War, Invasion & Spy
London, John Hamilton, [1936].
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth with black spine labels. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
Howard and Carstairs face aerial threat from the eponymous pirates of the air, in this aviation thriller drawing upon the author's own experiences in the Royal Flying Corps.
Modern Literature
A Modern Allegory
London, A.B. Campbell, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
'Every Irishman, whatever his political opinions, will enjoy the unique solution of the age-old Irish Problem which provides a gentle satire on present-day world conditions.' (jacket blurb).
Weird & Supernatural
London, A.D. Innes, 1898.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered & ruled in gilt.
One of three books drawing upon the author's experiences in Fiji and the South Sea Islands, where he had been based during his Colonial service. Short stories including some weird content.
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.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Martin Secker, 1964.
First English edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
First English edition of the basis for 'The Planet of the Apes' franchise.
Modern Literature
London, Cassell, 1933.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/6.
A yearning for 'volcanic love' sees Veronica Manners travelling to South America, in this pleasingly jacketed first edition.
Modern Literature
London, Cassell, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An attractively jacketed edition of this work by US writer Katharine Brush, one of the most popular authors of her time, as well as one of most well-paid. 'Red headed woman! She went to New York; men looked at her, and say "Boy!"' (jacket). The book was adapted for the silver screen the same year, starring Jean Harlow as a woman who uses sex to advance her social position.
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.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Hutchinson, [1929].
First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A curious thriller revolving around a mysterious death ray - one of only three books published by this author.
Modern Literature
A Traveller's Tale
London, Collins, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown buckram. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A "little odyssey" by one of Ireland's most popular authors.
Modern Literature
A Romantic Novel in Honour of the Passing of a Great Race
London, Jonathan Cape, 1933.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5s.
The first UK edition of Hemingway's first long work, a satirical treatment of pretentious writers; here with an introduction by David Garnett.
Modern Literature
London, Jonathan Cape, 1934.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, price obscured by ink.
Hemingway's third collection of stories, six of which are first appearances.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth blocked in black. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Classic whodunnit murder-mystery by an author often better remembered for his spoonerisms and malapropisms, unfairly perhaps.
Detective Fiction
London, Putnam, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket,
Scotland Yard is baffled by a series of deaths climaxing in that of an oil magnate.
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...
Detective Fiction
Jerome (Owen Fox, pseud. Oscar Jerome Friend) The Red Kite Clue
London, Skeffington, [1929].
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, with publisher's 3/6 price-sticker to spine.
An attractive first edition and an uncommon book in the jacket. Detective Philip MacCray is on the case to solve the murder of an archaeologist recently returned from the Orient.
Modern Literature
A Novel of Cornwall
London, Ward Lock, 1945.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 8/6.
The book that started it all... also one of the most attractive dust-jackets from the series. Sales of the novel increased by 205% after the premiere of the 2015 television adaptation.
Modern Literature
Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1970.
First US edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $5.95.
A very good first edition of Ghanaian author Armah's second novel, recounting the experiences of a Ghanaian man's return to Ghana after an education in the US.
Modern Literature
An Amusement
London, Secker, 1927.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
The first edition of the second book by US journalist & writer John Gunther, seemingly preceding the first US edition.
Weird & Supernatural
A tale of love and adventure in Western China
London, The Sheldon Press, [c.1925].
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 3/d.
A scarce book in the original dust-jacket.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Faber, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
A very good first edition of an intriguing sci-fi title with Christian apologetical overtones.
Detective Fiction
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1931.
First edition, stamped 'Publisher's file copy' on prelim. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
An attractive mid-period mystery novel by the author and journalist Valentine Williams, creator of 'Clubfoot'. Distinctly uncommon in the original dust-jacket. Murder and royal intrigue.
Modern Literature
New York, Norton, 1975.
First US edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $6.95.
The first US edition of this important play by the Nigerian playwright, novelist and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka. Written whilst Soyinka was in exile in England, the work is notable for its extensive use of Yoruba proverbs, with which the author was very familiar. A Netflix adaptation is due out later this year.
Viz. Ombre, in all its Branches. Picquet. And, the Royal Game of Chess. Wherein the Frauds in Play are Detected, and the Laws of each Game Annexed to Prevent Disputes. Written for the Use of the Young Princesses.
London, for E. Curll, 1722..
Third edition. 12mo. Contemporary in Cambridge panelled style with blind tooled borders and decorations, sympathetically rebacked in later calf.
An important work on the development of games, and in particular card games, in Britain in the 18th century. Originally published in 1719, 'written for the use of the young princesses', Seymour confidently declared that 'Gameing is become so much the Fashion among the Beau Monde, that He, who in Company should appear ignorant of the Games in Vogue, would be reckon'd low bred, and hardly fit for Conversation.' Whether this was in fact the case or not is hard to say, but certainly the card games he championed, ombre and piquet, did become increasingly popular, and the book ran to at least eight editions. Scarce.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Hutchinson, 1936.First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.A rare 'thirties Wheatley first edition, enhanced further by the inscription from the author, 'To Mr E.W. Sheppard With the best of good wishes from his friend Dennis Wheatley'. Sheppard could possibly by the military historian, who was certainly writing around the same time.
Modern Literature
London, Thornton Butterworth, 1925.
First edition. 8vo. Original pale sage cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Attractive dust-jacket, a love story set against the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1923.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth.
A first edition from master storyteller Graham Greene, the tale of ne'er-do-well Anthony Farrant, who has boasted, lied and cheated his way through jobs all over the world.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Jarrold, 1896.
First edition. 8vo. Original gilt-stamped dark green cloth.
A tantalising tango with Sci-Fi elements by the insanely prolific author of Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886). A really nice copy, to boot.
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Paul, 1957.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, clipped but with price 6/6 present on inside flap.
Further Frampton frolics, the jacket here showing a few suspiciously red finger marks itself...
Detective Fiction
London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1967.
First edition. 8vo. Original purple boards. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A very good first edition of the first book by Lemarchand, introducing CDI Tom Pollard and his assistant Sergeant Toye of Scotland Yard.
Detective Fiction
London, Stanley Paul, [1947].
First edition. 8vo. Orriginal blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
Frampton of the Yard is back on the case following the mysterious disappearance of a friend in 'Dead End'.
Art & Architecture
...together with literary contributions by E. Gordon Craig, Charles B. Cochran and Nigel Playfair.
[London], The Studio, 1927.
Large 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket.
Important work from a key period in the history of British Theatre, notable for the contributions by one of the epoch's leading lights, E. Gordon Craig.
Art & Architecture
Salaman (Malcolm C.) The Woodcut of To-Day at Home and Abroad
London, The Studio, 1927.
Large 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
A useful guide to the art of the woodcut, contributors include Rockwell Kent, John Nash, Paul Nash and C.C. Webb.
Illustrated Books
Translated from the French by Herbert b. Grimsditch
London, The Studio, 1924.
First edition. Small 4to. Original blind-tooled cloth stamped in gilt. Dust-jacket.
The special 'Winter Number' of art periodical The Studio, uncommon in the original dust-jacket.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Hutchinson, 1941.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9/6.
The second of three novels by Wheatley featuring Julian Day.
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.'