"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
— Mark Twain
Crime & Thrillers
Casino Royale.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1953. [Spy novel] FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.218; [2], blank. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper over boards with red titles and 'heart' design to upper, tail edge untrimmed, pictorial dust-wrapper priced at 10/6. Some light toning and mild spotting, jacket with some chips and..... More
![Rogue Male [aka Man Hunt]. Geoffrey HOUSEHOLD](/pictures/thumb/49232.jpg?v=1574440566)
Rogue Male [aka Man Hunt].
London: Chatto and Windus, 1939. [Classic man-hunt adventure] FIRST EDITION, PROOF COPY, with an original 4-page advert/order form. Octavo, pp.[vii]; 271; [1], imprint. Publisher's brown card softcovers, with printed label to upper, handwritten details to spine. Contents clean, some wrinkling and lean to spine, covers lightly handled. A very good..... More
Uncommon Danger.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1937. [Intrigue] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.314; [6], advertisements. Publisher's pale blue cloth lettered in black, mid-blue endpapers, pictorial jacket by Gibbs, priced 7/6. Trivial toning to edge of text block, jacket with very light rubbing/wear to extremities. Overall a lovely fine copy of..... More
Live and Let Die (a James Bond novel).
London: Jonathan Cape, 1954. [James Bond] FIRST ISSUE, Second State. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.240. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper-covered boards, titled and decorated in gilt, with dust-wrapper, priced twice as issued, at 10/6. With 'author's skill' text incorrectly spaced to the rear panel, as described in the bibliography, page 61..... More
The Agatha Christie Crime Collection: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder at The Vicarage, A Murder is Announced, Murder is Easy, The ABC Murders, Murder in The Mews, Murder in Mesopotamia, Murder on the Links, Lord Edgeware Dies, Mrs McGinty's Dead, Dead Man's Folly, The Hound of Death, Appointment with Death, Death on The Nile, Death in The Clouds, Death Comes as the End, Peril at End House, Crooked House, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, Poirot's Christmas, Poirot Investigates, Parker Pyne Investigates, They Do it with Mirrors, The Mirror Crack'd, The Clocks, The Seven Dials Mystery, The Listerdale Mystery, The Sittaford Mystery, A Carribean Mystery, The Mystery of The Blue Train, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Ten Little Niggers, Five Little Pigs, Third Girl, The Big Four, The Thirteen Problems, Towards Zero, Three Act Tragedy, The Hollow, The Moving Finger, 4.50 From Paddington, Passenger to Frankfurt, Evil Under the Sun, At Bertram's Hotel, Why Didn't They Ask Evans, Dumb Witness, Taken at The Flood, They Came to Baghdad, Sparkling Cyanide, The Secret of Chimneys, After the Funeral, The Body in The Library, Halloween Party, The Plae Horse, The Secret Adversary, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, The Mysterious Mr Quin, Endless Night, The Man in The Brown Suit, Ordeal by Innocence, One, Two Buckle my Shoe, Cards On the Table, N or M?, Cat Among the Pigeons, The Labours of Hercules, Hickory Dickory Dock, Partners in Crime, Sad Cypress, Nemesis, A Pocketful of Rye and Destination Unknown.
London: Paul Hamlyn, 1969-1970. [Mystery / Crime] FINELY BOUND SET. In 24 volumes. Octavo (20 x 14 x 82cm). Elegantly bound in red half oasis morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to contrasting black labels, gilt decoration to spines, and matching cloth over boards. A lovely fine set in a...... More
![An Archive of Books and Letters Belonging to Hutchison's Secretary, Norah Skeggs]: The W Plan...](/pictures/thumb/58580.jpg?v=1607451247)
[An Archive of Books and Letters Belonging to Hutchison's Secretary, Norah Skeggs]: The W Plan [and] The Governor of Kattowitz [and] Colonel Grant's Tomorrow [and] Life Without End [and] The Viper of Luxor [and] Eye for an Eye [and] Arya: The Call of the Future [and] Blood Money [and] Challenge! [and] Minos Magnificent! [and] Pelican Row [and] Scar 77 [and] The K Code Plan [and] According to Plan [and] The Red Colonel.
London: Thornton Butterworth; Hutchinson & Co.; Rich & Cowan, 1929; 1932; 1934; 1931; 1932; 1932; 1933; [1934]; 1934; 1935; 1935; 1935; 1936; 1938; 1938; [1947]. [Collection of Books and Letters] INSCRIBED ASSOCIATION COPIES, WITH LETTERS AND SIGNED PHOTOGRAPHS. Sixteen volumes and two signed photographs. Octavo (20 x 14 x 58cm)..... More
![The Secret Families. [Inscribed Typescript with Associated Correspondence]. John GARDNER](/pictures/thumb/57544.jpg?v=1597078428)
The Secret Families. [Inscribed Typescript with Associated Correspondence].
New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1989. [Spy Thriller] INSCRIBED ORIGINAL TYPESCRIPT. 437 sheets of type-written A4 paper, with the title leaf INSCRIBED by the author in black ink: 'To Gary, | With all good wishes — | yours | John Gardner.' Also with a separate Compliments leaf on US..... More
![Stamboul Train [Orient Express]. Graham GREENE, 1904 - 1991](/pictures/thumb/59048.jpg?v=1613583491)
Stamboul Train [Orient Express].
London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1932. [Espionage novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm) pp.307. Usual corrected state of text. Publisher's black cloth hardcover blocked in gilt to the spine, dust-wrapper illustrated by Youngman Carter priced at 7/6. This thriller was entitled 'Orient Express' in the US. Neat bookplate of Book..... More
Mr. Standfast.
London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1919. Advance proof copy. 8vo. Publisher's original plain brown wraps, slightly spotted with minor edgewear. Internally clean, unifom light toning to page block. A most unusual and scarce advance proof copy of Mr. Standfast, one of Buchan's scarcer Richard Hannay stories. Protected by a tailor-made brown..... More
![The Sicilian [Unrevised Typescript Draft]. Mario PUZO](/pictures/thumb/59342.jpg?v=1616087997)
The Sicilian [Unrevised Typescript Draft].
New York, NY: Linden Press / Simon & Schuster, 1984. [Mafia Novel] TYPESCRIPT DRAFT. More than 400 standard sheets of US paper (29 x 23cm), loose in a plain brown card box. The lid is inscribed 'PUZO | The Sicilian' in red ink, with 'Unrevised | Draft' written in pencil..... More
Poirot and the Regatta Mystery.
London: Vallancey Press Limted, no date [1945]. [Detective Mystery] FIRST SEPARATE EDITION. Slim octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.16. Illustrated stiff card covers designed by 'Jeffrey', original price 6d. A little dustiness and handling, lightly rubbed; near fine. The first stand-alone printing of this famous short story which had only previously..... More
Cause for Alarm.
London: Hodder and Stoughton 1938. [Intrigue] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.320; [6], advertisements. Publisher's pale blue cloth lettered in black, mid-blue endpapers, striking 'bullet' jacket by Thomson, priced 7/6. A few descreet blue ink numbers to rear pastedown, cloth toned to extremities. Jacket with a few chips and..... More
![The Thirty-Nine Steps [39 Steps], John BUCHAN](/pictures/thumb/50730.jpg?v=1584533210)
The Thirty-Nine Steps [39 Steps],
London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1915. [Espionage thriller]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.253; [1]; [2], publisher's advertisements. Publisher's blue cloth boards with dark blue embossed lettering to spine and upper. Browning to page edges, though less than would normally be expected. Reading lean; spine sunned. Very good, in..... More
The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1905. [Detective fiction] First Colonial Edition. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.[viii]; 403; [1], imprint; [8], advertisements. With a frontispiece illustration by Sidney Paget. Publisher's pictorial light blue-green cloth titled and decorated in gilt and black to the spine and front board, 'swan' patterned endpapers. Some..... More
The Best Man to Die.
London: John Long, 1969. [Crime Mystery] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. 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 for the..... 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 Valley Of Fear - A New Sherlock Holmes Story [in] The Strand Magazine. Vols. 48-49. Arthur...](/pictures/thumb/58917.jpg?v=1612460406)
The Valley Of Fear - A New Sherlock Holmes Story [in] The Strand Magazine. Vols. 48-49.
London: George Newnes, July 1914 - June 1915. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCE of the fourth full-length Holmes adventure in its entirety. Two volumes. Octavo (24 x 17cm). Complete in nine monthly parts, running September through May. The first issue features a colour portrait of Holmes and a full page colour..... More
Complete Cormoran Strike Novels: The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White.
London: Sphere, 2013; 2014; 2015; 2018. [Crime Fiction] COMPLETE FIRST EDITIONS. Four volumes. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.449 [7]; pp.[8] 456; pp.[8] 494 [10]; pp.[6] 650. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to spines, and variously coloured endpapers. Each volume with the photographic dust-jacket, variously priced at £16.99 and £20.00..... More
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
London: W. Collins and Sons and Co. Ltd., 1926. [Crime Fiction] First Edition. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.312, bound without half title in an elegant half dark blue calf, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, gilt titles, matching blue cloth sides, top edge gilt. Some minor dustiness and..... More
The Stoneware Monkey.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION. 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); a lovely..... More
![No Dust in the Attic. [with Original Artwork]. Anthony GILBERT, Lucy Beatrice MALLESON, John ROSE](/pictures/thumb/59440.jpg?v=1617985985)
No Dust in the Attic. [with Original Artwork].
London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, 1962. [Crime Thriller] FIRST EDITION with the ORIGINAL DUST-JACKET ARTWORK. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.192. Publisher's orange cloth with black titles to spine. With the deep pink dust-jacket illustrated by John Rose, priced at 12/6. Together with two separate original artworks by..... More
Vanity Dies Hard.
London: John Long, 1966. [Crime Mystery] SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.183 [1]. SIGNED by the author in blue ink to title page. Publisher's black cloth with blue and yellow titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by William Randell, priced at 15s. Some light rubbing to board..... More
The Mask Of Dimitrios.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939. FIRST EDITION. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone novel. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.320. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. Internally very clean with no ownership marks, bookplates or inscriptions. Covers are fresh but for a little sunning to spine, a few small marks and the..... More
The Big Four.
London: W. Collins and Sons. 1927. [Crime] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.v, 281; [1]. Publisher's blue cloth, titles in red to spine and upper. Some spotting to contents and edges (thick, fluffy paper is susceptible), covers fresh and bright, spine gently toned, lightly worn at tips. A very..... More
Horse Under Water. Secret File No. 2. A Novel by Len Deighton.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1963. [Espionage fiction] FIRST EDITION. Two copies (regular and variant). Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.255;[1] blank. Publisher's red cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Black "office stamp" motif and blind-stamped DOWNGRADED TO UNCLASSIFIED on front board, with plain black endpapers. Dust-wrapper designed by Raymond Hawkey. With a...... More