War, Invasion & Spy
First edition
London, Putnam, 1933.
Signed and inscribed by the author one month after publication (March 1933). A Hubin-listed secret service adventure set in London and India.
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1933.
When the dignified life of Steven Kester came to an undignified end there were several people with potential motives. Serial character Spike Tracy acts as detective and solves the mystery.Rare in d/w.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London. Neville Spearman, 1957
A well regarded collection of short stories mainly set in the American South and most of them among poor people. The short story that gives the book refers to statues popular in the Jim Crow-era Southern United States, depicting grotesque minstrel-like characters.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Grant Richards, 1923
A lost race novel in which a lost heiress takes over an African tribe. Very scarce in wrapper.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Dent, 1910
The author’s first short story collection containing some fine examples of ghost and horror stories including the much anthologised tale, ‘August Heat’ (Shadows in the Attic p.247).
Modern Literature
First edition.
London. Philip Allan, 1925
Anthology covering amongst other things murders, mutinies, maroonings and other tales of horror on the high seas. Scarce in jacket.
Detective Fiction
First edition. London. Collins, 1927 ‘[a] swift-moving thriller...gives a vivid picture of life in New York’s underworld.’ (jacket blurb)A very good, unsophisticated example of this title by prolific Canadian author [William] Hulbert Footner, listed in Hubin but wrongly dated as 1929 (the date of the first US edition) therein. We could find no copies of this the true first edition on WorldCat’s database for institutional holdings. Exceedingly scarce in the original dust-jacket.From the collection of Adrian Homer Goldstone, 1897-1977 (bookplate). Goldstone was a renowned Californian book-collector, particularly well know for his bibliographies of Arthur Machen and John Steinbeck, both of which were published through the University of Texas.
Detective Fiction
First edition, second impression first month as first state April 1935.
London. Collins, 1935
Stephen Maddock was a pseudonym used by prolific adventure and crime fiction writer JT Walsh born 1897 to 1952. He had two main series characters under this name: Inspector Slane and Timothy Terrel, the latter of whom appears in Conspirators in Capri. Very scarce in a jacket.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition.
London. Hutchinson, [1926]
The continuing adventures of Allan Quatermain, set in the middle of the Dark Continent ruled by a huge, pale man with a strange knowledge of future events. One of two works published posthumously.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
First edition, first issue binding.
London. Charles Griffin & Co, [1909]
Early Sci-Fi with a fin de siècle perspective on interplanetary voyaging across the solar system. A companion volume to his The Stolen Planet novel. In Bleiler.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition thus.
London. Reader's Library, [1934 according to COPAC but could be earlier]
Death by poisoning in a locked bedroom at Staups, an isolated manor house on the Yorkshire Moors. Weird elements, a supposedly cursed jewel and sacrificial knives looted from the temple of Aztec descendants living in Central America, Author’s first crime novel, published in the UK by Bles in 1927.
Modern Literature
First edition.
London, Putnam, 1936
A very elusive political satire in which a Scottish shirt maker - Andrew McAndrew - corners the market for political shirts. In the novel the author satirises the symbolic power of the shirt with garments whose actual colour imbue the wearer with a political attitude. What’s not to like about a novel that pokes fun at Oswald Mosley’s Fascist Blackshirt movement.
Detective Fiction
First edition. London, Methuen 1922 A Hubin listed mystery in the very elusive jacket which has some visual similarity to the jacket design of ‘Mysterious Affair at Styles’, Agatha Christie’s first novel, published two years earlier. John Moroso was a New York based writer who contributed to various publications in the 1910s and 1920s and also wrote a story about life in an east side New York City ghetto titled The Stumbling Herd, which was made into a silent film in 1926
Detective Fiction
First edition.
London, Cassell, 1939
The story centres on the murder of Mr Norwitch found stabbed in an antiques shop. The author worked in an antiques store and clearly draws heavily on this experience. According to authoritative website www.classiccrimefiction.com, UK first editions in original jackets are rare especially this title.
Horror & Gothic
War, Invasion & Spy
First edition. Foreign Legion short stories.
London, John Murray, 1933
A fine first English edition of this compilation of Foreign Legion stories by the author of Beau Geste (1924), in the fabulous Art Deco design correctly priced at 7/6 on front flap. 'Very many of these men are examples of the "flawed blades" that have snapped, leaving little but the sheath that once contained the sword - spirits that have broken, leaving only a weary body.' (dust-jacket).
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, WM. Collins Sons & Co, Ltd By The London Book Co. Ltd., [1934]
A film tie in Issued around the same time of the release of the film adaptation of The Invisible Man which was filmed by Universal Pictures Ltd. Uncommon in wrapper.
War, Invasion & Spy
First edition. A very attractive example with jacket design by Abbey.
London, Collins, 1941
A typical espionage title set in Istanbul by James Morgan Walsh, born 1897 to 1952, also wrote as H. Haverstock Hill, Stephen Maddock, George M. White. He was born in Australia and came to England in 1925. The majority of his work leans towards spy and adventure rather than pure detective fiction
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
First edition, 2 volumes,
London, Sampson Low, 1888
A Haggardesque tale written in collaboration with a female novelist presumably drawing on Thomson’s own experiences in Central and Eastern Africa.Thomson was a Scottish geologist and explorer who played an important part in the Scramble for Africa. Ulu is his only work of fiction and very rare in commerce.
Horror & Gothic
Tales of Thrill and Horror Selected and Arranged By Christine Campbell Thomson. First edition. London, Selwyn & Blount, [1933] This is No 9 in the Famous Not At Night Series of books.
Weird & Supernatural
Third edition.
London, Hutchinson, Not dated but likely to have been published in the
1920's.
Illustrations by Jean de Bosschere. Uncanny Tales was first published in the UK in 1923. An important collection of supernatural
Detective Fiction
Rare crime title, all other copies I have seen of this title are described as ‘7th Thousand’.
London, Skeffington, [1930 according to COPAC]
Reasonable to assume this was a publisher gimmick to show titles were popular.
Weird & Supernatural
First edition. Collection of eighteen stories.
London, Longmans, 1930
"Short stories with an Egyptian setting, some of which are fantasy and weird, and some at least of which first appeared in magazines under the pen name of 'Abu Nadaar' ..." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 161. The title story was reprinted in POWERS OF DARKNESS (1934), one of Philip Allan's anthologies in the "Creeps" series. Rare in d/w
Horror & Gothic
First edition. London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd 1925
Horror & Gothic
First edition. Includes stories by, E.S. Knights, Hester Gorst, Elliott O'Donnell, John Ratho, Charles Lloyd and others. London, Philip Allan, 1933 In our experience the most elusive of the Creeps series with no copies currently for sale online.
Modern Literature
First edition, Huchinson, [1943].A rare collection of short stories, particularly scarce in the dust-jacket.
Modern Literature
Wheatley (Dennis) Mediterranean Nights – with signed photograph
First edition, [1942].A collection of Wheatley's short stories, rare in the dust-jacket.Included with this is a signed photograph of the German singer & actress Renate Müller (1906-1937), who was the inspiration for the Wheatley short story 'Espionage'. A tragic life cut short on the back of a blossoming career, either being murdered by the Gestapo or intimidated by them sufficiently that she seemingly took her own life. The story and a short discussion of the incident involved are included in this collection.
Modern Literature
First edition, Heinemann, 1900.A pleasing first edition of this early novel by the creator of Mapp and Lucia.
Detective Fiction
Translated from the French by Maverick Terrell. First English edition, London, T. Werner Laurie, 1936.One of the prolific French author's whodunits. Dekobra (real name Maurice Tessier) was one of France's best-known authors during the interwar period, and several of his books were made into films.
Detective Fiction
First edition, London, Alfred A. Knopf, 1929.Rare London Knopf imprint, in the remarkable striking dust-jacket designed by Shaw.
Detective Fiction
(A Detective-Inspector McCarthy Yarn).First Edition. Wright & Brown, n.d. [c.1941].
Detective Fiction
London, Columbine Publishing Co, 1939.The world-renowned detective Grant Rushton takes on his most sinister foe yet, High Priestess of the terrible cult of the Voodoo, Marie Galante.
Modern Literature
London, Macmillan and Co, 1940.First film tie-in edition.
Weird & Supernatural
London, Jarrolds, 1927.An early edition of Metcalfe's first published book, a collection of macabre tales, including the excellent 'Paper WIndmills'.
Detective Fiction
London, Hutchinson, 1937.One of the Inspector Williams novels, by an author also known for writing Sexton Blake titles.
War, Invasion & Spy
Chatto & Windus, London, 1929 first edition
Detective Fiction
Mills and Boon, London, 1937
First edition