New York, Stackpole, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.
The first edition of this account of big band swing by one of the leading band leaders of all time, his concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 described by one contemporary critic as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music." Swing began to lose favour after this time, so this book marks an interesting period in 20th century popular music.
Detective Fiction
London, Herbert Jenkins, n.d..
'Popular Edition'. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/-.
A lovely early reissue of this classic, "the story of a mother's vengeance".
Detective Fiction
Graeme (Bruce, pseud. Graham Montague Jeffries) Gigins Court
London, Hutchinson, n.d..
10th thousand. 8vo. Original pale cloth. Dust-jacket, with 3/6 price sticker to spine.
Early printing of this hard-to-find title by a prolific author.
London, Harrap, 1935.
Reprint. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
Attractive jacket artwork on this early printing by prolific author Graeme, originally published in 1926.
Historical Fiction
and his wife Messalina
London, Arthur Barker, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
The continuing story of the Roman Empire as told from the perspective of the (now) Roman Emperor Claudius. Uncommon in the dust-jacket.
Detective Fiction
London, Alvin Redman, 1950.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original pale blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
When health-and-exercise guru Merlin Broadstone is murdered on his private island in the Florida Keys, detective John Hugo is assigned to the case and promptly falls for one of Broadstone's nieces.
Modern Literature
London, Heinemann, 1951.
First edition. 8vo. Original grey cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d, stamped 'overseas edition' to foot of lower panel.
First edition of Greene's meditation on love, hate and faith.
Detective Fiction
London, Methuen, 1952.
First edition. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, neatly price-clipped.
An attractively jacketed first edition of this crime thriller featuring Gregg's recurring detective, Inspector Cuthbert Higgins.
Modern Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1936.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original pale blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A very good first UK edition of one of Zane Grey's popular westerns.
Aviation
Solo Along the Arctic Air Route
London, Edinburgh & Glasgow, William Hodge, 1936.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
An account of the first solo flight from Great Britain to Canada via Greenland.
Detective Fiction
Gunn (Victor, pseud. Edwy Searles Brooks) Ironsides Sees Red
London, Collins, 1943.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
One of several 'Ironsides' titles written by Brooks under the pseudonym Victor Gunn. He also famously wrote under the pen name of Berkeley Gray.
Non-Fiction
London, Fisher Unwin, 1908.
First edition. 8vo. Title printed in red & black. Original red cloth, lettered in gilt.
Not a biography of the Pornocratic Italian noblewoman of that name, but rather a collection of short stories based on the author's experiences as a war correspondent in the Balkans.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Constable, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.
Hamilton's famous satirical novel that offers a critical view of contemporary British society through the lens of a fantastical and dystopian world. Hamilton, known for his plays and novels that often explored the darker aspects of urban life and the psyche, uses this work to skewer the class system, commercialism and the dehumanising aspects of industrialisation.
The novel's significance in 20th century literature lies in its blend of social critique and fantasy, a combination that was somewhat unconventional at the time. Hamilton's use of a parallel world to mirror and exaggerate the issues of his own society makes Impromptu in Moribundia a precursor to the later works of dystopian fiction that would become more prominent in British literature. It stands as a unique and imaginative critique of the socio-political climate of the era, reflecting the anxieties and criticisms of the interwar period.
Modern Literature
London, Constable, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d.
The scarce third title in Hamilton's 'Gorse' trilogy.
Detective Fiction
New York, Knopf, 1945.
7th Pocket Books edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers. Pictorial dust-jacket.
An attractive paperback edition of this classic of this hard-boiled detective novel.
Non-Fiction
Aberdeen, Impulse Books, 1971.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced £2.00.
Uncommon account of the early days of pirate radio.
Biography
a Record of Happy Memories
London, Frederick Muller, 1939.
First edition. Inscribed presentation copy from the author, with autograph letter in original envelope tipped in. 8vo. Original blue cloth.
Inscribed and with contemporary autograph letter from the author to the prolific Welsh writer on arts, architecture and sport, Walter Shaw Sparrow, referencing the book and favourable reviews it had received.
Modern Literature
London, Hamish Hamilton, 1953.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 11s.
Hartley's famous novel about a young boy's summer at a friend's grand estate in Norfolk, where he becomes an unwitting messenger in a tragic love affair, encapsulated by the famous opening line: "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
London, Lincoln Williams, 1934.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth lettered in black.
A scarce science fiction title, published under a distinctly uncommon imprint. The title is referenced in the checklists of Bleiler and Reginald.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Jonathan Cape, 1962.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 21s.
First UK edition of Heller's famous satirical war novel, the title referring to an inherent vicious circle that ensures the story's airmen cannot escape their duty even if they are mentally unfit to fly.
Horror & Gothic
London, New English Library, 1976.
First edition. 8vo. Original grey boards lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A fine first edition of one of the key titles by Herbert, famously author of The Rats and The Fog.
Historical Fiction
Higgins (Jack, pseud. Harry Patterson) In the Hour Before Midnight
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.
A consideration of the origins and methods of the Sicilian mafia, by the author of The Eagle Has Landed.
Horror & Gothic
Traduction Nouvelle Précèdès de Souvenirs intimes sur la Vie de l'Auteur Par P. Christian
Paris, Lavigne, 1843.
Large 8vo. Original, black ripple-grain cloth, heavily blocked in gilt to the spine, upper and lower covers, with borders to both covers blocked in blind. All edges gilt. Yellow endpapers.
Generally, a nice copy of a handsome edition rare in the original cloth boards and of especial note for the illustrations.
The contents, newly translated by P Christian (and preceded by a 13-page memoir of Hoffmann's life) comprise: (1) 'The Song of Antonia', 'Salvator Rosa', (3) The Adventures of Young Traugott', (4) 'Annunziata', (5) 'The Cooper of Nuremburg', (6) 'Olivier Brusson', (7) 'Pharaoh's Bank', (8) 'The Chain of Destinies', (9) ' Coppelius', (10) 'King Trabacchio', (11) ' Berthold the Mad', (12) 'The Mystery of the Desert House', (13) 'The Walled Door', (14) 'The Agate Heart, (15) 'Fascination', (16) 'The Lost Reflection', (17) 'Heroic Story of Minister Klein-Zacu'
Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier (1804-66), who worked under the pseudonym 'Gavarni', was originally a contributor to la Mode, specialising in fashion drawings. 'His lithographs give an insight into the manners and morals of his time …' Using every technique in a brilliant way, he described the social life of the upper classes, of the stage and in particular the habits of the Parisian of the 1840s and 1850s – Man, Artists Lithographs p. 43.
Detective Fiction
Holt (Gavin, pseud. Percival Charles Rodda) Drums Beat at Night
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 3/6.
"Drums beat at night…and Professor Bastion hears the echo on Hampstead Heath" (jacket blurb)
Weird & Supernatural
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered & blocked in black. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
"A brilliant story of intriguing mystery with a most refreshing novelty of situation. I have never read a book so impregnated with fragrant odours." (The Bookman, 1923).
Horror & Gothic
...with an introduction by Austin Dobson
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1896.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial black cloth blocked in silver.
A near fine example of this attractive edition of Hood's melodramatic ghost story in verse, "a masterpiece of it's kind" according to Edgar Allan Poe. The first edition in book form.
Victorian Literature
Bristol & London, Arrowsmith/Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, [1894].
First edition, second issue with the verso of the title page reset and eighteen titles including the present work listed in the publisher's ad at the rear. 8vo. Original russet red cloth, state with the "f" on the spine uncrossed.
Hope's most famous book, memorably adapted for stage, screen and radio on several occasions.
Detective Fiction
London, Chatto & Windus, 1938.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped and with price-sticker 7/6.
Twelve stories showcasing Household's literary flair above and beyond the spy/thriller genre he is normally associated with. Attractive dust-jacket.
American Literature
London, Gollancz, 1951.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 9/6.
The first appearance in book form of Langston's character of "Simple", first created for his Chicago Defender column in 1943.
Detective Fiction
London, Cassell, 1906.
First edition. 8vo. Patterned endpapers, publisher's catalogue at end. Original green pictorial cloth.
A very good first edition of this mystery novel by the author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.
Modern Literature
London, Robert Hayes, 1921.
First edition. 8vo. Original green boards. Dust-jacket, priced 2/6.
First edition of the book born from the original play of the same name. Rare in the jacket.
Detective Fiction
Innes (Michael, pseud. John Innes Mackintosh Stewart) Stop Press
London, Gollancz, 1939.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in red to spine. Dust-jacket.
The fourth in Innes' series featuring John Appleby, Detective Inspector of Scotland Yard. A Golden Age of Detective Fiction classic.
Modern Literature
London, Methuen, 1946.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original purple boards lettered in green to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 5s.
Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel on the world of film-making in Britain during the atrocities of Nazism.
Weird & Supernatural
and other Ghost Stories
London, Edward Arnold, 1925.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark oatmeal cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 5s.
A rather remarkable example of the first edition of this collection of ghost stories by the author of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, extremely uncommon in such condition. "An excellent supernatural collection." (Shadows in the Attic)
Children's Books
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1964.
First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 8s6d.
Biggles investigates a tourist charter in France, uncovering and thwarting a dangerous smuggling gang's operations.
Children's Books
Leicester, Brockhampton, 1965.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.
Biggles rescues a kidnapped scientist from pirates on a remote island to secure a fortune in pearls.