"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
— P.J. O'Rourke
Literature
Except the Lord.
London: Michael Joseph, 1953. First Edition. Octavo, pp. 287. In publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With original black and brown dust jacket, featuring black and yellow titles. Slight lean, and even age toning throughout. Jacket somewhat dog-eared to top edge; very good overall. The story of Chester..... More
The African Witch.
London: Victor Gollancz, 1936. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.448. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to spine. A lovely clean copy internally. Moderate wear to covers; gilt dulled and slightly chipped. Very good. The Irish author's third novel, set in Nigeria, and his first real success..... More
The Horse's Mouth.
London: Michael Joseph, 1944. FIRST EDITION. Octavo. pp. 291. In publisher's orange cloth with silver titles to spine. With original brown dust jacket with green titles. Expected browning to text block; reading lean. Jacket browned to spine; chips to head and tail. Large closed tear to back cover. Front cover..... More
Marching Soldier.
London: Michael Joseph, 1945. [War Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.28. A single long poem. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to upper. With the plain dust-jacket, titled to both covers. Bookseller's label to front pastedown. Jacket price-clipped, with a little light wear and chipping to edges. Near..... More
Broken Heart Club.
London: Puffin Books, 2016. [Teen Novel] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (23 x 16cm), pp.[6] 307 [7]. SIGNED by the author in gold to title page. With occasional illustrations by Erin Keen. Publisher's blue and white heart-illustrated paper-covered boards (no titles), with blue endpapers and promotional bookmark loosely inserted. With the..... More
Flight into Danger. A Novel of Suspense.
London: Souvenir Press, 1958. [Aerial thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.162. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, pictorial dust-jacket with printed price of 11/6 net. Internally clean, some spotting to edges. Cloth lightly handled. Dust-wrapper a little edgeworn and scuffed here and there, small closed tear to..... More
Moral Emblems. with Aphorisms, Adages, and Proverbs, of all Ages and Nations. With Illustrations freely rendered, from designs found in their works, by John Leighton, F.S.A., the whole Translated and Edited, with Additions, by Richard Pigot, Member of the Leyden Society of Netherlands Literature.
London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862. [Illustrated Aphorisms] FINELY BOUND SECOND EDITION. Small quarto (28 x 21cm), pp.[2] xvi; 242 [2]. Heavily illustrated with engravings by Leighton, and other artists, including a frontispiece. Fine contemporary red full morocco by RIVIERE, with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine..... More
The Spanish Ladie, and two other stories from Cervantes translated from the original by James Mabbe, 1640, and newly illustrated by Douglas Percy Bliss.
London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1928. [Illustrated Spanish Literature] FIRST BLISS-ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Small quarto (27 x 21cm), pp.[8] 197 [3]. With occasional wood engraved illustrations by Bliss, some printed in colour. Publisher's salmon quarter cloth with gilt titles to spine and grey paper-covered boards, illustrated in brown to upper..... More
The Literature of Roguery.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1907. First Edition. Two volumes. Octavo (19 x 14cm). Publisher's embossed green cloth, gilt titles to spines, top edges tinted green. Very light rubbing to extremities, signs of label removal to spines. Blind stamp to title page and first page of text of each volume..... More
Chandler Before Marlowe: Raymond Chandler's Early Prose and Poetry, 1908-1912.
Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1973. [Posthumous anthology] LIMITED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.xviii; 110. With a frontispiece of the author. Number 167 of 499 copies. Publisher's red quarter faux leather with gilt titles to spine and mottled cream paper over boards. Matching cream endpapers; all..... More
Killer In The Rain. Being: Killer in the Rain; The Man who liked Dogs; The Curtain; Try the Girl; Mandarin's Jade; Bay City Blues; The Lady in the Lake; No Crime in the Mountains. With an Introduction by Philip Durham.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1964. [Crime stories] FIRST EDITION (stated). Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.394. Publisher's blue cloth in pictorial dust-wrapper designed by Rob Howard, priced at $5.50. Contents and page edges clean, jacket with a little edgewear and a crease to the spine panel, neat tape reinforcement to..... More
The Big Sleep.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1939. FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo, pp.302. Publisher's black cloth with red titles and trim. Edges a little toned, joints a touch rubbed. A clean, near fine example. The author's first book, introducing Philip Marlowe; cool, sharp, handsome - and bitterly alone. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone. Chandler's writing was..... More
Farewell, My Lovely.
New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, 1940. [Crime novel] FIRST EDITION. Small Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[viii]; 275; [1], blank; [1], 'Note'. Publisher's russet cloth blocked in blue, dark blue top edge. A clean copy of the book with no inscriptions, very faint scuff to pastedown, tiny bookplate to rear pastedown..... More
The High Window.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1943. [Detective Fiction] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp,236. Hand-bound in deep red burgundy calf over matching cloth sides, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands. One or two minor marks within, exterior as new. A near fine copy, in an attractive recent leather..... More
Playback.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1958. FIRST UK EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Octavo, pp. 208. Publisher's red cloth in original dust jacket. Some toning to flyleaf, jacket a little nicked and rubbed, one tear at fore-edge, price-clipped; very good indeed. The true first printing of the final Philip Marlowe story, which precedes the..... More
The Second Raymond Chandler Omnibus: The Little Sister, The Long Good-bye, and Playback. With introductory essay 'The Simple Art of Murder.'
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1962. [Crime Fiction] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.[6] 550 [4]. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket designed by Patricia Davey, priced at 25s. Heavy toning and a little spotting to edges. Heavy browning to jacket spine and joints; toning..... More
The Garter Town.
London: The Fortune Press, no date [1953]. [Topographical Poetry] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION, EX LIBRIS CLEMENT ATTLEE. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.64. With eight illustrations by Gurney. INSCRIBED in blue ink to fly-leaf: 'To the Rt Hon. C.R. attlee | with the author's compliments. | 2/1/54.' With Attlee's distinctive monogram bookplate..... More
Boodle.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1936. [Short Stories] EX LIBRIS CLEMENT ATTLEE, third printing. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.312. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine and blind decoration to upper. Top edge orange; red endpapers. A new bookplate detailing provenance to front pastedown. Toned to edges. Spine heavily rubbed..... More
The Brighter Buccaneer. More "Saint" Stories.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. [Short Crime Stories] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.317 [3]. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to the fly-leaf: 'For Douglas | on the return | of the prodigal. | Ever | Leslie Charteris. | London 11.8.33.' Publisher's light blue cloth with..... More
![Call for the Saint. The King of the Beggars [and] The Masked Angel. Leslie CHARTERIS](/pictures/thumb/55422.jpg?v=1577116325)
Call for the Saint. The King of the Beggars [and] The Masked Angel.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1948. [Crime caper] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.253; [2], advertisements; [1], blank. Publisher's pale blue cloth in illustrated dust-wrapper designed by Jarvis, priced 8/6l. Discreet bookplate, usual bleaching to spine of book, jacket with some chips and tears; very good. Simon Templar, alias The..... More
Count On The Saint; 'The Unsaintly Santa'.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980. [Crime caper] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.175; [1], advert. Publisher's burgundy cloth in original dust-wrapper designed by Melvyn Gill. Some bumping, jacket nicked at spine, some edgewear, not faded. A very good copy. Short episodes with the gentleman adventurer. Includes the seasonal mystery..... More
The Saint Goes West. Some Further Exploits of Simon Templar.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1942. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.222; [1], advert. Publisher's pale blue cloth in original dust-wrapper priced at 8/6. Covers mottled as usual, jacket with a few chips and tears. traces of an old inscription to flyleaf. Very good. Three Saintly US adventures in Arizona, Palm Springs and..... More
The Saint Goes West. Some Further Exploits of Simon Templar.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1942. [Modern fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.222; [1], advert. Publisher's pale blue cloth in original dust-wrapper priced at 8/6. Covers lightly mottled, jacket lightly worn, chipped to base of spine, with some rubbing, marks, and nicks. Good. Three Saintly American adventures in Arizona..... More
The Saint In the Sun.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1964. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.256. Publisher's blue cloth, titled in gilt, pictorial dust-jacket designed by Studio Stead (Leslie Stead), priced at 15s. Very good indeed, in a lightly used jacket. Seven short adventures for the globe-trotting Simon Templar, set in exotic..... More
![Senor Saint [Señor Saint]. Leslie CHARTERIS](/pictures/thumb/49863.jpg?v=1574440567)
Senor Saint [Señor Saint].
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1959. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp189. Publisher's cloth in dustwrapper. Very light handling and dustiness; a clean, near fine copy. Most attractive. Short episodes with the gentleman adventurer, including 'The Pearls of Peace' and 'The Revolution Racket'. Simon Templar takes a Latin-American holiday and runs..... More