price of 5/- on spine and lower panel.
Aviation thriller about a missing bomber; the jacket extolls the author's virtues enthusiastically, but nevertheless this is the only title we can locate by this author.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1945.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A very good UK first edition of this Asey Mayo novel.
Detective Fiction
Courtney (John, pseud. John Cournos) Grandmother Martin is Murdered
London, Skeffington, [1930].
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Crime fiction by an intriguing author: born in Russia with Yiddish as his first language, Cournos moved to London in 1912 where he engaged in anti-communist activism, notably via his pamphlet London under the Bolsheviks: A Londoner's Dream on Returning from Petrograd (1919); he also enjoyed some success as an Imagist poet, but garnered more renown for his novels and short stories under the Courtney pseudonym - today he is perhaps best known for his failed relationship with Dorothy L. Sayers, an unhappy experience recounted by both authors (Strong Poison by Sayers (1930) and The Devil Is an English Gentleman by Cournos himself in (1932)).
Children's Books
Courier of the Czar
London, Sampson Low, Marston, n.d..
8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Early jacketed edition.
Modern Literature
Ten lectures on social subjects
London, Swarthmore Press, 1919.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth with white spine label. Dust-jacket, priced 6/-.
An excellent first edition of this series of essays by the Victorian author, playwright and illustrator Laurence Housman, author of A Farm in Fairyland (1894) and illustrator of his sister's novella The Were-Wolf (1896). Scarce in jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, n.d..
Collins 2/- issue. 12mo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
A neat early edition of this Agatha Christie classic.
War, Invasion & Spy
House Agent
London, Mills & Boon, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
From a publishing POV at the minimum, Evans is an interesting author, one of a select few that canny publishers Mills & Boon convinced to adopt at least one pen-name to increase their "representability" via libraries such as Boots and W.H. Smith, who would normally only represent no more than two books by any author a year. Evans wrote over 120 novels for Mills & Boon, at a fairly high standard, under her own name and her "nom de guerres".
![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.
Modern Literature
London, Robert Hale, [c.1950s].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
"Margo Haynes is lovely and lovable but her love is dangerous" (jacket blurb).
19th century literature
A Modern Grotesque
London, Methuen, 1907.
Fifth edition. Small 8vo. Original read cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
A rare jacketed edition of this intriguing insight into the nature of English fin-de-siecle grotesquery, and in particular the role of the then "modern woman". The author was widely regarded as one of the leading writers of fiction in the English-speaking world at the time, but has become somewhat forgotten in the mists of time it seems.
Modern Literature
London, Quality Press, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Nautically themed tales of an oft humorous bent, and of some criminous interest too apparently, as listed in Hubin.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1922.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue pictorial cloth. Dust-jacket, with publisher's overlaid price 2/6 on spine.
An early title by the author and journalist Valentine Williams, distinctly uncommon in the original dust-jacket. Murder in the library gets the ball rolling.
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.
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, Michael Joseph, 1978.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced £4.25.
Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley investigates in a crime thriller set in Cornwall.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1948.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
An interesting collaboration, recounting the misadventures of a Jekyll & Hyde New York socialite.
Detective Fiction
London, Collins Crime Club, 1935.
Sixth impression. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 2/6.
Classic Dr Priestley territory here courtesy of genre master Rhode.
Detective Fiction
London, Longmans, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Murder and political intrigue at the Home Office...
Modern Literature
Shaw-Cowley (E., pseud. Elsie Mary Boulton) Prisoners of State
London & New York, John Lane, 1921.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth blocked in red. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Attractive dust-jacket artwork on this intriguing novel...
Weird & Supernatural
London, R. & L. Locker, 1947.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.
Striking jacket artwork on this semi-weird tale of arcane rites in the Brazilian forest.
Detective Fiction
London, Robert Hale, 1952.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
An attractive first UK edition, packed with thrills, romance, mystery, and suspense.