Literature
The Best Man to Die.
London: John Long, 1969. [Crime Mystery] SIGNED FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.184. SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page. A ticket to the Soho Theatre event 'Ruth Rendell and PD James, Head to Head' September 2012, attended by a well-known bookseller, suggests provenance..... More
Clovis Dardentor.
London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1897 [1898]. [Romantic Adventure] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, third issue. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 320. With 45 engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece with tissue guard. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles and grey, black and orange decoration to spine and upper..... More
Mistress Branican.
London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, no date [circa 1902]. [Mystery Adventure] VINTAGE COPY, a later edition. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[2] 360. With a selection of Benett's engraved plates, including a frontispiece. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles and polychrome decoration to spine and upper. Black ink church choir..... More
Keraban the Inflexible: The Captain of the Guidara.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1884 [1886]. [Ottoman Adventure] FIRST UK EDITION, a later issue. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.viii; 223 [33]. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1886. With 49 engraved plates, including a frontispiece, by Benett. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and black decoration to spine and..... More
Their Island Home. The Later Adventures of the Swiss Family Robinson.
New York, NY: G. Howard Watt, 1924. [Castaway Adventure] FIRST US EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.xii; 272 [4]. With a colour-illustrated frontispiece and two further black and white plates by Murphy. Publisher's maroon cloth with green titles to spine and upper, and a reproduction of the frontispiece laid over..... More
The Last Galley. Impressions and Tales.
London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1911. [Short stories] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.viii; 298 [14]. With a chromolithographic frontispiece by Wyeth and one further lithographic illustration by Rountree. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. Contents clean, edges slightly toned, moderate handling and wear..... More
Galatea. A Novel.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1978. [Fantasy] SIGNED FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.287; [1]. publisher's green cloth, gilt titles to spine, dust-jacket designed by Linda Garland with printed price of £5.75 net. Signed by the author to the title page. Small bump to the top of the..... More
The Stoneware Monkey.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.288. Publisher's blue cloth lettered in gilt, blue endpapers, pictorial dust-wrapper priced at 7/6. Contents very clean, neat ownership to flyleaf, jacket with trivial rubbing and wear, some discreet (frankly unnecessary) touch-up (no paper repair);..... More
The Moonstone.
New York, NY: Harper and Brothers, 1868. [Literature] FIRST US EDITION, being the FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION, also first single volume edition. Published the same year as the UK triple-decker. Slim octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.223; [1] blank. Publisher's blind-stamped textured brown cloth (not ribbed, as some copies), with decorative gilt..... More
The Tower.
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1928. [Poetry] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.vi; 110; [2] publisher's advertisements. Bound in mid-green cloth, handsomely blocked in gilt to spine and upper board, fore and tail edges untrimmed, illustrated dust-wrapper priced at 6/- net. A fine copy of the book in an..... More
The Secret Agent.
London: Methuen and Co., 1907. [Landmark Spy novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[viii]; 442; [1], imprint; [1], blank; [40], advertisement catalogue dated September 1907. Bound in publisher's burgundy coloured cloth with gilt titles to the spine. Edges of text block toned/browned, binding a little sunned to the spine..... More
The Chase of the Golden Meteor.
London: Grant Richards, 1909. [Science fiction] FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm) pp.vii; 292. Illustrated with twenty-four full page plates. Navy blue cloth with white titles to spine and colour blocking to the front cover. Ink inscription (Christmas 1913) to flyleaf, minor spotting, top corner bumped, cloth mostly fresh..... More
The Shadowy Waters.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1900. [Dramatic poetry] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Quarto (25 x 18cm), pp.57 [3]. Publisher's dark blue ribbed cloth, gilt titles to spine, gilt floral motif with dropped petal to upper board, top edge gilt others untrimmed. Bookseller's ticket and a discreet date inscription to pastedown. Some..... More
The Silmarillion. [Lord of the Rings].
London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977. [Fantasy] FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, domestic issue, printed by Billing & Sons. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.365 [1]. Folding map to rear. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine, top edge blue. With the dust-jacket illustrated with drawings by Tolkien, priced at £4.95..... More
A Ship of the Line.
London: Michael Joseph Ltd., 1938. [Naval fiction] FIRST EDITION, first printing. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.304; [1], advert; [3], blank. Second issue; sheets bound up later in the orange cloth (rather than blue), blocked in black to spine, pictorial dust-wrapper illustrated by Rowland Hilder, clipped and priced down to 3/6..... More
Thou Shell of Death.
London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, [1937]. [Crime Mystery] VINTAGE REPRINT. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.288. Publisher's brick red cloth with black titles to spine. An undated early printing (almost certainly the second) in exactly the same format as the dated first edition (1935); the list of other..... More
Poems & Translations 1850-1870. Together With the Prose Story 'Hand and Soul.'
London, Edinburgh etc.: Humphrey Milford/Oxford University Press, 1919. [Poetry] OXFORD EDITION, with interesting provenance. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.xvii [3] 482 [2]. With a halftone frontispiece portrait of the author. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt motif to upper board and gilt titles to spine. Boards blind-ruled. Contains a loose letter and..... More
The Strand Magazine, volumes I to XII. [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, etc.]
London: George Newnes, January 1891 to December 1896. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCES. 12 volumes. Large octavo (25 x 17 x 50cm). Illustrated throughout. Original magazine parts bound in half-yearly volumes. In contemporary green half calf, with gilt titles to red labels, gilt and blind ruling to spines, and matching textured..... More
The Lincoln Lawyer.
London: Orion, 2005. [Legal Thriller] SIGNED FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[10] 404 [2]. SIGNED by the author in black ink to title page, with his FULL SIGNATURE, rather than the more familiar initials/hurried autograph. Publisher's black cloth with silver titles to spine and grey endpapers. With the..... More
The Passion Flower Hotel.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1962. [Erotic comic novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.189; [3], blank. Publisher's pink cloth with gilt titles to spine, top edge green, dust-jacket priced at 15s. Contents clean, small splash to fore-edge else fine in a clean, fine wrapper, lightly worn to crown. Now a...... More
The Fourth of June.
New York: Dutton, 1962. [Modern Fiction] FIRST U.S. EDITION, SIGNED & INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.208. Publisher's hardback cloth in a pictorial dust-wrapper designed by Richard Chopping priced $3.95. With presentation note in ink to f.e.p.; For Maria, / A far better cook / than I'll..... More
The Fourth of June.
London: Anthony Blond, 1962. [Modern Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.208. Publisher's hardback cloth in a pictorial dust-wrapper designed by Richard Chopping priced 18s. Text block clean, no inscriptions. Some historic creases to wrapper else a clean, bright example in fine condition. The author's debut novel set in..... More
Biggles in the Underworld.
Leicester: Brockhampton Press, 1968. [Children's adventure novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.184. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine, dust-jacket designed by Studio Stead, clipped and repriced at 12s / 60p. Contents clean, no inscriptions, some spotting to page edges, jacket is clean and bright showing some..... More
Biggles and the Noble Lord.
Leicester: Brockhampton Press, 1969. [Children's adventure novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.152. Publisher's light blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, illustrated dust-jacket priced at 12s / 60p. Contents clean, no inscriptions, some spotting to page edges, jacket is clean and bright with some trivial rubbing to crown. A...... More
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
London: Bloomsbury, Printed by Clays Ltd, St. Ives, 2000. [Children's Fantasy] SIGNED FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.636. Publisher's pictorial hardback illustrated by Giles Greenfield. With the matching dust-jacket, priced at £14.99. SIGNED by the author on the dedication page, together with the 'Golden ticket' from the..... More