Featured Items
SARATOGA LONGSHOT.
New York: Atheneum, 1976. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. First in the Charlie Bradshaw mystery series.
DOC SAVAGE.
New York, NY: Street & Smith Publications, Inc., 1943. Octavo, single issue, cover by Modest Stein, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. "The Goblins" by Kenneth Robeson. Includes "The Skipper" short feature. "Doc Savage was intended to be an adventure character, but under Lester Dent's imaginative manipulations he became something more-the first superhero and an inspiration for countless pulp, comic-book, and television characters." - Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazines, pp. 521-527. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 183-185.
DEATH AND TAXES.
New York: Delacorte Press, 1992. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. A Jill Smith mystery.
THE CHARWOMAN'S SHADOW.
London & New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. Octavo. original blue cloth, spine and front panels stamped in gold. First edition. Signed by Dunsany on the front free end paper. One of the author's best fantasies. "An excellent fantasy in the tradition of George MacDonald." - Barron (ed.): Fantasy Literature 3-117. Tymm: Fantasy Literature pp. 79.
DARKNESS AND DAWN.
Boston: Small and Maynard, 1914. Octavo, pp. [i-vi] vii-x [xi-xii] [1-2] 3-672 [673-676: blank] [note: last two leaves are blanks], four inserted plates (including color frontispiece) by P. J. Monahan, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold and blind, pictorial endpapers. Later printing. An important early American science fiction novel utilizing the catastrophe motif. Trilogy originally published as serials in CAVALIER in 1912 and 1913. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-73; (1981) 1-67; (1987) 1-33 and (1995) 1-33. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 673. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 283. Lewis, Utopian Literature, pp. 58-9. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 79. Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 484-87. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 79. Reginald 04904. Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925 E-194. Hanna, A Mirror for the Nation 1097. Rideout, The Radical Novel in the United States 1900-1954, p. 294.
DETECTIVE FICTION WEEKLY.
New York: The Red Star News, Co., 1932. Octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Pulp magazine. "The Green Door" a Sidney Zoom story by Erle Stanley Gardner. "Detective Fiction Weekly maintained a strong personality in a crowded field, through a rigid weekly publication schedule, for two decades. It is greatly underrated today" - Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazine, pp. 135-137.
THE WITCHFINDER.
[New York]: The Mysterious Press / Published by Warner Books:, [1998]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Signed on the title page Estleman. An Amos Walker, private investigator novel. "...when a renowned Detroit architect hires him to find the cad whose cruel and cunning deception turned the architect against the woman he loved. Since this distinguished client is on his deathbed, Walker can't afford to waste any time; but then, Walker never does waste time -- or words, or energy, or anything else. With his classical job skills and austere code of ethics, this no-nonsense shamus is one of the most efficient guys in his profession. ''I'm a traditionalist,'' says Walker, who does his investigating the old-fashioned way (upfront and chin to chin), using an interview technique (he needles people) that works with everyone from yuppie priests to hired killers." - Marilyn Stasio, NY Times book review, 5/17/98. Pederson (ed.), St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, (4th ed.), pp. 343-344. See Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 238.
FANTASTIC STORY MAGAZINE.
Kokomo, IN: Best Books, Inc., 1951. Octavo, single issue, pictorial wrappers. Pulp magazine. Largely a reprint magazine which started life as Fantastic Story Quarterly. Tymm and Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 249-250.
FANTASY: THE MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE FICTION. (Three issues, all published).
London: Temple Bar Publishing Co., London, Ltd., 1946-1947. Octavo, three issues, pictorial wrappers, stapled. Digest magazine. All three issues of Britain's first digest size science fiction magazine. Some highlights are first printings of "Last Conflict" by John Russell Fearn and Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke (issue one), "Relic" by Eric Frank Russell and "Castaway" by Arthur C. Clarke writing as Charles Willis (issue two), and "The Fires Within" by Arthur C. Clarke writing as "E. G. O'Brien" (issue three). A short lived magazine that could not hang on due to the paper shortages after WWII, reportedly only 6,000 copies were printed and all sold out. Tymn and Ashley (eds), Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 256-57.
WILDWOOD.
[New York]: Tor, [1986]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-114.
THE COLLECTOR.
London: Jonathan Cape, [1963.]. Octavo, boards. First edition. The author's first book. Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror (1999) 6-39.
FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT...
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First U. S. edition. Historical fiction mostly set around historical events. The ninth volume in the Flashman series. Flashman in India during the time of the First Sikh war.
THE UTTERMOST FARTHING.
Philadelphia: John C. Winston, Publishers, [1914]. Octavo. pp. [1-4] 5 [6] 7 [8] 9-296, frontispiece and 3 inserted illustrations by H. Weston Taylor, original dark red cloth stamped in gold and black to front and spine. First edition. A tale of murder and revenge. Not published in the U.K. until 1920 as "A Savant's Vendetta". Pederson (ed.), St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, (4th ed.), pp. 383-384.
THE FIVE BELLS AND BLADEBONE.
Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, [1987]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Mystery novel. Inspector Jury. "Her plots are exceedingly convoluted and clever, with adroitly placed red herrings, delicate problems of time and place, and most unexpected conclusions." - Pederson (ed.): St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers (4th ed.), pp. 460-462.
THE GRANDFATHER MEDICINE.
New York: St. Martin's Press, [1989]. Octavo, boards. First edition. The first Chief Bushyhead novel.
INFINITE DREAMS.
New York: St. Martin's Press, [1978]. Octavo, boards. First edition. Collects thirteen stories including "Tricentennial," winner of the 1977 Hugo award. "Juryrigged" is a story about a man serving on jury duty inside a berserk computer. "Armaja Das" is an artificial intelligence story. "26 Days on Earth" and "Tricentennial" are precursors to the "Worlds" series. A large part of Haldeman's 1970s short stories, such as the poignant 'Summer's Lease,' 'A Time to Live' (an obvious tribute to Heinlein's 1940s fiction) and '26 Days on Earth' and 'tricentennial,' precursors of the rather better) 'Worlds' series" - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 186. Anatomy of Wonder (1981) 3-363.
THE REIGN OF THE ROBOTS. THE COLLECTED EDMOND HAMILTON VOLUME FOUR.
Royal Oak, MI: Haffner Press, 2011. Octavo, cloth. First edition. One of 1,000 copies of the trade edition. This volume collects eighteen stories All first published in Weird Tales, Wonder Stories, Astounding and Amazing Stories from 1930 to 1932. Introduction by Mike Ashley. One hundred sixteen page Appendix with an illustration gallery, letter correspondence and reprints from magazine letter columns.
THE SHADOW ON THE HOUSE.
[Vancleave, MS]: Ramble House, [2010]. Octavo, cloth. New edition. Limitation slip signed by introducer John Pelan tipped in "Dancing Tuatara Special Edition / This is copy 15." Psychological horror novel. The author's first book, and the only one to have a U.S. edition. "Gothic horror thriller; suspected hauntings in old dark house, actually hereditary insanity at work. Post-Radcliffean situations, a la Masterman's CURSE OF THE RECKAVILLES. Praised by Karl Edward Wagner as number ten in the list of thirteen best non-supernatural horror stories, Twilight Zone magazine, June 1983." - Robert Knowlton. This Ramble House edition, their third under the Dancing Tuatara Press imprint, has a 4-page introduction by John Pelan. Barron (ed.), Horror Literature 3-78. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 104. Bleiler (1978), p. 93. Not in Reginald (1979; 1992).
ENIGMA.
London: Hutchinson, [1995]. Octavo, boards. First edition. A novel about code breaking at Bletchley Park during WW II. Made into a film.
THE MEN FROM P.I.G. AND R.O.B.O.T.
New York: Atheneum, 1978. Octavo, cloth. First U. S. edition. Two humorous stories of two divisions of the Patrol, a protective organization for Earth colonies. The involve the Porcine Interstellar Guard and the Robot Obstrusion Battalion-Omega Three.
THE STAR BEAST.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, [1954]. Octavo, illustration by Clifford Geary, cloth. First edition.
NO HANDS ON THE CLOCK.
New York: William Morrow & Co., 1939. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Signed inscription by Mainwaring on the front free endpaper: "To Mitchell- / affectionately / Daniel Geoffrey Homes / Mainwaring." A Humphrey Campbell private detective novel. Writing of his three fictional detective characters, "... Campbell is probably the best realized of the three, certainly his cases are Home's most intricate and satisfying detective puzzles." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 378. Filmed in 1941 with Chester Morris in the lead.
FRIGHT.
New York: Rinehart & Co., 1950. Octavo, boards. First edition.
ODD PAIRS.
London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1925. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Story collection, one story, Man and Dog, has some fantastic element.
ALMURIC.
West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M. Grant, 1975. Octavo, illustrations by David Ireland, cloth. First edition. An interplanetary romantic adventure novel in Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition, published posthumously as a three-part serial in WEIRD TALES in 1939.