If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
ADAMS, Douglas. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. By the Author of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. London, Heinemann 1987 [22603]
FIRST EDITION: A fine copy in near fine original dust-jacket. £35
ADAMS, Douglas. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
A Trilogy in Five Parts: A Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, The Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish; Mostly Harmless. London: Heinemann, 1996. [24664]
Omnibus. Large 8vo. Near fine, inscription to first e.p., in near fine dustwrapper. £15
ADAMS, Douglas. So Long and Thanks for all the Fish. The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 4 London, Pan Books. 1984 [23138]
FIRST EDITION: A Fine copy in fine dust wrapper with clever holographic insert. £38
AICKMAN, Robert. [1914-1981] Cold Hand in Mine. Eight Strange Stories. London, Gollancz. 1975 [31087]
First UK Edition. 8vo. Near fine in publisher’s purple cloth titled in gilt to the spine. In a fine yellow and purple Gollancz dustwrapper. A gorgeous copy. This particular copy being the review copy sent to Malcolm Ferguson (distinguished resident of Massachusetts, book collector, fount of knowledge, reviewer and writer) in 1977 so that he could write a cover blurb/review for the US edition due to be published by Scribners that year. The Scribners review copy label is taped to the flyleaf, loosely inserted is a copy of Mr.Ferguson’s review on Book Review Folio submission paper and the original interdepartmental letter from Scribners Publicity Department to the Review Editor, bringing the book to their attention and including blurbs of the same title from such worthies as Fritz Leiber and Robert Bloch. Mr.Ferguson has covered the verso of this letter with review notes in black ink. Very cool. Robert Fordyce Aickman was the writer of two novels and forty-eight short stories he preferred to describe as ‘strange tales’, rather disdaining the ‘horror’ epiphet. His tales are masterpieces of atmosphere, clammy repression, claustrophobia and sinsiter eroticism. Unfortunately, these days he is mostly unknown amongst the mainstream, a fate he shares with his grandfather Richard Marsh, the author of ‘The Beetle’ amongst others and in his day one of the most popular British Victorian authors. £175
ALDISS, Brian. The Airs Of Earth. Science Fiction Stories. London, Faber & Faber, 1963. [21279]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s cloth, fine in near fine dustwrapper. £85
ALDISS, Brian. The Male Response. London, Dennis Robson, 1961. [21273]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s cloth, light edge spotting, else fine. In fine dustwrapper. £85
ALDISS, Brian W. Non Stop. London, Faber & Faber. 1958 [22114]
FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR’S FIRST NOVEL, 8vo. Publisher’s burgundy cloth, a little bumping to spine and corners, clear text with very slight discolouration and a hint of a lean, a touch dusty on the top edge, very good. Pictorial dustwrapper, showing some wear to extremities, including a few small tears and some browning, near very good. £200
ASHTON SMITH, Clark. Genius Loci, And Other Tales. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1948 [27199]
First Edition.8vo. Bound in the trademark Arkham black cloth titled in gilt. Wrapper slightly sunned to spine (as usual, which is a recurring source of pain every time I find a copy).Otherwise a fine copy of a collection of stories of the weird by Smith, a man who often succeeded in out Lovecrafting Lovecraft. The wrapper incidentally was illustarted in fine style by Frank Wakefield, who later went on to marry Clark Ashton Smith’s widow. Another pre-meditated act of splendour from Arkham House. £275
ASQUITH, Cynthia. This Mortal Coil. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1947 [28339]
First Edition. 8vo. 245pp. A fine copy in fine Ronald Clyne dustwrapper, merest hint of toning to rear panel. Limited to 2609 copies (the August Derleth definition of limited being somewhat flexible). Lady Cynthia Asquith was one of the British writers of the supernatural that Derleth courted in order to make up for a dearth of home grown material. This set of stories was subsequently (with some editorial freebootery) published in the UK under the title ‘What Dreams May Come’. A super copy. £120
Jaffery TAHC 25.
BANKS. Ian. M. Feersum Endjinn London, Orbit. 1994 [23899]
SIGNED FIRST EDITION: 8vo. pp279. Publisher’s black cloth with gilt titles to spine. Pristine dust-wrapper. Author’s signature in blue ball-point to title page. A fine copy. £75
BERESFORD, J [ohn], D[avys]. The Hampdenshire Wonder. London; Sidgwick and Jackson 1911 [25846]
FIRST EDITION of the author’s important first novel; a blend of mystery, sociology and fantasy and a most influential work of fiction.
Publisher’s blue cloth titled in gilt to spine and upper. In pale blue dustwrapper, printed in navy. Book is just about fine, with some minimal toning to flyleaves (which is different paper stock from the text). Jacket is very bright and clean, with a couple of trivial chips and marks to the rear panel. A lovely example of a book that wears easily. £2,750
“[The Hampdenshire Wonder is] the study of a child with super intelligence; regarded by some as the best superman novel before Stapledon’s Odd John” [Locke, p.32]
Bleiler; Fantastic Fiction (1972) p.48.
BLACKWOOD, Algernon. The Extra Day. London, Macmillan. 1915 [26713]
First edition, Second state. 2pps ads at rear. Publisher’s blind decorated blue cloth, titled in gilt to spine and front board. A near fine copy with the slightest of wear to the tail of the spine. £75
BLATTY, William, Peter. The Exorcist. London, Blond & Briggs. 1971. [29015]
UK FIRST EDITION, PRE-PUBLICATION / ADVANCE COPY with review slip. Octavo. Publisher’s black cloth, with gothic style lettering to spine, black endpapers; in photographic dustwrapper. A lightly used copy with a little rubbing and marking; shows well. With rare publisher’s slip with printed release date. Uncommon in this advance state. Filmed in 1973, Blatty’s influential ‘The Exorcist’ probably still remains the most famous horror film of all time, and certainly one of the most disturbing; in it’s wake came a thousand Catholic Fear horror stories and movies. £150
Book Collector No.270 (p25) ‘The Devil’s Library’. Listed in Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horror Novels.
BLISH James. Best Science Fiction Stories of James Blish. London, Faber & Faber, 1965 [22966]
FIRST Edition: Green cloth covered boards, very slightly bowed. Original dust-jacket undamaged but for small area of staining to back cover. A good copy. £35
BLOCH, Robert. The Opener Of The Way. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1945 [28384]
First Edition. 8vo. 309pp. Fine is publisher’s black cloth, clad in a fine Ronald Clyne dustwrapper. An exceptional copy. The first collection of Bloch’s tales to be published by Arkham House and the beginning of a career in psychological horror that eclipsed most of his contemporaries. £400
BLOCH, Robert. Pleasant Dreams - Nightmares. Sauk City, Wisconsin, Arkham House, 1960. [20610]
FIRST EDITION. 2000 copies printed. 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, near fine. In dustwrapper, designed by Gary Gore, slightly sunned, very light edge wear, near fine. By the author of Psycho. £100
BOWEN, Marjorie. Kecksies and Other Twilight Tales. SAuk City, Arkham House. 1976 [28380]
First Edition. 8vo. Fine in publisher’s black cloth titled in gilt. In a pristine dustwrapper, a truly fine copy. Dustwrapper the first produced for Arkham House by Stephen Fabian. A selection of sinister tales by Gabrielle Campbell Long, writing under the pen name of Bowen. £65
BROOMHEAD, Reginald. A Voice From Mars. London, Arthur H. Stockwell. [1923] [31300]
First Edition, in what we suspect to be the primary binding, subsequent bindings being titled in red or black this copy titled in gilt). Near fine in publisher’s blue cloth titled and ruled in gilt. Slight rubbing to extremties otherwise bright and crisp. Dusty top edge, internally clean. A scarce bit of manly juvenile fiction in which a couple of strapping chaps intercept a radio message from Mars and pop off to visit the red planet in search of adventure and ‘the girl of Jack’s dreams’. The daring duo meet opposition in the form of a gang of villainous old High Priests who are keeping the population under their heel (as you do), a couple of service revolvers and a bunch of grenades later and Mars is safe for Englishmen at last! This copy inscribed by the author to the flyleaf and signed on the title page. £375
BURROUGHS, Edgar Rice. Tarzan and the Ant Men. Chicago, A.C. McClurg & Co., 1924. [28566]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. 346 + 4. Finely bound in recent full brown morocco, gilt titles and decoration to spine; gilt rule to boards; marbled end papers. Publisher’s original brown cloth board and spine bound in. Frontispiece illustration. Pages toned with occasional markings. A lovely copy. £180
BURTON, Sir Richard F. Vikram and the Vampire. or Tales Of Hindu Devilry.
With Thirty-Three Illustrations by Ernest Griset. London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1870. [20705]
FIRST EDITION, second issue. 8vo., pp. (xxiv); 319. Publisher’s decorated red cloth, spine lightly sunned, light general wear, hinges starting, small discreet sticker, earlier bookseller’s catalogue description pasted in. Light foxing. Very good. £275
CLARKE, Arthur C. Against the Fall of Night. New York, Gnome Press. 1953 [26394]
First Edition, First Issue. 8vo. 223pp. Publisher’s appropriately sky-blue purple titled cloth, slightly worn to extremities, otherwise clean and bright. Clad in a clean, bright and unfaded example of a fantastic golden age dustwrapper complete with craggy, improbably dressed denizens of the future gazing (albeit with their eyes closed) into the middle distance accompanied by their shiny blue and gold robot, against a backdrop of soaring ‘city of the future, soon all civilizations will be like this and food will come in pill form’ style skyscrapers. The wrapper (being made only of earth paper, and not of gossamer thin, stronger than steel paperite as used in the dustwrappers of books of the future) has suffered some slight edgwear and a bit of marginal chipping and has an inch long closed tear to the upper left corner of the front panel which some philistine has attempted to repair with tape. This book is nevertheless an inspiring object that immediately causes me to petulantly demand the flying car and personal jetpack that Mr.Clarke promised me. £295
CLARK, Arthur C. 2001, A Space Odyssey. Based on the screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.
[From Clarke’s story, The Sentinel]. London, Hutchinson. 1968. [25014]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth with titles in siver to spine; a hint of a lean, a touch of spotting to the top edge, Fine; in Fine and bright pictorial dustwrapper. SIGNED and dated “13 Nov 96” by the Author on a loose yellow card. £575
CLARK, Arthur C. 2001, A Space Odyssey. Based on the screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.
[From Clarke’s story, The Sentinel]. London, Hutchinson. 1968. [27852]
SIGNED FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth with titles in siver to spine in bright glossy pictorial dustwrapper. A lovely fine copy which appears unread. With author’s signature to half title, additionally inscribed (non-dedicated) ‘with best wishes’. £1,250
Ex-Bonhams, sale 11808
CLARKE, Arthur, C. 2010, Odyssey Two. London, Granada. 1982. [22148]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, slight bumping to top of spine and lower back corner, text is clear with a little general discolouration and a touch of dust to the top edge, beige endpapers, near fine. Pictorial dustwrapper, bold sci-fi design, price clipped on lower inside front flap, also near fine. £25
CLARKE, Arthur C. A Fall of Moondust. London, Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1961 [22962]
FIRST EDITION: Publisher’s red cloth boards and yellow paper dust-jacket. Price clipped. Booksellers stamp to front endpaper. Top corners slightly bumped. Some small chips and tape residue to spine of wrapper. Pages browned £65
CLARKE, Arthur C. Rendezvous With Rama. London, Gollancz. 1973 [25882]
First Edition. 8vo. 256pp. Near fine in publisher’s dark green cloth, two tiny spots of fading or bleaching to the bottom front corners of the boards and some trivial bumping to the head and tail of spine otherwise clean and unmarked. Wrapper clean and fine. Winner of five major sci-fi awards including the Hugo, one of Clarke’s most intriguing novels, the theme of the floating alien derelict has been oft repeated in the annals of sci-fi, but never so convincingly. £275
COLLINS, Wilkie. After Dark. London, Smith Elder. 1856 [29677]
First Edition. 8vo. 2 Volumes. Beautifully bound by Stikeman in a contemporary half tan morocco with gilt titles and ruling to spine compartments. Marbled boards. Top edge gilt, fore-edge untrimmed. Marbled endpapers. Fresh, bright and clean, a trifle sunned to spines. Very strong and attractive copies of a scarce first edition from Collins. Contains The Stolen Letter and an all time favourite; ‘A Terribly Strange Bed’, featuring a king-sized psychotic bed that smothers all who attempt to sleep in it. One can only assume that Colins suffered from bouts of insomnia. A cracking bit of mainstream Victorian fiction in a lovely binding. £2,750
[CONAN DOYLE, Arthur] contibutes to...‘THE STRAND MAGAZINE’. No. 258, ORIGINAL ISSUE IN WRAPPERS. George Newnes Ltd., London, Issue No 258, June 1912. [25402]
This issue contains chapters from ‘The Lost World’; the first ‘Challenger’ novel which proved to be one of the most famous books ever serialised in The Strand. Also includes an Austin Phillips short story ‘The Boy who Read Kipling’.
Original issue magazine format, approx. 9.5 x 6.5’’ with pictorial blue covers, illustrated throughout. Some very minor wear. Near fine. Whilst the hardbound six-monthly volumes survive comparatively well, these fragile single issues were not intended to be kept for posterity and are scarce, particularly in this clean condition. £95
George Newnes' Strand Magazine (January 1891-March 1950) was the most popular and important British periodical of its time. Geared to the English Victorian middle class, the success of the Strand was intertwined with the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and P.G.Wodehouse. The combination of fiction, current events, informative articles and the promised 'picture on every page' proved a winning formula for the magazine, which proved a popular source for the best in current fiction, featuring the works of some of the greatest authors of the 19th and 20th centuries including H.G Wells, Jules Verne, Leo Tolstoy, H Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, E.Nesbit, Winston Churchill, Graham Greene, J.B. Priestley, C.S.Lewis, W.E. Johns, and, of course, major contributors Doyle and Wodehouse.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was to prove one of the Strand's most popular (and prolific) writers. Right until his death in 1930, he was a regular and frequent contributor to the magazine, which featured not only his classic 'Sherlock Holmes' investigations but also a wealth of his other short fiction and serialized novels including the hugely successful 'Professor Challenger' stories, his historical fiction, spiritualism and military journalism.
Continuing the tradition started by Doyle, the Strand became a source for new detective and adventure fiction from authors such as Agatha Christie (with Hercule Poirot), G.K. Chesterton (Father Brown), Margery Allingham (Mr. Campion), E.C. Bentley (Trent) 'Sapper' (Bulldog Drummond, Ronald Standish), Edgar Wallace, Leslie Charteris (the Saint), E.Phillips Oppenheim, Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey), Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret), Eric Ambler and Carter Dickson. There were even detective stories from established authors otherwise unknown for their crime writing; notably W. Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley.
DERLETH, August. Someone In The Dark. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1941 [31258]
First edition, first impression as against the later Derleth ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.’ additional 300 copies. Bound in publisher’s black cloth with some wear and dulling to the spine. In an Utpatel jacket with some meagre chipping and edgewear the head of the very slightly faded spine where there is a tiny flake of loss to the last syllable of the author’s name. A very good copy of the second Arkham House publication, a small octavo as against the giant paper brick which preceded it. A collection of Derleth’s fantastic short stories, but the highlight has to be the surely self-penned biography on the rear panel of the wrapper portraying Derleth as half way between Leonardo da Vinci and the Nostradamus of supernatural fiction; ‘August Derleth is perhaps the most versatile and prolific author alive today...his Sac Prairie saga may be the most ambitious literary venture since Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu...’ Just marvellous. £295
DOYLE, [Sir] Arthur Conan (1859-1930). The Lost World. Being an account of the recent amazing adventures of Professor George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee, and Mr. E. D. Malone of the “Daily Gazette”. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1912], [29780]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. (vii) + 319. With photographic portrait frontispiece of members of the expedition, plates and map. Elegantly hand-bound in full blue oasis morocco leather with gilt titles and raised bands to spine; gilt rule to boards; marbled end-papers; top edge gilt, original cover preserved at rear. Internally very clean.A fine copy in attractive recent binding. A lovely copy. £500
The first Challenger novel, in which our hero travels to a Lost World in the Amazon forest where dinosaurs, Pterodactyls and ape men could still exist.
Green & Gibson A37. Also Bleiler; The Guide to Supernatural Fiction.
CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Land of Mist. Hutchinson, London, 1926. [29360]
FIRST EDITION. Ads dated ‘Spring 1926’. The third Professor Challenger story, with a supernatural bent. Small 8vo., publisher’s green cloth titled and decorated in pale green. Some light general wear. A very good copy indeed. £175
Green ang Gibson A45, also Bleiler.
DAHL, Roald. Tales Of The Unexpected ( 2 volumes, 25 stories in all, including such classics as ‘Dip in the Pool’, ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘The Sound Machine’ and ‘Someone Like You’). London, Michael Joseph. 1979/80 resp. [24588]
First Editions, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth in simple, but rather striking pictorial dustjackets, one red, one purple. Titles in silver to the spine. Both copies in lovely condition. A few white marks to lower board edges of volume 1 with just a hint of a bow to the front board and some dust to the top. Minimal bumping to lower corners of volume 2, with a little faint foxing to the top. Clean pages and a clear text, both near fine. Dustjackets also near fine, some slight wear to the top edges of both and a few little marks to the top of the flaps in volume 2. An attractive colourful set. £175
If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
DERLETH, August (Ed.). [BRADBURY, Ray; BLOCH, Robert; WYNDHAM, John; LEIBER, Fritz; etc.]. Far Boundaries. Twenty Science-Fiction Stories Selected by August Derleth. New York: Pellegrini & Cudahy, 1951. [23939]
FIRST EDITION of this compilation. Fine in near fine, very decorative dust jacket, spine a touch faded with head and foot very lightly frayed. £30
DERLETH, August. Someone In The Dark. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1941 [28341]
First edition, first impression as against the later Derleth ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.’ additional 300 copies. Fine in publisher’s black cloth, In a splendid Utpatel jacket with some meagre repaired fraying to the head of the very slightly faded spine. A lovely copy of the second Arkham House publication, a small octavo as against the giant paper brick which preceded it. A collection of Derleth’s fantastic short stories, but the highlight has to be the surely self-penned biography on the rear panel of the wrapper portraying Derleth as half way between Leonardo da Vinci and the Nostradamus of supernatural fiction; ‘August Derleth is perhaps the most versatile and prolific author alive today...his Sac Prairie saga may be the most ambitious literary venture since Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu...’ Just marvellous. £600
DICK, Philip K. Time Out of Joint. Novel of Menace. Philadelphia and New York; J.B.Lippincott. 1959 [29047]
FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp221. Publisher’s hardback cloth binding in pictorial dustjacket. Neat bookseller stamp to rear. A lightly used copy showing some acceptable dustiness and handling, with some minor edgewear, toned to extrenmities and spine. A very good copy of a scarce fantasy title. £750
DOYLE THE SPIRITUALISTDOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Edge of the Unknown. John Murray, London, 1930. [28089]
First Edition. SCARCE- only 909 copies were published. 8vo, pps. (vii) +332. Publisher’s dark blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. Internally clean with faint crease/fold to top corner of preliminary leaves, bookseller’s ticket to rear pastedown, moderate wear to cloth, gilt tiles rubbed and dulled. A very good copy. A collection of weird and wonderful supernatural tales and stories of a spiritualist nature reappearing in this first book form edition, some having previously materialised in periodicals. Includes ‘Notes From a Strange Mail Bag’, ‘The Ghost of the Moat’, ‘The Law of the Ghost’, ‘A Strange Prophet’ and ‘A Rift in the Veil’.
When his son Kingsley died from wounds incurred in the Great War, Conan Doyle dedicated himself to spiritualistic studies; both ‘The Coming of Fairies’ (1922) and ‘The Edge of the Unknown’ (1930) are examples, but he had already showed interest in occult fantasy before publishing the Sherlockian stories; in his early novel, ‘The Mystery of Cloomber’(1888), a retired general finds himself under assault by Indian magic £85
Green & Gibson; A Bibliography of Arthur Conan Doyle [B47].
LARGE PAPER LOST WORLDDOYLE, Arthur Conan. The Lost World. Being an account of the recent amazing adventures of Professor George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee, and Mr. E. D. Malone of the “Daily Gazette”. New Edition. Hodder and Stoughton, London, [1914] [28672]
FIRST EDITION, First Issue (LARGE PAPER). Tall Octavo, pp. 319. Publisher’s light blue cloth, slightly faded to spine. Titled in gilt and decorated with blind stamped dinosaur footprints (Iguanadon I believe). Top edge gilt. Slight bumping to extremities and trifling shelfwear. Three distinct areas of staining (upper edge of rear board, upper edge of front board and a small spot at the base of spine) something like coffee or possibly rust. Despite these minor marke the book is clean and strong, with the only other defect being a corner crease to the frontispiece portrait of Challenger. Indisputably the greatest of all ‘dinsosaurs and primitive man marooned through bizarre quirk of geological fate upon an unreachable plateau re-discovered by modern man resulting in chaos’ stories, the other titles in the genre all being too obvious and well known to list here. With 13 mounted plates in colour and black and white, plus two maps. Very Good. first issue of The Large Paper Edition; featuring colour frontis and other illustrations not present in the trade edition, plus all the plates are mounted for this edition. 1000 copies only; initially 190 in blue cloth (1912), followed by 810 in brown (1914, and after).Doyle himself was closely involved in the preparation of this edition, making some alterations to the text to allow room for the extra illustrations. An interesting and rare edition of the FIRST CHALLENGER NOVEL. £2,500
Green & Gibson [A37d]
DOYLE, A. Conan. The Poison Belt. Being an account of another adventure of Prof. George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Prof. Summerlee, and Mr. E.D. Malone, the discoverers of “The Lost World”. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1913. [27630]
INSCRIBED ASSOCIATION COPY, SIGNED BY DOYLE. Octavo, pp199. With numerous full-page illustrations by Harry Rowntree. Publisher’s pictorial blue cloth with gilt titles to darkened spine, tooled in black to upper. A couple of marks to rear, backstrip slightly sunned. A very good copy indeed. A fine association copy; Formerly the property of Rene de Chochor, director of the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose main responsibility was to negotiate all the many contracts for cinema and ensure that copyrights were respected. With AUTHOR’S INSCRIPTION to title page ‘With homage to Belgium / Arthur Conan Doyle’. The second Professor Challenger novel, and a first-rate sequel to ‘The Lost World’ which continues the adventures of one of the most memorable characters in speculative fiction. Brilliant, witty, insufferable, and blessed with a booming voice and a huge black beard, Professor George Challenger is an eccentric and able champion of the human race. Second immpression 30th August 1913.
£1,500
Green and Gibson; A Bibliography of Arthur Conan Doyle [A38]. Provenance; Ex-Christies 4074, lot 271.
DOYLE, [Sir] Arthur Conan (1859-1930). The Lost World. Being an account of the recent amazing adventures of Professor George E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee, and Mr. E. D. Malone of the “Daily Gazette”. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1912]. [30986]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. (vii) + 319. With photographic portrait frontispiece of members of the expedition, plates and map. Elegantly hand-bound in full blue oasis morocco leather with gilt titles and raised bands to spine; gilt rule to boards; marbled end-papers; top edge gilt, original cover preserved at rear. Internally very clean.A fine copy in attractive recent binding. The first Challenger novel, in which our hero travels to a Lost World in the Amazon forest where dinosaurs, Pterodactyls and ape men could still exist. £550
Green & Gibson A37. Also Bleiler; The Guide to Supernatural Fiction.
DOYLE, Arthur Conan. Poe, E.A. Sayers, D.L. and others. Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror. London, Victor Gollancz. 1928. [26496]
First edition Thus. 8vo. 1229pp. Publisher’s black cloth titled in red. A trifle rubbed, cloth cracked at base of front hinge. Some spotting to page edges. Vibrant red dustwrapper with slight shelfwear but nothing criminal, crumpled crease and short closed tear to rear panel, slightly darkened at spine. A fabulous collection with an introduction and commentary by Dorothy L. Sayers featuring many of the greats in their respective fields. Includes tales by Le Fanu, Machen , M.R. James, Aldous Huxley and G.K. Chesterton amongst others. £895
DU MAURIER, Daphne Not After Midnight. Not After Midnight and Other Stories.( Includes Don’t Look Now) London, Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1971 [21618]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s orange cloth,small mark on page before start of text, fine copy. Pictorial dustwrapper, photograph of author on back, also fine.. £20
EDDISON, E.R. [1882-1945] The Worm Ouroboros. London, Jonathan Cape. 1922 [31470]
First Edition, first issue (publisher’s name across base of spine above ruled lines). 8vo. Publisher’s original gilt titled and decorated dark blue cloth slightly bumped to extremities and with some light shelwear nevertheless a distinguished and handsome copy, lacking its scarce dustwrapper. Light browning to prelims, with a neat ink ownership to front flyleaf. Topedge dusty all others untrimmed. Internally clean, a most stylish production from Cape with bold illustrations and decorations by Keith Henderson in a style rather reminiscent of Kay Neilsen. Laid in at the front is a letter from a representative of Faber and Faber to Mr. Malcolm Ferguson (all round Delphic Oracle of the odd) in 1949 bemoaning the fact that they had remarkably little information on Mr.Eddison and suggesting that he enquire from Jonathan Cape. An interesting and slightly troublesome fantasy whose protagonists are mostly unlikeable (mainly due to their overweening arrogance and zeal for carnage) yet are still so vividly rendered as to render them strangely compelling. Protected by a custom made leather spined clamshell case. ‘Eric Rücker Eddison (November 24, 1882 – August 18, 1945) was an English civil servant and author, writing under the name "E.R. Eddison."
He is best known for his early romance The Worm Ouroboros (1922) and his three volumes set in the imaginary world Zimiamvia, known as the Zimiamvian Trilogy: Mistress of Mistresses (1935), A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), and The Mezentian Gate (1958).
These early works of high fantasy drew strong praise from J. R. R. Tolkien (see especially Letter 199 in the collected letters), C. S. Lewis (see the Tribute to E. R. Eddison in On Stories and Other Essays on Literature), and Ursula Le Guin (see the essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie" in The Language of the Night). Privately Tolkien found the underlying philosophy rebarbative, and clashed with Eddison at their sole meeting, who in return thought Tolkien's views "soft". They are written in a meticulously recreated Jacobean prose style, seeded throughout with fragments, often acknowledged but often frankly stolen, from his favorite authors and genres: Homer and Sappho, Shakespeare and Webster, Norse Saga and French medieval lyric.’
£500
FALKNER, J. Meade. The Lost Stradivarius. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1895. [27789]
FIRST EDITION. ASSOCIATION COPY. Pp.296 plus catalogue dated October 1895. Bound in publisher’s original dark blue cloth with gilt titles to spine, blind tooled pictorial title to upper, floral endpapers. Cloth is a little rubbed and bumped, now expertly recased.
A rare title, mostly forgotten in favour of his more popular “Moonfleet”, Falkner’s tale of a young musician gradually becoming possessed by the spirit of a long dead dabbler in the forbidden is nevertheless stirring stuff.
This copy has an interesting history, formerly being the property of the publisher, with the armorial bookplate of H.O. Blackwood to pastedown bearing the legend ‘Not to be taken away’. It is also signed by Isla Blackwood to the title page, dated August 1897. At a later date this copy passed into the hands of Eric Quayle [1921-2001], the noted collector and bibliographer of Victorian and Edwardian adventure fiction, and was sold as part of his library at auction through Bonhams in March and April 2004, which attracted a great deal of interest from collectors and dealers alike. Mr. Quayle may have gone, but the books that he spent his lifetime preserving and describing are still circulating, and will do so for a very long time. £750
HARRE, T Everrett. [Editor] Beware After Dark! The World’s Most Stupendous Tales of Mystery, Horror, Thrills and Terror. New York, Emerson. 1945 [32659]
First Thus. Publisher’s black cloth titled in red to spine and front board. Minor bumping to spine ends and a little rubbing otherwise clean and bright. In a splendidly bright dustwrapper (depicting the timeless: ‘girl in negligee terrorised by giant bat’, always a classic, never a cliche) with some minor edgewear and chipping and a one inch closed tear to front flap seam. It isn’t often that a book promises both terror and horror, but then this compendium contains everyone from E.F. Benson to H.P.Lovecraft so it probably does its best in that regard. The inside flap of this gem (apart from asking you if you like ‘hot fudge with cold ice cream’) bears the legend: ‘To the Public: If unable to sleep after putting down Beware After Dark! please turn to back cover of jacket. We like to preserve our customers. The Publishers.’ When one turns to the back cover, one is greeted by a large advert for a book on curing insomnia. £100
HARVEY, William Fryer The Arm of Mrs. Egan. and Other Stories. London, J.M. Dent. 1951 [32656]
First Edition. A fine copy in like dustwrapper. Very minor edgewear. Slight spotting to top edge. Internally clean. A lovely copy of a chilling selection of supernaturl short stories from the writer who created the seminal ‘Beast With Five Fingers.’ £125
HARVEY, WILLIAM FRYER. The Beast With Five Fingers. And Other Stories. London, J.M. Dent. New York, E.P. Dutton & Co. 1928. [22348]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. A near fine copy in publisher’s glossy black cloth with strikingly bright white titles and “disembodied hand” motif to front board and spine. In chipped and slightly browned dustwrapper with some loss to head and tail of the spine (damage to the “TH” and upper half of the “B” in beast). Front inner flap starting. Regardless a striking copy of a rarity that has influenced in some way every camp classic of the horror genre from the original Peter Lorre film through to Romero’s Dawn of The Dead, Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” and “Waxworks.” £1,450
HARVEY, William Fryer. Midnight House And Other Tales. London, J.M.Dent. 1910 [1940] [26419]
First Edition. 8vo. 243pp. Publisher’s black cloth, a little dusty at the edges. Light blue dustwrapper only slightly worn at the head of the spine, but uniformly toned to the front panel and spine. A strange little book of weird tales, printed in 1910 with dated sheets, and then not bound until around 1940, the dustwrapper also shows some signs of being an afterthought. Nevertheless (despite its unconventional history) a charming and interesting little collection of weirdness. £250
HEAPHY, Thomas. A Wonderful Ghost Story. Being Mr.H’s Own Narrative, With Unpublished Letters from Charles Dickens Respecting It. London, Griffith and Farran. 1882 [28444]
First Edition. Small 8vo. 87pp + 2pp ads. Bound in later red buckram around original pictorial wraps. Fresh, bright and clean, minor shelfwear very light and occasional internal spotting. A ghost story recounted by Mr.Heaphy, a prominent portrait painter of the time. He subsequently submitted the story to Charles Dickens’ All Year Round magazine amidst a veritable storm of controversy that his original story had been hijacked and bowdlerised. This edition, published at the request of Mr.Heaphy’s wife after his death, also contains a digest of the correspondance between Mr.Dickens and Mr Heaphy. The story itself centres around a portrait painting session where the model turns out to be a ghost. A lovely little book. £175
HODGSON, William Hope. Deep Waters. Sauk City, Arkham House 1967 [25211]
First Edition. 8vo. 300pp. Limited to 2556 copies. A near fine copy in an Utpatel dustwrapper that shows the slightest signs of soiling and trivial wear to the extremities. A compendium of William Hope Hodgson’s masterful sea stories collected from the period during which he appeared to be Public Relations Officer for the Sargasso Sea Municipal Area and its cephalapodal denizens. Truly great fiction. £80
HODGSON, William Hope. The House on the Borderland. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1946 [31085]
First US Edition. Strikingly bound in half black morocco over black cloth boards. Gilt titles to spine. Hodgson’s adventure-philosopher is projected into a vastly distant Dying Earth future, in a story that is one of the most important influences on H.P. Lovecraft and his little cabal of twisty-headed contemporaries.
Not merely containing the House On The Borderland, which the word ‘seminal’ only begins to describe, but also The Night Land (which makes the vision of Lovecraft look all cramped and unambitious by comparison) in convoy with The Ghost Pirates and The Boats Of Glen Carrig, tales packed to the top-sails with giant octopods, Sargasso weed and ghostly ships that pass in the night. Hyperbole aside (I believe that’s also a place invented by Robert E. Howard), William Hope Hodgson has to rate as one of the best and most underrated writers of the weird and bizarre. His short but eventful life contained much in the way of adventure and invention, and the greater part of that leaps from his tales like the spray from a following sea. £375
HODGSON, William Hope. Men Of The Deep Waters. London, Eveleigh Nash. 1914 [27754]
First Edition, First Issue in red cloth. 8vo. 303pp. + 1 leaf of ads for ‘Carnacki’ and ‘The Night Land’. Publisher’s deep red cloth, bumped at corners and head of spine, slight toning to spine, nevertheless a most sea worthy copy of a rare book. A stirring collection of Hodgson’s nautical meanderings, ranging from poetry inspired by whalesong (probably a first) to haunted derelicts floating the Sargasso with nary a soul at the helm. Messages in bottles and strange sights off to larboard are very much the order of the day in Hodgson’s ocean going universe. £700
HODGSON, William Hope. The Night Land. London, Eveleigh Nash. 1912 [28247]
First Edition. 8vo. 583pp. Publisher’s original red cloth titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board. Cloth heavily faded, spine darkened and the boards sunned from the original red to a washed out pink, no doubt by the scouring action of cosmic winds. Internally clean, dusty top edge, light edgewear. Light spotting to the prelims and final leaf, but otherwise strong, solid and with no intention of giving up the ghost. Were the cloth a couple of shades darker red, the price would be considerably more in line with the current Hodgson trend. It is a great shame, because this copy of arguably Hodgson’s greatest work (alright, it’s not easy train journey reading, and the linguistic liberties would make Tolkien homicidal, but it is astonishing), came from the library of the late Eric Quayle, containing his pencil notations to the front pastedown. Ex libris bookplate of Percival Hinton, anitquarian book and manuscript collector late of Sutton Coldfield (whose collection Mr.Quayle took over) to front pastedown. A solid copy of a rare and marvellous work, highly regarded by many others in the field including the notoriously difficult to impress Mr. H.P.Lovecraft and his cabal. Protected by a tailor made half red leather clamshell box titled in gilt to the spine. This copy formerly belonging to Eric Quayle [1921-2001], the noted collector and bibliographer of Victorian and Edwardian adventure fiction, with his pencil notes to first blank. Most of his collection was sold at auction through Bonhams in March and April 2004 [sale 14473], which attracted a great deal of interest from collectors and dealers alike. Mr. Quayle may have gone, but the books that he spent his lifetime preserving and describing are still circulating, and will do so for a very long time. £1,650
HOFFMAN, E.T.W. Weird Tales. London, John C. Nimmo. 1885 [32372]
Two volumes. 8vo. Beautifully bound in recent half speckled calf over marbled boards. Illustrated throughout by Lalauze. Foxing to prelims and tissue guards, otherwise a bright fresh copy. A splendid collection of gothic weirdness from a man better known for his musical masterpieces. £375
HOWELLS, W. Cambrian Superstitions. Comprising Ghosts, Omens, Witchcraft, Traditions etc. Tipton, Thomas Danks. 1831 [31091]
First Edition. Small 8vo. Bound in contemporary half red morocco with marbled boards. Some minor edgewear to spine ends and corners otherwise tight and solid. Top edge yellow, all others plain. Marbled endpapers, some minor internal spotting, clean and bright. A scarce collection of tales many of them apparently ‘eyewitness accounts’ related to the editor and all dealing exclusively with the legends and folklore of Wales. Much in the way of interesting local history, and a smattering of guttural screams and pleadings for mercy in the original Welsh which will be of interest to anyone who has ever been menaced by a tylwyth teg whilst on a walking tour of Snowdonia armed only with a swiss army knife and a thermos of vegetable soup. £250
HOWARD, Elizabeth Jane. AICKMANN, Robert. We Are For The Dark. Six Ghost Stories. Londn, Jonathan Cape. 1951 [26495]
First Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s maroon cloth titled in silver gilt to spine. Slightly dusty top edge otherwise fine. Dustwrapper also fine, slight hint of spotting to rear panel but wholly beautiful. A fabulous example of a scarce collection of ghostly tales. A truly marvellous choice of title, second only to Mr. Metcalfe’s “The Feasting Dead”. £575
Thoroughly ModernHUXLEY, Aldous. Brave New World. Chatto & Windus, London. 1932. [26659]
FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s cloth in near fine original dustwrapper, with a few very minor nicks and spots to the top edge of the wrapper and the faintest hint of browning to the spine.A most attractive copy, crisp and lovely. Scarce in this condition. A modern highlight, and a landmark of 20th century fiction suggesting that a future of boundless materialist happiness, designer narcosis and no strings attached sex might not be all its cracked up to be. I still say we should give it a fair crack of the whip though. £4,250
Eschelbac & Shober 10
HUXLEY, Aldous. Brave New World. Chatto & Windus, London. 1932. [27160]
FIRST EDITION. Very good. Finely bound in recent full blue morocco gilt, original cover at rear.A lovely copy. Aldous Huxley was awarded the 1939 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for After Many A Summer Dies The Swan. The prize was founded in memory of a partner in the publishing house of A. & C. Black Ltd., and is one of the oldest and most prestigious book awards in Britain. £275
Eschelbac & Shober [10], Connolly 100 listed, also in Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels [1998].
HUXLEY, Aldous. Brave New World. Chatto & Windus, London. 1932. [29401]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp306 (+2). Elegantly hand-bound in full mid blue oasis morocco leather, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, gilt border to covers, author’s signature tooled in gilt to upper, marbled endpapers. Internally clean, edges with a little spotting/dustiness. A very good copy in attractive recent binding. A modern highlight, and a landmark of 20th century fiction suggesting that a future of boundless materialist happiness, designer narcosis and no strings attached sex might not be all its cracked up to be. I still say we should give it a fair crack of the whip though. £275
Aldous Huxley was awarded the 1939 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for After Many A Summer Dies The Swan. The prize was founded in memory of a partner in the publishing house of A. & C. Black Ltd., and is one of the oldest and most prestigious book awards in Britain.
Eschelbac & Shober [10], Connolly 100 listed, also in Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels [1998].
INGULPHUS [GRAY, Arthur]. Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye. Cambridge, Heffer and Sons. 1919 [29496]
First edition. Square 8vo. Clean and bright in publisher’s grey paper covered boards, some slight cracking to hinges at base of spine, some very light spotting but a most attractive copy of a fragile work. A collection of Cambridge based ghost and ‘horror’ stories compared favourably at the time to the work of such worthies as M.R. James. Some fine chilling tales including ‘The Necromancer’ (evil stalks through Cambridge in the guise of a cat) and the beautifully titled ‘The Burden of Dead Books’ which warns us never to let our greed for wealth conincide with annual gatherings of the unquiet dead. “Born on September 28th, 1852, Arthur Gray went from Blackheath Proprietary School (London) to Jesus, where he was to remain for most of the rest of his life, first as a student, then a Fellow and then Tutor. When he became Master of the College in 1912 he was the first non-ordained man to hold that post in the College's four-hundred-year existence. He married Alice Honora Gell in 1882 and became the father in due course of six sons. Mrs Gray died in 1927, but Arthur Gray lived on until 1940, when he departed this world on the 12th of April at the venerable age of 87. He was Master of Jesus until the end, and died in the Master's Lodge. Apart from progressive deafness, he'd had hardly a day's illness.” £295
JACKSON, Shirley. The Haunting Of Hill House. New York, Viking. 1959 [31089]
First Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s blue cloth boards with pale green spine. Titled in black to spine and front board. Light bumping to spine ends otherwise clean fresh and bright. Dustwrapper strikingly clean and bright with trivial edgewear to corners and spine ends with a neat one centimetre closed tear to the left upper margin of the rear panel. A lovely copy of one of the greatest tales of haunting ever penned:
‘This house, which seemed somehow to have formed itself, flying together into its own powerful pattern under the hands of its builders, fitting itself into its own construction of lines and angles, reared its great head back against the sky without concession to humanity. It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.’ Sounds like some book fairs I’ve been to.
Filmed twice with varying degrees of success, the original novel has been an acknowledged influence on giants of the genre like Stephen King, Jackson’s influence can be clearly seen in The Shining. £675
JACOBI, Carl. Revelations In Black. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1947 [28340]
First edition. 8vo. Fine in publisher’s black cloth. Fine Ronald Clyne wrapper. Limited to 3082 copies. A collection of splendid supernatural tales, kicked off by the marvellous (ie: it has old books in it) vampire tale of the title.A splendid copy. £175
JAMES, Henry. The Two Magics. Containing: The Turn of the Screw and Covering End. London: William Heinemann, 1898. [27284]
FIRST EDITION in book form of the classic ghost story “The Turn of the Screw”, FIRST EDITION of “Covering End”. This copy with the mixed colonial and domestic sheets bound for the domestic market, as identified by the cancel title page printed solely in black, bound without half-title or advertisements in blue diagonal fine ribbed cloth with nine tulips stamped in blind to upper, with gilt titles above, backstrip titled in gilt. Bright cloth with some light edgewear only. A fine copy. Only 1500 printed. £395
Henry James’ ‘The Turn of the Screw’ is an important dark tale which welcomed elements of psychology into literature.
Supino [52.4.0] Edel and Laurance [A52a]. Listed in Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horror Novels.
JAMES, Henry. The Two Magics. Containing: The Turn of the Screw and Covering End. London: William Heinemann, 1898. [27519]
FIRST EDITION in book form of the classic ghost story “The Turn of the Screw”, FIRST EDITION of “Covering End”. This copy matching Supino [52.4.0], finely bound in full dark blue morocco, gilt titles to spine, five raised bands, gilt rule to boards, top edge gilt. Publisher’s cloth bound in. Internally clean. A beautiful copy in fine recent binding. Trivial wear. Only 1500 printed. A fine copy.
Henry James’ ‘The Turn of the Screw’ is an important dark tale which welcomed elements of psychology into literature.
£600
Supino [52.4.0] Edel and Laurence A52. Listed in Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horror Novels.
JAMES. M.R. Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary. London, Edward Arnold. 1904 [25092]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 270pp. Untrimmed edges. A beautiful copy in a fine example of the publisher’s oatmeal buckram yapp edged boards. Titled in black and ruled in red, entirely free from the bumping that this type of binding is heir to, very slight fraying to the base of the spine. Browning to the page edges and some very light spotting here and there. Top edge dusty. A superb and seminal collection of short supernatural stories, including “The Mezzotint” guaranteed to linger in the mind of anyone who has ever stayed up late cataloguing. £1,450
JAMES. M.R. Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary. London, Edward Arnold. 1904 [25663]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 270pp. Untrimmed edges. A beautiful copy in a fine example of the publisher’s brown buckram yapp edged boards. Titled in black and ruled in red, entirely free from the fraying and bumping that this type of binding is heir to. A few very small black inkspots to front board, possibly the result of someone penning a will with shaky hands whilst under the influence of malignant spirits. A superb and seminal collection of short supernatural stories, including “The Mezzotint” guaranteed to linger in the mind of anyone who has ever stayed up late cataloguing. £1,450
JOHNS, Captain W.E. Worlds of Wonder. London, Hodder & Stoughton 1962 [21616]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s blue cloth, very slightly dusty on top pages, illustrations throughout text with colour plate at front, fine copy. Pictorial dustwrapper, abstract design, near fine. £75
KING, Steven. Cujo. London, Macdonald & CO. 1981 [23791]
SIGNED FIRST UK EDITION: A fine copy in simelarly fine dustwrapper. Signature in blue ink to half title page. Contains an original flyer advertising the event at which this books was signed. £295
KIPLING, Rudyard. With The Night Mail. A story of 2000AD. New York, Doubleday, Page and Co. 1909 [27704]
First US edition. 8vo. 77pp. + 9pp ads. Publisher’s dark blue cloth delicately and beautifully decorated in white, gilt and silver with scenes of stars, clouds and zeppelins (probably a catalogue description I’m unlikely to repeat). Very light rubbing to extremities otherwise clean. bright and lovely. Ink ownership to half title. Glorious pictorial endpapers and stylish plates throughout by Leyendecker and Reuterdahl. An unusually high budget piece of book production. A splendid piece of faux journalism telling the tale of the journey of a parcel by mail dirigible in the year 2000. The ads in this volume are of particular interest all being for dirigible or aeronautical products and all being as fictional as the rest of the story. Similarly unusual is the fact that the text is printed only on the recto of each page, leaving the verso blank. A beautiful object, most strange and peculiarly inspiring. £150
LAING, Alexander. [1903-1976] The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck. New York, Farrar Rhinehart. 1934 [31464]
First Edition. Near fine in publisher’s black cloth titled in white, the white paint in this example being fresh, clean and unmarred by the customary flaking. The red top edge is a trifle faded in spots and dusty in others, all other edges uncut. Internally clean. In a lovely example of the extremely rare Lynd Ward dustwrapper (he also created the frontispiece for this title) depicting a shambling humanoid figure and an emaciated corpse on a gurney, all in the customary Cabinet of Dr.Caligari high contrast black and white style. The spine panel is slightly browned with some light superficial chipping to the spine ends and a little cosmetic scuffing to extremities. A lovely example. Possibly the best part of the dustwrapper is the public health warning printed on the back;
‘WARNING: People unable to sustain violent shock are advised that they read this book on their own responsibility. AND THE PUBLISHERS REALLY MEAN THIS.’
Publisher’s don’t seem to write blurbs like that anymore. A fine stirring shocker written in superior style concerned with medical experimantation and the perils of genetic meddling. Highly controversial at the time (which perhaps accounts for Laing’s credit as ‘Editor’ rather than author) for its dwelling on the possibilities of experimentation on pregnant women to alter the nature of their issue. Alexander Kinnan Laing was an alumni of Dartmouth, a poet, the editor of a number of periodicals and an educator of some standing and repute. Immediately after graduating from dartmouth he sailed around the world on the SS Leviathan as an ordinary seaman and seems to have later become something of an authority on clipper ships. A lovely copy of a scarce piece of weirdness. £750
Bleiler.
LE FANU, J. S. The House by the Churchyard. London, Richard Bentley. 1866 [33172]
A New Edition. First Ed. Thus (with expanded text). Publisher’s terracotta cloth (professionally recased) titled in gilt to spine and decorated in blind to front and rear boards. Minor edgewear and spotting, a tight, handsome volume. Internally clean, some minor spotting to prelims. A very good, handsome copy with engraved frontispiece and vignette title page. £875
Part mystery, part history, The House by the Churchyard begins with a prologue in the voice of an old man, Charles de Cresseron, that is set in Chapelizod, Ireland, roughly a century after the events of the novel proper. This prologue details how, during an interment at the churchyard of the title, a skull is accidentally unearthed, which bears the marks of two crushing blows to the head and – even more disconcertingly – a small hole from a trepanning. The novel itself is Cresseron's reconstruction of the history related to this grisly item. Apart from the fact that as a novel it is charming, funny and sinsiter by turns, it is also described as a key source for Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake.
LE FANU, J. Sheridan. In A Glass Darkly. (Edward Ardizzone). 5 stories in all, Green Tea, The Familiar, Mr. Justice Harbottle, The Room in the Dragon Volant and Carmilla. London, Peter Davies Ltd. 1929. [25543]
First ‘Ardizzone’ Edition, 8vo. Half-bound in black morocco, titles in gilt to spine, with original spine bound in to rear of text. Numerous illustrations by Ardizzone, some rather disturbing, some very disturbing. A handsome copy, clean, fresh pages with a fairly small text, just a few little marks here and there, otherwise near fine. £195
LEIBER, Fritz. Night’s Black Agents. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1947 [26325]
First edition. 8vo. 237pp. Publisher’s black gilt decorated cloth, slight bumping to head and tail of spine. Dusty top-edge. Clean, crisp and unfaded dustwrapper with almost non-existent shelf wear to the lower edge. A lovely copy made even more interesting by the addition of an inscription from Mr.Leiber:
“For Byron Warner / who, I know, is / well acquainted / with the mysterious / terrors of the / upper air. / Fritz Leiber Jr.”
As we always do when receiving a book with an inscription, we did a quick check to see if we could track down Mr. Byron Warner. In this case we have arrived at two possibilities: he is either a voice-over actor from Nashville or a gentleman who makes biltong in Florida. In any case we are very pleased to have acquired his book in such lovely condition.
£350
LEROUX, Gaston [Louis Alfred ], (1868-1927). The Phantom Of The Opera. New York, Bobbs-Merrill 1911 [31074]
First US Edition. 8vo. 357pp. Publisher’s terracotta cloth titled in cream to spine and front board. Blind stamp silhouette of ‘The Phantom’ to front board. Some minor wear and handling else a crisp, fine copy; the cream titling is prone to flaking, which has not happened in thias instance leaving the book clean and fresh. Scintillating (we’re being operatic) colour frontis by Andre Castaigne and bizarre yet striking double page spread colour plates. It’s clean and beautiful and dramatic, and it enabled Michael Crawford to be put behind a mask where he belongs. A splendid copy. £650
LINDSAY, Mayne. The Valley of Sapphires. London, Ward Lock. n.d.[c.1910] [29495]
First Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s blue ribbed cloth, light wear to extremities and bumped to spine ends. Dusty top edge, internally clean save for the inclusion of a purple ‘Newcastle Chronicle Library’ stamp to the front pastedown and some very minor toning. All edges untrimmed. Solid, bright and strong. A collection of late Victorian shockers and creepers previously published in Windsor’s, Pearson’s and The Sketch. Illustrated throughtout in stirring style. £125
LONG, Frank Belknap. The Hounds Of Tindalos. Sauk City. Arkham House. 1946 [26313]
First Edition. 8vo. 316pp. Publisher’s gilt titled black cloth, slightly bumped to spine. Clean sharp dustwrapper by Hannes Bok depicting said Hounds. Slight wear to extremties, light toning to spine. Otherwise lean and athirst. £240
LONG, Frank Belknap. The Horror From The Hills. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1963 [26676]
First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s gilt titled black cloth, slightest bump to head of spine, clean, bright and shiny. Richard Taylor designed dustjacket of surpassing loveliness, if such a phrase can be used to describe an image of what appears to be a Shoggoth on the rampage. A fine copy of a title by one of Mr.Lovecraft’s odder proteges. £125
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Tekeli-Li!!!LOVECRAFT, H.P. At The Mountains of Madness, And Other Novels Of Terror. London, Gollancz. 1966 [26420]
First UK Edition. 8vo. 432pp. Publisher’s gilt titled burgundy cloth, clean and sharp with some slight edgewear. Deep yellow and red dustwrapper showing genteel wear to the extremities, a couple of closed tears to the base of the spine and some creasing and toning, nevertheless attractive and bright. Lord how we love H.P.Lovecraft, from his ungainly feet to his unfeasible forehead and every anachronistic aspect of his odd, short life. This little collection of gems includes Charles Dexter Ward, and the delirious Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath ( ...Carter knew that the night-gaunts had got him!), amongst others. The eponymous Mountains of Madness with its Antarctic shenanigans is probably one the most under credited and influential of Lovecraftian weirdness. £60
LOVECRAFT, H.P. Collected Poems Sauk City, Arkham House 1963 [21534]
FIRST EDITION, Publishers black cloth, very slightly bumped at the corners, lightgrey endpapers,fine copy. Woodcut illustrations by Frank Utpatel..Near fine dustwrapper also illustrated, very slight browning to extremities. £100
LOVECRAFT, H.P. Dagon and other macabre tales. London, Gollancz. 1965 [29501]
First UK Edition. 8vo. Near fine in publisher’s burgundy cloth with gilt titles to spine, trifling bumping to spine ends. Dusty top edge. Wrapper fresh and brihgt with some slight tanning to fore-edge. A lovely copy of one of the frequently rather unpleasant Gollancz yellow and red editions; they fade, they tear and they generally attract all forms of awfulness. This example has escaped such a fate. In all probability its fine state of preservation is down to the fact that nothing messes with a book containing ‘Dagon’ , ‘Beyond The Wall of Sleep’ and the incomparable ‘Herbert West: Re-Animator’. Mother Hydra!!!! AAAAieeee!! Ahem. Anyway, it’s a splendid book. £95
LOVECRAFT. H.P. The Horror In The Museum And Other Revisions. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1970 [26405]
First Edition, 8vo. 383pp. Limited to four thousand copies (not sure if that’s really limited, in the strictest sense of the word, but that’s Mr.Derleth for you).Bound in publisher’s gilt decorated black cloth with some very minor edgewear and bumping to the spine, otherwise as clean and shiny as the back of a scarab. The queasy dustwrapper illustrated by the cartoonist Gahan Wilson (who actually sounds like a cross between a Babylonian god and a chap who like cardigans and crown green bowling, which could indeed be the very essence of the mythos) is clean and bright and unchafed, though it has suffered a little toning to the spine, but only the merest hint. Enough shuddering montrosity to choke a whippoorwhill, including a couple of little tales by Sonia Greene, who for a brief time was Mrs. Lovecraft, before entering history as the woman who didn’t have an affair with Aleister Crowley. £125
LOVECRAFT. H.P. [1890-1937] The Outsider and Others. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1939. [31467]
First Edition. Large 8vo. 553pp. Publisher’s black cloth, titled in gilt to the spine. Slight bumping to extremities otherwise clean and tight. Striking and most handsome original Virgil Finlay dustwrapper emblazoned with stars, gods and erm...things of a hopping, squealing and shambling nature. Light wear to the extrmities of the fragile wrapper. Minor chipping to the head of the spine, not interefering with the title text completes the list of inoffensive defects, clean, sharp and a most respectable copy. Neat ink ownership to fly proclaiming this book the property of Joseph Diamante. A splendid collection of some of the most important and influential weird tales ever penned by hand of man, just supposing he was a man and not some ambassador of Nyarlathotep sent to educate us in the grim and umbral ways of the universe. £2,500
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction.
LOVECRAFT, H. P. The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1959 [22176]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo,313pp. Limited to 2500.Portrait frontispiece depicting the Lovecraft family, finally clearing up the question of where got that chin from. Lovely copy in a very good dustwrapper. Slight fading and rubbing to the spine, and an unnecessary piece of tape reinforcement to the front inside flap of the wrapper which is also adorned by a strange sequence of numbers in pencil, not sure of the significance, it’s either an ad-hoc cabbalistic experiment designeed to enable contact with the fungi from Yuggoth, or its a phone number (possibly that of the Fungi). The front flap has suffered a couple of tiny pinhole scars. Other than these slight defects the book is striking in its Richard Taylor illustrated jacket. £180
LOVECRAFT, H.P. [August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937] Something About Cats. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1949 [31441]
First Edition. Near Fine in dustwrapper, a trifle bumped to spine ends, with some even fading of the dustwrapper. Neat ink ownership to front fly. Black and White photographic frontis. depicting a child Lovecraft in a sailor suit, probably the most horrifying thing anyone can do to a small boy is put him in a sailor suit and then take a photgraph, no wonder the poor man had such an intimate grasp of the boundless horrors of existence. An attractive copy of a posthumous collection of fragments and notes from a man who single handedly redefines the word ‘odd’. ‘Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades, and he is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.’ £175
LOVECRAFT, H.P. The Watchers Out Of Time And Others. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1974 [25198]
First Edition, First printing. 8vo. 405pp. Limited to 5070 copies. Fine in a beautifully clean dustwrapper possessed of two very small closed tears to the base of the spine, and a hint of wear to the head of the spine. Published a couple of years after Derleth’s death, it contains as his memorial the title story, one of his creations left unfinished at the time of his death in 1971. A must for everyone who is fond of the word ‘ye’ being repeated four times in a sentence. £95
LOVECRAFT, H.P.& DIVERS HANDS The Dark Brotherhood The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces. Sauk City, Arkham House 1966 [21541]
LIMITED FIRST EDITION, 3,500 COPIES. Publisher’s black cloth, fine copy. Contains various illustrations and photographic plates. Very fine dustwrapper, illustrated by Frank Utpatel. £185
If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
MACHEN, Arthur. The House Of Souls. London, Grant Richards. 1906 [28480]
First Edition, second state. 8vo. 514pp. + 1pp ads. Publisher’s grey buckram with light shelfwear and some darkening to spine, titled in gilt and decorated with diabolical elan by none other than Sidney H. Sime in all his diseased glory. Internally clean and fresh. A tight and distinguished copy with some very light edgewear and soiling. Light tanning to page edges. Most handsome. The gilt is bright and unchipped, corners sharp and all is as it should be. The same cannot be said of the literary content containing as it does a collection of Machen’s late 19th century works gathered together here under an umbrella title. The White People is present in this collection as is the stupendous Great God Pan. Bears the bookplate of G.P.Lazarus to front pastedown, an unusual and attractive plate somehow designed by the great Arthur Rackham. A solid, pleasing copy of a literary milestone. £875
MACLEOD, Ken The Cassini Division London, Orbit 1998 [21835]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, small bump on the top spine, lovely fresh pages, slight tear affecting about 11 pages on the lower side edge, very small but noticeable. Smart black endpapers, near fine. Pictorial dustwrapper, black with a very sci-fi feel, fine. £14
MACLEOD, KEN The Sky Road London, Orbit 1999 [21848]
FIRST EDITION, SIGNED, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, a little bumping to spine, spotless text, a touch of dust on the top edge, smart black endpapers, fine. Pictorial dustwrapper, atmospheric black and purple design, also fine. £25
MACLEOD, Ken The Stone Canal London, Legend 1996 [21772]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s slate grey cloth, a little bumping to the spine, 2 slight scratches on boards, a spotless text, fine. Pictorial dustwrapper with attractive hologram effect design, also fine. £18
MARSH, Richard. [1857-1906] The Garden of Mystery. London, John Long. 1906 [31086]
First Edition. 8vo. Bound in publisher’s red cloth titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board. Light bumping to spine ends, three unobtrusive splash spots to cloth, unfaded, bright, tight and clean. Some light spotting to page edges, internally clean. A very smart copy of a later work by Marsh, a man of stunning popularity in his own time, know almost completely ignored in favour of more prominent contemporaries. £175
Richard Bernard Heldemann Marsh was born in 1857 in St John’s Wood, London. A prolific writer of mystery stories who also dabbled in horror and supernatural tales; he died aged 58 of heart failure leaving behind a library’s worth of novels and short stories across a variety of genres. Marsh was also published under the pseudonym of Bernard Heldemann.
METCALFE, John. The Feasting Dead. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1954 [25089]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 123pp. Limited to 1200 copies. Fine in like dustwrapper. A title of such tantalising perfection it almost makes up for the verging on the ridiculous nature of the contents; delicate public schoolboy victimised by demonic scarecrow in the south of France. Kind of like “A Year In Provence With Satan.” Metcalfe was one of Derleth’s English authors who never really achieved any great success in the US, he was unfortunate enough to be picked up by Arkham house at possibly the lowest point of their long history, and this is probably his only published work in the US, though in all he released something like 5 different anthologies of wierd tales in the UK. £125
MOORCOCK, Michael. The Stealer Of Souls. London, Neville Spearman. 1963 [25885]
First edition. 8vo. 215pp. Beautifully bright and clean in publisher’s orange cloth binding with a dent to the bottom edge of the front board with corresponding closed tear to the bottom edge of the wrapper, the dustwrapper itself very slightly scuffed to the extremities, a trifle soiled to the white rear panel and possessed of a patch at the bottom right hand corner of the rear panel where a label has been removed carelessly (or possibly lustfully) resulting in a removal of the wrapper coating. Nevertheless a very nice copy that has straightened its grimy lace and brushed off its coat and is prepared to be seen in all its tawdry finery. This is of course the first appearance of one of fantasy literatures most enduring characters, Elric Of Melnibone albino prince in exile of the dark kingdom of Melnibone, wielder of Stormbringer (a black sword that sucks the souls from its foes and frequently operates independantly, with disasterous results for anyone who happens to be standing within three feet of Elric at the time). As one of the first fantasy heroes to not have hairy feet, a mushroom fixation, gigantic muscles or a mile eating stride, Elric came as something of a relief to a genre glutted with a surfeit of Cimmerians. He was skinny, pale (duh) and consumptive, had a habit of stabbing his own mates (very Mancunian), was a consummate nutter and had companions with names like Moonglum of Elwher. Along with Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke Von Koln (tales of whom allowed Mr.Moorcock to fiddle about with a vision of a Medieval bestial, mechanised fascist Britain dominating a downtrodden Europe, a series of tales most notable for finally unmasking Croydon as a place of evil and despair), and Prince Corum (a reworking of Celtic myth cycles with bell bottomed flares) and a whole host of others (most of whom had the initials JC), Elric was one of the incarnations of The Eternal Champion, a character whose doom it was to appear in all universes and eras in order to keep balance between Order and Chaos (or so I figured out when I was twelve). Prolific enough to make Georges Simenon look like someone who penned a couple of odd stories in his spare time, and clearly mad enough to live inside Mervyn Peake’s head, Mr.Moorcock should be this year’s nomination for Greatest Living Englishman, provided the whole award ceremony is being organised by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. £200
O’DONNELL, Elliot. Dangerous Ghosts. London, Rider and Company, 1954. [25901]
First Edition. 8vo. 208pp. Very good copy in publisher’s black cloth titled in gilt. Pictorial Wrapper has suffered some waterstaining to the back panel and a centimetre square corner of loss to the head of the spine. Nevertheless bright and unfaded, some light spotting. A collection of real life ghost stories from a man described as “Britain’s No.1 Ghost Hunter.”Any information on how many people were wrestling for the title is tactfully omitted. £75
O’DONNELL, Elliot. The Sorcery Club. London, William Rider and Son. 1923 [33156]
First Cheap Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s mid blue cloth titled and decorated in light blue to spine and front board. A very good copy, light edgewear, slight bumping to spine ends. Internally clean, some light spotting to prelims. A cautionary tale of posh people dabbling in the occult, with a bit of psychic-reincarnated-denizen-of-Atlantis action thrown in for a bit of good measure. £75
OLE LUK-OIE. [pseud. Ernest Dunlop Swinton] The Green Curve. And other stories. London, William Blackwood. 1909 [28337]
First edition. 8vo. Publisher’s light brown cloth titled in black and decorated to front board with a green...well a curve, obviously.Bright and clean with minor spotting to page edges. Marginal dampmark to pages 150-170 caused by a drop of something, possibly coffee landing on the page edges. A collection of stories, including two supernatural tales written ‘for the entertainment of soldiers.’ £75
PHELPS, Elizabeth Stuart. Men, Women and Ghosts. London, Sampson, Low Son and Marston. 1869 [27268]
First Edition. Small 8vo. Publisher’s gilt titled brown soft brown cloth. Slight edgewear otherwise clean. Some soiling to endpapers. A curious and rather pretty little collection of American weird tales collected from Harper’s Magazine and other US periodicals of the time. £175
PULLMAN, Philip. His Dark Materials. Northern Lights.
The Subtle Knife.
The Amber Spyglass. Scholastic Press, London. 2001. [27227]
FIRST EDITION of the complete award-winning trilogy in one volume. 8vo., pp. 1016. SIGNED by the author, with rare signed insert. Fine in like dustwrapper. £375
POE, Edgar Allan. Complete Works of E. A. Poe.
With a Critical Introduction by Charles F. Richardson. [set of writings/novels including: The Raven, The Purloined Letter, The Bells, etc.] [set of writings/poems/tales including Murders in the Rue Morgue, the Mystery of Marie Roget, The Raven, The Bells, A Descent into the Maelstrom, The Purloined Letter, &c.] New York: Charles Scribners and Sons. 1914 [24949]
10 volumes,Embellished with portrait, Illustrated throughout with full page plates. Finely bound in recent dark green full morocco with red title labels and gilt to spines, gilt ruling and signature centre tool to boards. Top edges gilt, others untrimmed. A very distinguished set. A superb production now presented in a highly decorative binding. £1,450
POE, Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. (27 short stories). New York, The Heritage Press. 1941. [25251]
First thus, 8vo. Half bound in dark red morocco by Maurin - tiny stamp to inside top left corner of front free endpaper. Pink boards with plum coloured endpapers. Three raised bands with titles and decoration in gilt to the spine, gilt to the top. Each story title, page number and illustration description written subtly in light red. Amazing but rather dark photogravures throughout, including frontispiece. All taken from original aquatints by William Sharp. Not for the faint hearted! A handsome book with fresh pages, just slightly toned, otherwise very near fine. £195
POLIDORI, Dr. John. The Vampyre, A Tale. London. Sherwood, Neely and Jones. 1819 [31259]
First Edition, Second (and earliest feasibly available) Issue. All points as called for. A tall copy strikingly bound in original grey paper wraps all edges untrimmed, wide margins, one of the most unspoiled copies we’ve seen. Internally clean. Shows extremely well. With half title, the 'extract of a letter from Geneva' is present as is the 'Extract of a letter, containing an account of Lord Byron's residence in the island of Mitylene.' The footnote to the forward recounting the publication of Miss Godwin's story as ' Frankenstein' is present. A splendid little work, probably the first English vampire story. Originally ascribed to Lord Byron himself, and indeed featuring a central character with a startling resemblance to our favourite 'mad, bad and dangerous to know.' poet, the story is yet another bizarre product of that evening in the Villa Diodati during the year with no summer that gave us the redoubtable 'Frankenstein' and an ever expanding cloud of gothic rumour. The publishers were forced to remove Byron's name from the title and half title, and the number of first issue copies known to have endured reaches the grand total of one. The subsequent issue mentions Byron (as Lord B....) in the foreword letter, but the idea he may have written the story is not alluded to, which didn't stop people believing it. Polidori, a strange, twitchy and rather tragic figure, committed suicide in 1821 fearing ruination through unpaid debts. He drank prussic acid, which seems a pretty rough end for a physician to choose, but despite the considerable evidence that he died at his own hand his death was recorded as being from natural causes. Whilst it may be overstepping the mark to state that he invented the Vampire novel, it is certainly a fact that he invented the Vampire that many of us identify the genre with; the aristocratic, suave seductive fiend preying on society, and for this we have to thank him. £3,750
[PLAYBILL] Polidori, Shelley et al. The Vampire [at the Theatre Royal, English Opera House, Strand, London] London, Friday August 3rd 1827. [29370]
Single sheet 20cm wide by 33cm tall. Cropped to the left margin level with the text, some chipping and browning to extrtemities, no significant damage or loss.A nineteenth century playbill or advertising poster extolling the virtues of a selection of productions at the Theatre Royal. Topping the bill is The Vampire (Dr. John Polidori’s Byron cribbed slice of gothic melodrama) apparently presented for the third time that season with a full cast list beneath the title; Mr.Bennett apparently portrayed the villainous Ruthven, whilst ‘Music of the Incantation’ was supplied by Mr.M. Moss. Beneath this worthy title is advertised The Padlock, a sadly forgotten masterpiece of somewhat Mediterranean bent (or possibly Mexican, it’s difficult to tell), before moving swiftly on to the controversial ‘Presumption! or The Fate of Frankenstein’. Presumably before the curtain rose on this blockbuster some unfortunate disaster fell upon the cast; the cast list has been heavily amended in a contemporary hand replacing among others Mr Bennett (he of The Vampire) with Mr. Baker in the part of Frankenstein himself, and Mr. Evans gallantly ensuring that the show goes on by relieving Mr.Chapman of the need to play Mr. De Lacey (A Banished Gentleman). The original Frankenstein has obviously been deemed a trifle too tame, as this particular production also featured the introduction of an Arabian Girl, gypsies, dancers and peasants and features: ‘An entirely New Last Scene...representing A Schooner in a Violent Storm! In Which Frankenstein and The Monster are Destroyed.’ which kind of gives the game away. The Monster appears to have been portrayed by Mr.O.Smith although the name of his character is represented so: (-----) in order to maintain the illusion that Mr.Baker actually pieced him together himself during the Interval, perhaps accounting for the untimely departure of Mr.Bennett who until then appeared to have cornered the West End market for portaying various undead. £1,250
PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott. 1963 [26431]
First edition, 8vo. 492 pp. Bound in recent full dark blue morocco. Top edge blue. In a state of perfection completely at odds with the characters populating it. A strange book from a strange man. £1,250
RICE, Anne. Interview With The Vampire. New York, Alfred A. Knopf. 1976. [18606]
8vo., pp. 372. Fine in Fine Dustwrapper, without the usual creasing. FIRST EDITION. £750
RICE, Anne. Memnoch The Devil. New York, Alfred A. Knopf. 1995. [17294]
8vo. In Dustwrapper. FIRST EDITION. £25
RICE, Anne Taltos, Lives of the Mayfair Witches New York, Alfred A. Knopf 1994 [21833]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, some bumping to the spine, fresh looking pages with a slightly rough look finish to the side edges, a little dusty on the top, the smallest amount of wear to extremities, near fine. Photographic dustwrapper, all over design depicting The Temptation of Christ, a small amount of bumping to edges, otherwise fine. £24
ROHMER, Sax. The Mask of Fu Manchu. New York, Doubleday, Doran and Company. 1932 [29883]
First US Edition. 8vo. Publisher’s yellow cloth bright and vibrant with the merest hint of toning to the extremities and spine panel, titled in glossy black. Top edge stained black, fore-edge untrimmed. Slight bumping to head of spine. In a super wrapper slightly faded to spine and with some chipping to the edges and a little bit of wear but nevertheless a striking copy. £375
ROHMER, Sax. The Yellow Claw. Lippincott’s Magazine. 1915 [25893]
First appearance in print, bound from the parts. 8vo. Attractively bound in recent half green morocco leather with gilt titles to spine, black title label. Green cloth boards and plain endpapers. Bound from the parts extracted form the 1915 issues of Lippincott’s Magazine predating the first US edition in book form, the first appearance of one of Mr.Rohmer’s more melodramatic stories, which for the man who created Fu-Manchu, master of the Si-Fan, is saying something. As far as he was concerned if it didn’t have an opium den in there somewhere it just wasn’t a story. £475
SHELLEY, Mary. Treasure House of Tales. London, William Paterson and Co. 1891 [28376]
First Edition. 8vo. 386pp + 2pp ads. Publisher’s blue cloth titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front boards. Slightly scuffedf to extremities, clean and bright. All edges untrimmed, some slight spotting to page edges. Brown endpapers, discreet ownership stamp to base of title page. An interesting collection of short stories covering various subjects ranging from the sinister to the romantic. The first time that these disparate tales were brought together in one volume. £200
SHELLEY, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Or The Modern Prometheus. London, Whittakers. 1823. [28100]
Second Edition.2 vols. 8vo.249pp + 280pp. Beautifully bound by Bayntun-Riviere in half tan morocco with marbled boards. Dark green title labels with gilt decorations to spine. Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Both volumes bound without half titles. The title pages of both volumes have professional repairs to damage; vol I has suffered a horizontal closed tear and volume II has had damage to the guttering. Internally clean with light occasional spotting. Shows very well indeed. The horror of man attempting to make Man, truly philosophical Gothic horror. £12,500
The First Illustrated FrankensteinSHELLEY, Mary [BROWN, C.B.]. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
Together with : Edgar Huntly; or, The Sleep-Walker. By Charles Brockden Brown. Colburn and Bentley, London, 1831. [32815]
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Small 8vo., with engraved frontispiece and title page vignette by T. Von Holst; pp.(xii), 202. Bound together with Charles Brockden Brown’s ‘Edgar Huntly; or, The Sleep Walker’ in contemporary half green calf, extra gilt. Engraved frontispiece, browned, with offset to title page as usual; internally clean and bright.
First illustrated edition, also the first single volume edition and the first with the author’s new introduction to the novel. Third edition overall. A scarce book. £6,500
SHELLEY, Mary Wolstonecraft. [WARD, Lynd] Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus. With engravings on wood by Lynd Ward. New York, Harrison Smith & Robert Haas. 1934. [28576]
Large 8vo., pp.259 (+ ix). Publisher’s blue cloth, with decorative paper band pasted down, little faded to spine, with a moisture mark to head otherwise a nice respectable copy.. With very good Dustwrapper some spine fading, light rubbing, small losses, creases and a couple of very minor closed tears. Overall clean and bright. 15 full page wood engravings, and many vignettes. Lynd Ward’s sensational illustrations are extremely atmospheric. A wonderful presentation of this classic Gothic romance.
£375
SMITH, Clark Ashton. The Abominations Of Yondo. Sauk City, Wisconsin, Arkham House, 1960. [20607]
FIRST EDITION. 2000 copies printed. 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, near fine. In dustwrapper, designed by Ronald Clyne and Wynn Bullock depicting one of Mr.Smith’s own rather unusual sculptural creations, light edge wear, slight rubbing, very good indeed. The fourth collection of Smith’s strange stories. £120
SMITH, Clark Ashton. Lost Worlds. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1944 [29882]
First Edition.8vo. Publisher’s black cloth titled in gilt, slightly bumped and scuffed to upper edge and spine head. Dustwrapper bright and clean, slight toning to spine panel some light wear to extremities. Pale red stain to upper edge of rear panel, nevertheless an attractive copy of Smith’s second collection of stories for Arkham House. £275
STARRETT, Vincent. The Quick and The Dead. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1965 [28343]
First edition. 8vo. 145pp. Fine in publisher’s black cloth, in a fine Utpatel dustwrapper with the merest hint of toning to the rear panel. A Lovely copy. £150
STEPHENS, Riccardo. The Mummy. London, Eveleigh Nash. 1912 [28070]
First edition. 8vo. 428pp. Publisher’s brown embossed cloth titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board. Gilt dulled to spine and with very slight bumping to spine ends trivial wear to extremities and some minor spotting to page edges. Internally clean and bright. A lovely copy of a rare and influential book. Lacks the fragile dustwrapper, but is scarce in any form, expecially this bright and clean. One of the first appearances of that bandage- trailing horror archetype the re-animated Mummy. Catalyst for a veritable shambling army of undead, vengeance seeking ancient Egyptian movie villains, usually aided and abetted by some shifty looking chap in a fez and a grubby linen suit. A classic. £2,750
CLASSIC DARK THRILLERSTEVENSON, Robert Louis. (1850-1894). The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London, Longmans, Green and Co. 1886 [32783]
FIRST EDITION: Crown octavo, pp.viii + 144. In an attractive victorian half calf binding; dark green leather over marbled sides, coloured endpapers with monogram bookplate to pastedown, all edges speckled, later respine to style. Internally clean; a fine copy. The classic mystery crime novel/ horror story (or ‘Crawler’ as Stevenson called it), inspired by the case of the Edinburgh body snatchers Burke and Hare, was written in just three days, although it was shelved by the author for three years as he considered it too disturbing for publication.
“Jekyll & Hyde” is a chilling masterpiece work; a brilliantly suggestive, resonant study of human duality by a natural storyteller. £1,250
Prideaux; A Bibliography of the Works of Robert Louis Stevenson (1917). [Item 17]. Grolier Club Exhibition Catalogue [75]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [138]. A Haycfroft-Queen Cornerstone novel. Book Collector; Top 200 Crime Novels (No.272). Listed in The Observer’s All-Time 100 Best Novels [2003] also Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horrors.
STEVENSON, Robert Louis [HULME BEAMAN, S.G.]. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Illustrated by Hulme Beaman. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head Limited, 1930. [23959]
First Hulme Beaman Illustrated Edition. Publisher’s grey cloth, light wear, with gilt titles and decoration to spine and upper; top edge tinted, others untrimmed; pictorial end papers. In near fine black dust wrapper with green titles to spine and green pictorial upper. With 8 full page striking b/w illustrations and in text silhouettes. The sinister feel of the illustrations complement the text perfectly. £210
STEVENSON, Robert Louis. PEAKE Mervyn. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Illustrations by Mervyn Peake. London, The Folio Society. 1948 [23796]
FIRST PEAKE EDITION: 8vo. A near fine copy. Publisher’s yellow and black cloth with gilt motif and lettering. Original dustwrapper, with a few small chips and wear. Internally clean. £60
STEVENSON, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London, Longmans, Green and Co. 1886 [32111]
First Edition, First Issue (With hand corrected date on front cover). 8vo. 141pp + 1pp ads. Original publisher’s buff paper wraps titled and decorated in blue and red with publisher’s ads to the rear wrap. Light soiling, some tiny chips to the extremities and two pieces of loss, one to the lower edge of the front panel and another jagged 1cm chip and abrasion to the upper edge of the rear panel. Chipping and loss to the spine panel ,otherwise a markedy robust and respectable copy of a legendarily fragile object. The classic mystery crime novel/ horror story (or ‘Crawler’ as Stevenson called it), inspired by the case of the Edinburgh body snatchers Burke and Hare, was written in just three days, although it was shelved by the author for three years as he considered it too disturbing for publication.Housed in a cloth covered tailor made clamshell case. £3,000
Prideaux; A Bibliography of the Works of Robert Louis Stevenson (1917). [Item 17]. Grolier Club Exhibition Catalogue [75]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [138]. A Haycfraft-Queen Cornerstone novel. Book Collector; Top 200 Crime Novels (No.272). Listed in The Observer’s All-Time 100 Best Novels [2003] also Jones & Newman; 100 Best Horrors.
STEVENSON, Robert Louis [Balfour], (1850-1894). Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. New Grosset and Dunlap. 1932 [29779]
Photoplay edition. Fine in publisher’s blue cloth titled in red, in a splendid near fine bright, sharp dustwrapper with a modicum of inoffensive edgewear and a slight abrasion to the spine panel.Top edge tinted red. A super copy of the film tie-in edition of 1932 featuring images from the movie and its ‘All Star Cast’. £550
STOKER, Bram. The Lair of the White Worm. William Rider and Son Ltd., London, 1911. [32649]
FIRST EDITION.8vo., pps. 324 + 4 of adverts + 16-page publisher’s catalogue. Illustrated with 6 coloured plates. Occasional spotting else text is clean. A good to very copy in publisher’s cloth, spine sunned, recased, with original spine laid down. Some slight fading to the spine; a serviceable copy of one of the redoubtable Mr. Stoker’s ‘other’ works. £275
Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [324].
STRAUB, Peter. Julia. London, Jonathan Cape. 1976 [24326]
FIRST EDITION: 8vo. Publisher’s blue cloth boards and original pictorial dustwrapper. A fine copy of this, the author’s first Horror novel and a scarce title. £75
A volume of Jane Austen’s ‘Horrid Novels’ in original glassine jacket.TEUTHOLD, Peter. The Necromancer or A Tale of The Black Forest. London, Holden. 1927 [28755]
First Edition Thus. 8vo. Publisher’s yellow paper covered boards, clean, fresh and bright depicting scenes of depraved villainy, decadence and an advert for Pear’s Soap. Wrapped in the impossibly scarce original printed glassine wrapper, Clean and strong (as strong as glassine gets anyway) a few little chips and tears but thoroughly respectable and impressive. A fantastic copy of a nice piece of gothic melodrama revived in homage to Miss Austen and considered worthy of mention in Northanger Abbey. £175
THOMPSON, Stanbury. Tales of The Supernatural. Stapleford, Thompson and Co. 1963 [28379]
First edition thus. 8vo. 417pp. Publisher’s near fine sky blue cloth with some small, scattered spots of bleaching. Clad in a near fine wrapper with some spotty discolouration to spine panel. A very attractive copy of a selection of spine chillers and ghost stories collected here for the first time. £65
If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London, George Allen. 1962. [21101]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. pp. 64. Publisher’s pictorial boards, minor wear, neat ownership signature, else fine. In dustwrapper, light edge wear, slightly creased, minor soiling, spine very lightly sunned, very good indeed. £210
Hammond A6a
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. 1963 [22797]
FIRST US EDITION. 8vo. pp. 64. Publisher’s pictorial boards, near fine, but for some wear to extremities, in matching dustwrapper. There are 4 or 5 small tape strips on the inside of the dustwrapper, but quite why they are present is a mystery to us and to the dustwrapper. A bright copy; shows extremely well. £125
Hammond A6a
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London, George Allen. 1962. [23179]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. pp. 64. Publisher’s pictorial boards, in dustwrapper, some wear to foot of spine, minor chips and tears, neat ink initials to flyleaf. A very good copy indeed. £175
Hammond A6a
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. Farmer Giles of Ham. Embellished by Pauline Baynes. Nelson 1961. [16453]
8vo. Publisher’s yellow pictorial cloth with dust jacket. Binding bright and clean. Wrapper with one long tear to rear, price clipped. Very good. FIRST NELSON EDITION. This book one of 2000 copies bound from imported British sheets with a cancelled title page. Dustwrapper states fourth impression. Originally published by Houghton Mifflin in US (1950), this is the first US version to feature the original British style cloth and dustwrapper designs. £65
Hammond & Anderson A4b
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. Farmer Giles of Ham. The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall and King of the Little Kingdom. London, George Allen & Unwin. 1976. [22522]
FIRST EDITION THUS. 8vo. Beautifully embellished boards by Pauline Baynes in shades of green and brown. Wonderfully detailed all-over design depicting a large dragon, a little bumping to spine and corners with a small gold price sticker on the lower back left-hand corner. Excellent pages with delicate black and white illustrations throughout and two colour plates, a lovely copy, very near fine. £38
FIRST ISSUE U.S. HOBBITTOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit or There and Back Again. Boston, Houghton Mifflin & Co. 1938. [18929]
8vo., pp. 312. FIRST US EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Elegantly hand-bound in full green oasis morocco leather with traditional raised bands, spine gilt-titled in six compartments, inner gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Publisher’s beige pictoral cloth preserved at the rear, with the original map of Wilderland and Thror’s map bound in at the front and rear respectively. Internally fresh. A superb copy in fine recent binding. First issue with ‘Bowing Hobbit’ on title page. Embellished with 4 colour plates and black and white illustrations throughout by the author. FIRST U.S. EDITION, FIRST STATE with the “bowing hobbit” to title page. With coloured illustrations, this is also the first edition to feature the ‘Bilbo Wakes Up’ plate. £2,350
Hammond & Anderson [A3b]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit. London, George Allen & Unwin, 1937 [18978]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo, pp. 310 + 2 [ads]. Publisher’s green cloth with titles and designs by the author in black, in original FIRST STATE dustwrapper (text hand-corrected on rear flap). Cloth is fine but for tiny nick to foot of spine, text block slightly cocked, neat name to corner of title page. Wrapper with general wear, plus several chips and tears, notably to spine tips, longer tears at joint archivally backed. No rebuilt areas. Overall a very good copy. £12,500
Hammond and Anderson A3.
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit. London, George Allen & Unwin. 1937 [21754]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo, pp. 310 + 2 [ads]. Publisher’s green cloth with titles and designs by the author in black, in original FIRST STATE dustwrapper (text hand-corrected on rear flap). Internally clean. Cloth is a little worn and soiled, wrapper with several minor chips and tears plus losses to foot of spine and upper cover at top right. A good/very good copy in like, unrestored dustwrapper. £12,000
Hammond and Anderson A3.
FIRST ISSUE U.S. HOBBITTOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit or There and Back Again. Boston, Houghton Mifflin & Co. 1938. [23511]
8vo., pp. 312. FIRST US EDITION, First issue with ‘Bowing Hobbit’ on title page. Expertly bound in full green oasis leather, raised bands, titled in gilt, top edge gilt. Publisher’s cloth and maps bound in. With coloured illustrations, this is also the first edition to feature the ‘Bilbo Wakes Up’ plate. £2,250
Hammond & Anderson [A3b]
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. or There and Back Again. London, George Allen & Unwin. 1937 [23539]
8vo., pps. 310 + 1 adverts. Bound in publisher’s green cloth, black tooling on spine and boards. ‘Thror’s’ map at front and the map of the ‘Wilderlands’ at back. Illustrated throughout with Tolkien’s own drawings. Trivial fading and bumping to the spine.King’s College Cambridge ex libris bookplate on first blank. The book that gave new lease of life to short men with hairy feet. A fine copy in a facsimile dust wrapper. FIRST EDITION. £9,750
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1968. [18220]
3 vols. Publisher’s red cloth, gilt titles, top edge red. Near fine in similar bright dustwrappers with a touch of spine darkening ALL SECOND EDITIONS, third impressions. An attractive, uniform set. £475
A fantastical trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings” is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century, containing amazing details of a new mythology, never really surpassed.
see Hammond & Anderson [A5]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1954, 1954, 1955. [19729]
FIRST EDITIONS, First impressions. 3 vols, octavo. Publisher’s red cloth, gilt titles, top edge red, in dustwrappers. Books are very good, without inscriptions, with only mild spotting to endpapers. Small Foyles sticker to corner of front pastedown of Fellowship and a little light red staining to the bottom edge of the front pastedown of Return, which seems to have bled from the red cloth boards Original dustwrappers show general wear, spine tips with some small chips and tears, moderate rubbing and handling. Tape marks to front and rear flaps of Fellowship. The red lettering to the spine is unfaded and the set shows extremely well. A very good set of Tolkien’s classic work. £12,500
Hammond & Anderson [A5]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1968, 1967, and 1969 respectively. [22695]
3 vols. Publisher’s red cloth, gilt titles, top edge red. Near fine in excellent dustjackets showing a bit of wear and some fraying to extremities. Owner’s inscription to vol.I. ALL SECOND EDITIONS, third, second and fourth impressions. An attractive, uniform set. £250
see Hammond & Anderson [A5]
TOLKIEN, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London, 1954, 1955, 1955. [23059]
FIRST EDITIONS: 2nd impressions. 3 vols., 8vo. Elegantly bound in full red leather with traditional raised bands, gilt titles, panelled spine ruled in gilt, gilt decoration to spine, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Near fine copies in superb binding. Volumes are housed in a custom matching red slip case. FIRST EDITIONS. £975
Hammond & Anderson [A5]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1969 [23360]
Single volume; THE FIRST INDIA PAPER EDITION IN DELUXE BINDING of black buckram cloth with gilt design to upper, spine gilt-lettered and ruled in compartments, marbled endpapers, all edges speckled. A fine copy in the publisher’s black slip-case, a little rubbed and marked to extremities. £675
see Hammond & Anderson [A5]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1974, [24566]
Octavos. 3 vols, with maps. Later impressions of the second edition, elegantly hand-bound in half ‘Shire’green chieftain morocco by Bayntun-Riviere, with five raised bands to spine, gilt titles and gilt ‘ring’ tools to panels, mid-green buckram sides, top edge gilt. A fine set in a handsome binding. £675
see Hammond & Anderson [A5]
TOLKIEN, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London, 1954, 1954, 1955. [27508]
FIRST EDITIONS, First impressions. 3 vols., Octavo. With maps. Elegantly hand-bound by BAYNTUN-RIVIERE in full red chieftan leather with traditional raised bands, gilt titles, panelled spine double-ruled in gilt, gilt ‘rings’ to spine, marbled endpapers fuled in gilt, all edges gilt, original cloth covers preserved at rear. Fine copies in superb binding. A fantastical trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings” is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century, containing amazing details of a new mythology, never really surpassed Basis for the epic film series directed by Peter Jackson, ‘The Return’ [2003] winning a record 11 Oscars from 11 nominations.
£6,000
Hammond & Anderson [A5], listed in Time Magazine; 100 Best Modern Novels.
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin. 1969 [27507]
Single volume; THE FIRST INDIA PAPER EDITION IN DELUXE BINDING of black buckram cloth with gilt design to upper, spine gilt-lettered and ruled in compartments, marbled endpapers, all edges speckled.
A fine copy (with light crease to preliminary leaves) in the publisher’s black slip-case, a little rubbed and marked to extremities. A fantastical trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings” is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century, containing amazing details of a new mythology, never really surpassed Basis for the epic film series directed by Peter Jackson, ‘The Return’ [2003] winning a record 11 Oscars from 11 nominations.
£750
see Hammond & Anderson [A5], listed in Time Magazine; 100 Best Modern Novels.
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings.
Being: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. together with The Hobbit or There and Back Again, and Poems and Stories London: George Allen and Unwin. 1969, 1976 and 1980 [26066]
3 volumes. THE FIRST INDIA PAPER EDITIONS IN DELUXE BINDING of black buckram cloth with gilt design to upper, spine gilt-lettered and ruled in compartments, marbled endpapers, all edges speckled. First title in publisher’s slipcase, others in publisher’s card tray with lid, title labels to upper. Housed in a fine morocco clamshell box. Fine condition throughout. £1,750
see Hammond & Anderson
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. Mr. Bliss ( illustrated by author) London, George Allen & Unwin 1982 [21622]
FIRST EDITION, oblong octavo, 51 pages, publisher’s illustrated boards, beautiful drawings by author throughout the text, fine copy. Dustwrapper, same illustrations as boards, also fine. £25
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. Smith of Wootton Major. Illustreated by Pauline Baynes. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1967 [23206]
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. 12mo. In publisher’s pictorial boards, rubbed to extremities, sunned to spine. An attractive little book. Very good. FIRST EDITION. Issued without dustjacket. First binding variant. £48
Issued in two bindings, with black spine lettered in white, then white spine lettered in black. Binding 2 introduced probably because the black spine and edges too readily showed wear (as in the present copy).
Hammond & Anderson. [A9]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. [BAYNES Pauline] Smith of Wootton Major. Illustreated by Pauline Baynes. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1967 [26029]
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. 12mo. In publisher’s pictorial boards, rubbed to extremities, sunned to spine, plus a little spotting to endpapers. An attractive little book. Very good. FIRST EDITION. Issued without dustjacket. First binding variant. £38
Issued in two bindings, with black spine lettered in white, then white spine lettered in black. Binding 2 introduced probably because the black spine and edges too readily showed wear (as in the present copy).
Hammond & Anderson. [A9]
TOLKIEN, J.R.R. [BAYNES Pauline] Smith of Wootton Major. Illustreated by Pauline Baynes. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1967 [26030]
12mo. In publisher’s pictorial boards, rubbed to extremities, but without the usual fadng to red portion of spine. Neat gift inscription to flyleaf. An attractive little book. Very good. FIRST EDITION. Issued without dustjacket. First binding variant. £65
Issued in two bindings, with black spine lettered in white, then white spine lettered in black. Binding 2 introduced probably because the black spine and edges too readily showed wear (as in the present copy).
Hammond & Anderson. [A9]
Tolkien’s Book of the Dead[TOLKIEN, J.R.R.] BUDGE. Sir. Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis. The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day or the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead. The Egyptian Hieroglyphic Text Edited from Numerous Papyri. London, Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner & Co.
1910 [22971]
PROVENANCE: Ex Libris J.R.R .TOLKIEN. Three Vols. 8vo. Publisher’s Brown Buckram boards with black text and Papyrus motif. TOLKIEN’s INK INSCRIPTION to front free end papers of all three volumes. Small paper label of subsequent owner adhered just bellow Tolkien’s inscription. The volumes are very well preserved, and fragrant from many years exposure to pipe tobacco smoke. Some minor wear to head and tale of spine and faint yellowing to edges of paper. Vol. VI - VIII of the Books on Egypt and Caldaea series. Second Edition, with the first appearance of Budge’s preface. The Book of the Dead being a remarkable collection of the compositions which the Egyptians inscribed upon their tombs and sarcophagi to ensure the well being of their dead. Volume one containing descriptions of the various papyrus scrolls found around Thebes which were subsequently acquired by the British Museum and whose transcription The subsequent volumes contain the full hieroglyphic text translation and vocabulary.
As seen in the recent movie ‘The Mummy’. Not Tolkien’s copy you’ll understand..... £2,750
TOLKIEN, J.R.R., GORDON, E.V. [Ed] Sir Gawain & The Green Knight. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1925. [24032]
FIRST EDITION: 8vo. Publisher’s green cloth, some wear to edges. Occasional light scattered foxing, many edges uncut. Some pencil annotations in the margins. £200
If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
VERNE, Jules. Around the World in Eighty Days. London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington. 1876 [28254]
Very early edition, the first having been published in 1874.8vo,192pp + 16pp ads. Illustrated throughout. Contemporary half green calf with red title label, raised bands and gilt decoration to spine. Green cloth boards. Slight rubbing to extremities otherwise clean and handsome. Speckled edges. £295
VERNE, Jules. Captain Antifer. New York, R.F. Fenno & Co. 1895 [23316]
FIRST US EDITION: 8vo. Publisher’s original cloth with silver and black design. Copiously illustrated with superb engraved illustrations throughout. Fine tight binding, very slight browning to edges of pages. Circular bookseller’s label to front pastedown. Discreet evidence of some previous repair with joints just starting again. An attractive copy nontheless. £375
VERNE, Jules. Doctor Ox. ....and other stories :- Master Zacharius, A Drama in the Air, A Winter in the Ice and The Fortieth French Ascension of Mont Blanc. Boston, James R.0sgood and Co. 1874. [26643]
First Edition (First in English), small 8vo. Publisher’s royal blue cloth, subtle stamping to boards, delicate illustration and title in gilt to front with titles in gilt to spine. Bottle green endpapers, all page edges tinted in bright red. An attractive copy, darkened to spine. Expert minor repair to spine and corners. Light expected toning to pages with minimal foxing to beginning of text. Some dust to the top with a tiny chip out of front free endpaper. Extremely good. £375
VERNE, Jules. Dr.Ox’s Experiment. With:
Master Zacharias, A Drama In The Air, A Winter In The Ice. London, Sampson Low, Marston, Low and Searle. 1874 [26668]
True First English Edition. Publishers decorated green cloth, embossed titles and decoration in black and gilt to spine and front board. Slight rubbing to extremities, bumping to head, tail and corners. Small spot (2 or 3 mm) of white paint to rear board. A hint of cocking, all edges gilt. A solid, strong and pretty copy of a scarce collection of some of verne’s earliest tales of adventure. As usual for Verne this edition is illustrated as if the art of engraving was about to go out of fashion and they wanted to make sure they got enough plates in. Lavish is one word that could be used to describe the UK Verne editions, opulent might also do. They are to late Victorian book production what the pyramids are to architectural conservatism. A difficult book that has a tendency to collapse in on itself, this copy has escaped such a fate and continues to endure. £600
VERNE, Jules. Five Weeks In A Balloon. New York, Appleton and Co. 1869 [27688]
First US Edition. 8vo. 345pp +10pp ads. Publisher’s purple cloth, titled and decorated in gilt to spine and front board expertly rebacked using original spine. Fading to spine and some darkening of the cloth, solid and attractive. Glazed yellow endpapers. Some light internal foxing, profusely illlustrated throughout with the usual Verneisms; balloons grappling with elephants, escapes from rampaging natives and much ‘new science meets old world’ hilarity. A tight attractive copy of a rare book housed in a protective clamshell case. £2,750
VERNE, Jules. From The Earth To The Moon. London, Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington. 1876 [29443]
Early Paperback Edition from the Low’s Authorised and Illustrated editions series. Described as ‘Author’s Edition’ on title page, ads dated January 1876. Smal 8vo, publisher’s stiff grey card wraps. chipping to extremities, some soiling to front wrap, significant loss to the fragile spine panel and a corner of loss to the rear wrap, nevertheless holding together with admirable and very Verneian tenaciousness. Internally bright and clean, with very isolated and minor spotting to a couple of pages. An attractive survival of a supremely fragile object. £375
VERNE, Jules The Purchase Of The North Pole. A sequel to “From The Earth To The Moon.” London, Sampson Low, Marston and Company. 1894 [26670]
First English edition, later impression. Publishers bottle green decorated cloth binding, embossed in gilt and black depicting a rather fetching “man meets polar bear” theme. Slight signs of rubbing to corners and head of spine, but very minor, bright and strong. A scarce printing, lavishly illustrated by our old friend M. Roux, depicting the continued (if slightly less sound) adventures of The Baltimore Gun Club, as they purchase the afore mentioned Arctic and seek to divert the earth from its accustomed orbit to shift the climate zones. This will result in the privately owned North Pole becoming a tropical paradise, allowing the Club to clean up on the cruise ship and pina colada holidays market. A tropical paradise inhabited by polar bears? Who ever heard such a...wait just a minute! Once again Mr.Verne proves that, if it hasn’t a some point entered his head, it probably isn’t worth thinking about. Presumably if I were an ABC executive I’d consider buying his entire body of work and locking J.J. Abrams in a broom closet with a flashlight until he’d read them all. A splendid book. £1,500
VERNE, Jules. From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in 97 Hours 20 Minutes: And a Trip Round It. Translated from the French by Louis Mercier, and Eleanor King. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1873. [24931]
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Publisher’s green cloth, expertly recased, with black and gilt titles and decoration to lightly rubbed spine and upper cover; tinted end papers; all edges gilt. Neat inscription to paste down dated 1874. With numerous illustrations by Bayard, de Montaut and de Neuville. Minimal occasional light spotting. Generally clean and sound. A difficult edition of this title, particularly showing so well. £875
VERNE, Jules. In Search Of The Castaways. A Romantic Narrative. Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott. 1874 [25875]
Single volume edition, 620pp. Bound in contemporary half red calf, with extra gilt tiles and decoration to spine, black and brown title labels and gilt ruling to marbled boards. Top edge gilt. Bizarre willow pattern endpapers. A most distinguished and luxurious looking copy, showing only minor wear to extremities. Another stirring tale of shipwreck, derring-do, world travel, survival, reckless courage, close encounters with wild life, train wrecks, pirates (I’m assuming, with Mr. Verne there are always pirates, or spies, or mutineers, or elephants powered by steam, or man cannons that launch plush projectiles at the moon) and enough striking engravings to keep an entire legion of French engravers busy for the terms of their natural lives (174 in all). A tempestuous creation from a writer who, along with Wells, Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson and Mervyn Peake regularly blurs the knife-thin line that exists between visionary genius and rampaging mentalist. £450
ISLAND ADVENTUREVERNE, Jules. The Floating Island. London: Samson, Low, Marston & Co. 1896. [27861]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., Illustrated with 24 full page plates. Publisher’s pictorial green cloth, bevelled edges, all edges gilt, patterned endpapers. Moderately worn with some edgewear to boards, joints rubbed, some scuffing to colour on covers, contemporary ink ownership. Still presents well; scarce later title. A French string quartet travelling from San Francisco to their next engagement in San Diego, is diverted to Standard Island, an immense man-made island designed to travel the waters of the Pacific Ocean whose residents’ wealth can only be measured in millions. The quartet play a number of concerts during their tour of the South Pacific, and the island seems an idyllic paradise, until divisions between two main factions threaten the very future of this strangely enchanting place... £750
Myers 23.
VERNE, Jules. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. New York, Scribner Armstrong. n.d. Circa 1875 [27669]
Early US Edition. 8vo. 305pp + 5pp ads. Publisher’s terracotta cloth titled in gilt to spine and front board. Blindstamped design to boards. Expertly rebacked with original spine laid on. Some light shelfwear and rubbing to extremities with a short scratch to the rear board, tight and clean. Glazed yellow endpapers.Neat ink inscription dated 1875 to flyleaf. Illustrated throughout in the standard style of Verne novels (i.e. they almost qualify as comics, all they are lacking is the occasional speech bubble). A classic of subterranean exploration literature, if such a category exists, and if it doesn’t then it certainly should. £150
VERNE, Jules. A Journey to the North Pole. Author of the “Children of Captain Grant” Etc. With Illustrations by Riou. London, George Routledge and Sons. 1875 [23222]
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION: Publisher’s green pebble grained cloth with elaborate gilt and black design. Gilt titles. Superb wood engravings by Riou et al throughout. Internally clean, some trivial wear to extreme corners, small nick to upper joint. A very good copy indeed. First edition of this title to be printed in English. £395
VERNE, Jules. Le Tour Du Monde. Paris. Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation J.Hetzel et Ce. [1872] [27484]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo. Contemporary quarter morocco with marbled boards. Gilt titles to spine. Some very slight rubbing to extremities of boards otherwise clean, solid and sharp. Marbled endpapers. Printers imprint and ads to verso of half title. Ownership in ink to title page. All edges speckled. Some very isolated internal foxing otherwise bright. The first appearance of one of the most famous novels of M.Verne, recounting the varied and wonderful adventure of Phileas Fogg and the faithful Passepartout. £2,750
VERNE, Jules [Gabriel], (1828-1905). The Will of an Eccentric. London, Sampson, Low and Co. 1900 [29783]
First English edition. Profusely illustrated with one fold out chart/gameboard. Publisher’s green cloth boards decorated and titled in gilt and colour with a suitably Verneian scene of three men on a tandem (tridem?) cycling energetically across a desolate mountainous landscape whilst discharging revolvers at a pursuing pack of wolves. As you do. A deluxe edition was publshed similtaneously with floral endpapers and all edges gilt. Internally clean and bright this copy possesses black endpapers and plain page edges; a trifle dusty, but bright, fresh and solid. A nice example of a madcap bit of scarce late Verne involving a lunatic race across America for enough cash to build your own nuclear submarine and fly it to the moon. Wacky Races goes steampunk, endearingly frenetic and madder than an eel flavoured hat. £2,500
BBA sale 634 [Literature].
“The book sensation of Europe - The great romance of the century ”VON HARBOU, Thea. METROPOLIS. The Readers Library Publishing Co. Ltd. [1926] [26716]
Film Edition, small 8vo. Publisher’s burgundy cloth, ornate decoration and titles in gilt to front board and spine. Pictorial dust jacket with colourful, all over design. Further publications listed to back inside flap. A little bumping to spine and corners, some creasing to endpapers, light toning to pages and minimal foxing to top and fore-edges, a very good copy. Rather fragile dust jacket showing small losses to folded areas, a larger loss to top spine area plus a closed tear across the front. Clear colours, also very good. An attractive little book. £350
VONNEGUT, Kurt Jr.,(1922-2007). The Sirens of Titan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1961 [32196]
First hardcover edition. Publisher’s deep purple covers blocked in white, in striking original illustrated dust wrapper designed by Graphic House. Book is fine; jacket, with a little edwear is near fine. A clean, fresh copy of an uncommon book. Previously published as a Dell paperback, ‘The Sirens of Titan’ in the author’s scarcest title in hardback, with a print run of just 2500 copies. Described as the Gulliver’s Travels of modern times, it follows a man and woman ricocheting about the Solar System in an era of space madness. Quite literally ‘far-out’. £2,500
“It was beauty killed the beast.”WALLACE, Edgar. [COOPER, Merian C.] King Kong. Novelisation by Delos W. Lovelace. New York, Grossett and Dunlap. 1932 [33287]
First Edition. 8vo. 249pp + 1 pp ads. Elegantly hand-bound in full black oasis morocco leather, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, gilt border to covers, marbled endpapers, publisher’s original cloth and photographic endpapers bound in at rear. Internally clean and sharp (slight toning to heavy paper, small scuffmark to half-title. Near fine. The ultimate monster story, giant apes, dinosaurs, dangerous native types, giant bamboo barricades, virgin sacrifice and cigarette smoking types whose trousers fasten just under their armpits. £750
WALTER, Elizabeth. In The Mist. and other uncanny encounters. Sauk City, Arkham House. 1979 [32663]
First Edition. Fine in like dustwrapper, a lovely copy, if indeed the word ‘lovely’ can be applied to a cover illustration depicting a rather shocked mariner bludgeoning a reanimated corpse with an oar. Contains a selection of Miss Walter’s truly chilling creations, a number of which are set in Wales, as if the fact that they contain flesh eating undead weren’t unsettling enough. £50
WELLS, H.G. The Country of the Blind and Other Stories. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1911. [20362]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s embossed blue cloth with gilt titles to spine; pictorial end papers. Very light shelfwear. A superb copy. £125
WELLS, H.G. The Dream. London: Jonathan Cape, 1924. [22752]
First Edition, Second Issue. Publisher’s marroon cloth with gilt titles to slightly faded spine; top edge tinted. Remnant of paper label to first free end paper; bookshop rubber stamp to rear paste down. Slightly cocked but tight copy of a late but major Wells fantasy novel. £30
WELLS, H. G. The First Men in the Moon. London: George Newnes, 1901, [23751]
8vo., pp. (vii) + 342. Illustrated with 12 monochrome plates. Finely bound in recent half dark blue oasis morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spine, buckram boards. Publisher’s original mid-blue cloth covers with black titles (some soiling), bound in at rear. A fine copy. FIRST EDITION. £375
Geoffrey H. Wells [18]
WELLS, H. G. The First Men in the Moon. George Newnes, Limited, London, 1901, [27155]
First Edition. First Issue. 8vo., pps. (vii) + 342. Illustrated with 12 monochrome plates. Publisher’s dark blue cloth. Head and tail of spine rubbed and slightly worn, spine slightly darkened, otherwise very good. £450
WELLS, H. G. The First Men in the Moon. London: George Newnes, 1901, [24045]
FIRST EDITION, Third Issue. 8vo., pp. (vii) + 342. Illustrated with 12 monochrome plates. Publisher’s mid blue cloth with titles and decoration in black to spine and upper. Generally fresh. A fine, tight copy. £250
Geoffrey H. Wells [18]
WELLS, H[erbert] G[eorge] (1866-1946). The Invisible Man. A Grotesque Romance. London, C. Arthur Pearson Limited, 1897. [32123]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pp. (viii) + 246 + 2 adverts. Publisher’s pictorial red cloth. Possibly unread. A tight copy. Contents clean, but for a little dampmark to extreme top edge of endpapers, and an associated damp run to spine and rear cover; better than it describes, this is actually rather a nice example, even with an accidental watermark- much better than usual found. Wells’ classic sci-fi novella is a commentary on the misuse of science for selfish ends; the famous story of a scientist who tampers with nature in his pursuit of superhuman powers. £875Geoffrey H. Wells [11]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [279]. Shorter New Cambridge Bibliography (Eng.Lit.) 1293-8. See also Haining; H.G.Wells’ Scrapbook.
WELLS, H[erbert] G[eorge] (1866-1946). The Invisible Man. A Grotesque Romance. C. Arthur Pearson, London, 1897, [33973]
8vo., pp. (viii) + 246 + 2 adverts. Finely bound in full burgundy oasis, gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, top edge gilt. With original cover bound in at rear. A very good copy (usual edge tanning to notoriously cheap paper used) in fine recent binding. First Edition. A commentary on the misuse of science for selfish ends. Completely unbelievable in the light of what we now know; any man made miraculously invisible would occupy his entire time with spying on naked people, staying in pubs after they’d closed and tracking down people who were mean to him in school and making their lives a misery. And spying on naked people. £695
Geoffrey H. Wells [11]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [279]. Shorter New Cambridge Bibliography (Eng.Lit.) 1293-8.
WELLS, H.G. The Plattner Story. London, Methuen. 1897 [27791]
FIRST EDITION in book form. Octavo, pp301 plus 40-page catalogue dated March 1897.. Elegantly hand-bound in half red oasis morocco leather over publisher’s gilt entitled boards, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands. Internally clean, in fine recent binding. A splendid collection of sci-fi stories including ‘The Argonauts of The Air’ which is a title good enough to make Jules Verne happy. Perhaps the rarest of Wells’ sci-fi titles; these obscure fantasy tales prevously appeared in various periodicals including ‘The Idler’ and ‘The Yellow Book’. £250
Geoffrey H Wells [10].
WELLS, H. G. The Shape of Things to Come. The Ultimate Revolution. Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., London, 1933, [27693]
FIRST EDITION. Large octavo. Expertly bound in half blue morocco, gilt, raised bands, cloth boards. Clean and sound throughout; A fine copy in attractive recent binding. ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ is one of the last works of science fiction by Wells, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. The author creates a framing device by claiming that the book is his edited version of notes written by an eminent diplomat, Dr Philip Raven, who had been having dream visions of a history textbook published in 2106, and wrote down what he could remember of it. In the book Wells successfully predicted the Second World War, which he envisaged dragging on into the 1960s, being finally ended only by a devastating plague that almost destroys civilisation!
£95
H. G. Wells Society 119.
WELLS, H[erbert] G[eorge] (1866-1946). The Stolen Bacillus. And Other Incidents. London, Methuen and Co. 1895 [33239]
FIRST EDITION, with AUTHOR’S INSCRIBED CALLING CARD: Publisher’s blue cloth, gilt. Some general wear and handling, signs of use, but essentially a very good, solid copy. This copy has a card affixed to pastedown with a ms. note from the author; I wish I could do but I can’t / Thanks vy. much for the Verses. / yours / H.G. Wells. Printed with Wells address as header. A series of cynical biological and scientific tales are the basis for H.G.Wells’ first collection of Science Fiction stories. Includes ‘The Flying Man’, ‘The Flowering of the Strange Orchid’, The remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes’, and ‘The Lord of the Dynamos’. £1,250
Geoffrey H.Wells [6]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [275]. Shorter New Cambridge Bibliography (Eng.Lit.) 1293-8.
A FINE SCI-FI COLLECTIONWELLS, H[erbert] G[eorge] (1866-1946). Tales of Space and Time. Tales of Space and Time. Containing: The Crystal Egg, The Star, A Story of the Stone Age, A Story of the Days to Come, and The Man who could Work Miracles. Harper Brothers, London, 1900. [32119]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo., pps. 358 + 2 of adverts. Publisher’s decorative light brown cloth. Discreet armorial bookplate, minor page toning, spine a trifle dulled otherwise light coloured cloth is unusually clean and bright. A fine copy. “The Star, which in its immensity of conception and imaginative vividness of execution must be reckoned one of the author’s most powerful short stories...”. £875
Geoffrey H. Wells [16]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [358]. Shorter New Cambridge Bibliography (Eng.Lit.) 1293-8.
WELLS, H.G. The Time Machine. An Invention. London, William Heinemann, 1895. [33294]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, softcover issue. 8vo., pp. 152. Publisher’s pale green paper covers printed in black, advertisements printed to inside covers. A fine copy with a couple of insignificant chips, with spine intact and lettering fully legible (often chipped away). A remarkable survival; issued simultaneously with the hardcover version, and in higher numbers (it was the cheaper option upon release); wrapper copies are far less durable however and fewer softcover examples remain. [Wells Society 4; The earliest work of Science fiction to be based on the idea of time travel]. £5,000
Geoffrey H. Wells [4].
WELLS, H.G. The Time Machine. An Invention. London, William Heinemann, 1895. [32125]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo., pp. 152 + 32 page publisher’s catalogue. Publisher’s beige cloth, pages untrimmed, titles stamped in purple denoting earliest binding, and with the first catalogue page advertising THE MANXMAN. Internally clean, boards are particualrly bright, spine with some darkening letters dulled, endpapers a little spotted. Very good indeed. A lovely copy of this classic work of science fiction. 6,000 were printed of which only 1,500 were bound in cloth, as here. Housed in a collector’s leather box. [Wells Society 4; The earliest work of Science fiction to be based on the idea of time travel] £1,650
Geoffrey H. Wells [4]
SCI-FI TALES FROM THE MASTER STORYTELLERWELLS, H.G. Twelve Stories and a Dream. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1903. [29359]
FIRST EDITION, in book form. Octavo, publisher’s green cloth with gilt titles to spine, gilt and embossed to upper; top edge gilt. Some rubbing to extremities, browning to endpapers, neat bookplate to pastedown with same owner’s signature to flyleaf. A very good copy indeed. As the title indicates, this volume collects thirteen short stories, printed in magazines between 1898 and 1903, including the time-travelling story ‘The New Accelerator’, ‘The Valley of the Spiders’, ‘The Stolen Body’ and ‘The Magic Shop’ (a tale of the supernatural). £125
Geoffrey H.Wells [23]. Bleiler; Checklist of Fantastic Literature [384].
WELLS, H. G. The War in the Air and Particularly how Mr. Bert Smallways Fared while it Lasted. George Bell and Sons, London, 1908, [22660]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo., 198 x 130mm., pps. (viii) + 389 + 2 adverts. With 16 monochrome illustrations by A. C. Michael. Near Fine in publisher’s original gilt decoated blue cloth. Some browning to flyleaves, light general wear. Near fine. A remarkable forecast of aerial warfare. £295
WELLS, H.G. The War in the Air. And Particularly how Mr. Bert Faired While it Lasted. London, George Bell and Sons 1908 [23330]
FIRST EDITION SECOND STATE: 8vo. pp. 389. Colonial issue. Publisher’s variant red cloth with tipped in illustration to upper and gilt lettering to spine. Complete with twelve full page illustrations. Some scattered foxing, traces of wear to edges of cover, otherwise good copy. £95
WELLS, H. G. The War in the Air and Particularly how Mr. Bert Smallways Fared while it Lasted. George Bell and Sons, London, 1908, [27478]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE.8vo., 198 x 130mm., pps. (viii) + 389 + 2 adverts. With 16 monochrome illustrations by A. C. Michael. Fine copy in publisher’s original gilt decorated blue cloth, lightly bumped to head and tail of spine. Some light sporadic spotting otherwise a lovely clean, bright copy. First state binding with gilt stamping- later issed with a small plate pasted to upper, in either blue (home) or red (colonial) cloths.
A fascinating examination of the invention of the aeroplane which proved to be a remarkable forecast of aerial warfare.
£550
Geoffrey H. Wells [35]
WELLS, H. G. The War of The Worlds. London: William Heinemann, 1898. [25664]
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. 8vo. pp. viii, 303, [Autumn 1897 ads.] Publisher’s grey cloth, titles stamped in black, edges untrimmed with white endpapers.Some light soiling to boards, faint ink name to front pastedown , rear hinge has a small split just beginning in one or two small areas. Some darkening and bumping to the spine, a little rubbing to the extremities. Solid and enduring having escaped the depredations of the heat ray and a distinguished example of probably the only science fiction novel to have Woking as a venue for inter-planetary skullduggery. £1,350
Geoffrey H. Wells [14]
WELLS, H. G. The War of The Worlds. London: William Heinemann, 1925 [29288]
Small octavo. Publisher’s red cloth in superb illustrated dustjacket. Cheap paper stock has yellowed to edges, otherwise book is near fine (with slight lean) in a beautiful near fine wrapper showing nominal handling and one small nick to joint. A remarkable survival of this 2/- reprint edition which is seldom seen in wrapper. Science fiction classic; giant tripod martian machines bringing destruction and mayhem to Surrey, what more can mankind ask for. £395
Listed in Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels [1998], also in ‘100 Books That Shaped World History’ [Raftery, 2002]
WELLS, H.G. When The Sleeper Wakes. A Story of the Years to Come. London, Harper & Bros. 1899 [21150]
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY with fine association. Crown 8vo., pp. viii + 330. Bound in publisher’s red cloth, title in gilt to spine and upper, with three black & white illustrations. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR to half-title ‘R.A.M.Stevenson from H.G.Wells’; Stevenson was a noted art critic, author, and Professor of Fine Arts at University College, Liverpool, a friend of John Singer Sergeant and cousin of Wells’ fellow novelist Robert Louis Stevenson.
Cloth shows a little wear and marking, neatly recased. Previous catalogue description affixed to pastedown. A very good inscribed copy of a classic work of science fiction. Housed in protective leather spined clamshell box. Wells referred to this story of the future ‘one of the most ambitous and least satisfactory of my books’. It was not until 1910 that a revised edition was published, with a preface and new title of ‘The Sleeper Awakes’; the changes being mainly editorial with around 6000 words cut, although noticeable amendments include the sexual interest being eliminated and the earlier word ‘aeropile’ replaced by the more familiar ‘monoplane’. £1,450
Geoffrey H. Wells [15]
WHARTON, Edith. Tales of Men and Ghosts. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons 1910 [28631]
FIRST US EDITION, Octavo. 438pp. + 4pp ads. Elegantly hand-bound in half red oasis morocco leather over publisher’s gilt-tiled cloth sides, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Slight toning to edges else a clean, fine copy in attractive recent binding. £150
A collection of Wharton’s stories of the supernatural and the macabre, many of which combine the elements of detection and psychological horror, collected here for the first time after their debut appearances in magazines and anthologies.
WILDE, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Paris, Charles Carrington, 1905 [24567]
Octavo. Pp viii + 327. Publisher’s cloth, lettered in gilt, title page printed in red and black, top edge gilt, others uncut. Contemporary bookplate to pastedown, browning to flyleaves, light and occasional spotting. Pale cloth has a little soiling and sunning but generally a much superior example than is often seen; Near fine.
According to Mason, from 1901 the avant-garde Paris publisher Charles Carrington had issued ‘Dorian Gray’ by arrangement with Messrs.Ward Lock & Co. In January 1905, the British Ward Lock firm disposed of their rights in the book to Carrington for a small sum, hence this became the ‘SOLE AUTHORISED EDITION’ as stated on the verso of title page. There are two states of the binding, initially with shot grey-green boards with ‘Paris’ imprint to spine and a black water-lily to upper. In October 1907 unbound sheets from this edition were issued in a second binding (as in the present copy), of shot-puce cloth with ‘Carrington’ imprint to spine, without the lily design. Either is now quite scarce and desirable. £250
Mason [332]
WILDE, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray [in] Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company 1890 [24614]
FIRST EDITION. The first printing of the complete novel, including the title page. The sheets of the magazine were printed in America and issued simultaneously in America by Lippincott and in London by Ward, Lock. The first edition in book form was published in April 1891, which featured a substantially altered text, including the addition of six new chapters. Bound in the original magazine covers of cream paper, printed in red and black. Trivial wear for such a fragile item, and the (susceptible) lettering to spine is still crisp and clear. A truly stunning example. £1,500
Mason [81-82, 332]
WILSON, Colin. The Space Vampires. London, Hart -Davis, MacGibbon. 1976. [22144]
FIRST EDITION, 8vo. Publishers’s black cloth, some bumping to spine and corner’s, faint line on front and back boards, fresh looking text with some small marks on the top edge, very good. Dustwrapper, bold print on a black background, a little wear, mainly to the top edge with a touch of browning to the inside flaps, also very good. £40
WOODING, Chris. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray. London, Scholastic Press. 2001. [22110]
FIRST CLASS, 8vo. Publisher’s navy blue cloth, a little bumping to spine and corners, spotless pages, a lovely copy, fine. Pictorial dustwrapper, striking gothic design in a very atmospheric blue, also fine. £75
WYNDHAM, John. The Day of The Triffids. Michael Joseph, 1951 [33972]
FIRST EDITION. Elegantly hand bound in recent full green crushed morocco, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, marbled endpapers, gilt border to boards, top edge gilt. With original spine bound in.
Fine copy. A beautiful copy in fine binding. £450
Listed in David Pringle’s 100 Best Science Fiction Novels.
WYNDHAM, John. Consider Her Ways & Others. London, Michael Joseph, 1961. [20613]
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Publisher’s cloth, small mark to front flyleaf, near fine. In dustwrapper, very minor edge wear, near fine. By the author of The Day of The Triffids. £100
WYNDHAM, John. The Kraken Wakes Michael Joseph, 1953 [20508]
FIRST EDITION. Publisher’s cloth in pictorial dustwrapper. Minor wear to book, wrapper with 3’’ repaired tear to upper, light browning to rear. Very good. Author’s second book. £250
WYNDHAM, John. The Kraken Wakes. London, Michael Joseph. 1953 [25924]
First Edition. 8vo. 288pp. A very nice copy of the author’s second book in publisher’s plum cloth, slightly bumped to the bottom front corner, dustwrapper a trifle shelfworn with some soiling to the white back panel. Signed by Wyndham to the half title. Cephalapoidal horrors crawl from the sea to harass normal middle class chaps and their wives. The kind of thing I have been hoping would happen since I was little, however I still have to get up every morning and go to work rather than live off my wits for the good of the struggling remannts of mankind. £1,200
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