Results
THE RIDDLE OF THE TOWER.
London, New York, Melbourne: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers), Ltd., n.d., [1944]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 7-152, original tan cloth, front and spine panels stamped in dark green. First edition. A presentation copy signed by both authors with inscription in Wynne-Tyson's hand on the front free endpaper: "For Winifred -- / With the very best of / good wishes, / from / Esme W.-T. / and / J. D. Beresford / The Retreat / Holt Wilts. / 1944." "Mankind descends through successful regimentation and mechanization to the final status of insects." - Gerber, Utopian Fantasy (1973), p. 155. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 78. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 226. Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, p. 181. Bleiler (1978), p. 21. Reginald 01162.
THE HAMPDENSHIRE WONDER ...
London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., 1911. Octavo, pp. [i-vi] vii-viii [1-2] 3-295 [296: printer's imprint], original medium blue cloth, front panel ruled in blind and lettered in gold, spine panel lettered in gold. First edition, probable first binding. One of the major science fiction novels published in Britain prior to World War II. This story of a homo superior in contemporary society influenced Stapledon's ODD JOHN. "The first important novel about a superman, and in many respects still the best." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 182. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-15; (1981) 1-21; (1987) 1-11; (1995) 1-11; and (2004) II-113. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 068. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 32 (binding variant B; no sequence established). Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, pp. 103-05. Survey of Science Fiction Literature II, pp. 945-49. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 21. Reginald 01157.
THE DEVIL'S MISTRESS ...
London: William Rider and Son, Limited, n.d., [1915]. Octavo, pp. [i-viii] ix [x] xi-xii 1-357; 358-360: ads, original decorated maroon cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold and blind. First edition. "Supernatural romance of witchcraft and Satanism, excellent historical detail and use of Scots folklore. Based on the true case of Isabel Gaudie in early seventeenth century." - Robert Knowlton. "... a classic of its kind." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 55. "... intelligent and with much interesting subject matter." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 277. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-36. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 41. Bleiler (1978), p. 31. Reginald 01908.
THE LOST STRADIVARIUS.
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896. Octavo, cloth. First U.S. edition. "A sophisticated supernatural novel..." "One of the 19th century classics." - Bleiler-Guide to Supernatural Literature #621. Barron (ed.): Horror Literature 2-27.
THE LOST STRADIVARIUS.
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 1-239 [240-244: blank] original three-quarter leather and marbled boards, ruled, tooled, and lettered in gold. First U. S. edition. "A sophisticated supernatural novel..." "One of the 19th century classics." - Bleiler-Guide to Supernatural Literature #621. Barron (ed.): Horror Literature 2-27.
JASON, SON OF JASON.
New York: Avalon, 1966. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Originally published in Argosy in 1921. Early Science-Fantasy. Third book in a trilogy.
JASON, SON OF JASON.
New York: Avalon, [1966]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Originally published in Argosy in 1921. Early Science-Fantasy. Third book in a trilogy, sequel to Palos of the Dog Star Pack and The Mouthpiece of Zitu.
DACOBRA OR THE WHITE PRIESTS OF AHRIMAN ...
London: R. A. Everett & Co., Ltd., 1903. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 9-315 [316-320: ads], original dark green cloth, front panel stamped in black, spine panel stamped in gold. First edition. "Sensational horror thriller, in which an Oriental savant in a Scottish castle seeks to free soul of beloved from thrall of diabolic brotherhood; rife with supernatural elements, including immortality, metempsychosis, raising the dead, metastasis of stone to organic matter, all incorporated into occult framework based on Zoroastrian beliefs. Highly imaginative, suspense and weird atmosphere well-maintained throughout. An excellent specimen of its kind, well above the norm." - Robert Knowlton. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 43. Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 545. Bleiler (1978), p. 35. Reginald 06815.
ATOMS OF EMPIRE.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v [vi] 1-279 [280: blank] [281-282: ads], original olive green cloth, front stamped in gold black and turquoise, spine stamped in gold. t.e.g., other edges rough cut. First edition. Mixed collection of sixteen stories set in the British colonies, mostly adventure stories, but including two science fiction stories and one weird tale, "The Mummy of Thompson-Pratt." Some of these stories were collected earlier in THE STRONGER HAND (1896). "... [his] diversity of ideas, noticeable in both his short stories and his novels, signals him as a writer who may have been unfairly forgotten, even though he was one of the most prolific and successful writers of early magazine sf." - SFE online. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 879. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1157. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 120. Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, p. 129. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 273. Bleiler (1978), p. 106. Not in Reginald (1979; 1992).
FINGERS OF FEAR.
New York: Covici, Friede, Publishes, [1937]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-309 [310-314: blank] [note: first and last two leaves are blanks], jacket illustration by Arthur Hawkins, Jr., original green cloth, spine panel stamped in black, top edge stained yellow, other edges rough trimmed. First edition. A tale of mystery and horror set in New England at the ancestral home of the Ormes family "which, lost in one of the wildest and most isolated reaches of the Berkshires, was the topic of whispered and fearful comment by the natives for miles around." "... an outrageous horror novel done with admirable panache. A brief plot synopsis would be impossible (not to mention improbable), but hauntings, vampirism, incest, lycanthropy, dead babies, and sexual deviance provide only some of the mayhem confronting the cowardly hero at Ormesby. The book can be read straight, or straight up, but it certainly makes a stylish, literate exercise in grand guignol horror." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 300. "Piles horror upon horror until there is not a shiver left in the reader's spine." - New York Times. "Horror laid on thick ... Written forty years too early. Today it would make a fine horror film." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1233. Carter, The Vampire in Literature, p. 84. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 148. Reginald 10683. Hubin (1994), p. 602.
FINGERS OF FEAR.
New York: Covici, Friede, Publishes, [1937]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-309 [310-314: blank] [note: first and last two leaves are blanks], jacket illustration by Arthur Hawkins, Jr., original green cloth, spine panel stamped in black, top edge stained yellow, other edges rough trimmed. First edition. A tale of mystery and horror set in New England at the ancestral home of the Ormes family "which, lost in one of the wildest and most isolated reaches of the Berkshires, was the topic of whispered and fearful comment by the natives for miles around." "... an outrageous horror novel done with admirable panache. A brief plot synopsis would be impossible (not to mention improbable), but hauntings, vampirism, incest, lycanthropy, dead babies, and sexual deviance provide only some of the mayhem confronting the cowardly hero at Ormesby. The book can be read straight, or straight up, but it certainly makes a stylish, literate exercise in grand guignol horror." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 300. "Piles horror upon horror until there is not a shiver left in the reader's spine." - New York Times. "Horror laid on thick ... Written forty years too early. Today it would make a fine horror film." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1233. Carter, The Vampire in Literature, p. 84. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 148. Reginald 10683. Hubin (1994), p. 602.
THE CHRONICLES OF QUINCY ADAMS SAWYER, DETECTIVE.
Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1912. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 1-316 [1-12: ads], original light tan cloth, front stamped in red, black and gray, spine stamped in red and black, fore and bottom edge rough trimmed. First edition. Collects seven stories. After his father Quincy Adams Sawyer died, young Quincy Adams Sawyer [Jr.], who had studied police methods since he was a young man, returns home from overseas and sets up a private detective business in Boston. Hubin, p. 646. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 85.
BENIGHTED.
London: William Heinemann Ltd., [1927]. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-304 [305: ad] [306-308: blank] [note: first and last leaves are blanks], original blue cloth, spine panel stamped in gold, publisher's windmill device stamped in blind on rear panel. First edition. The later U.S. edition was titled THE OLD DARK HOUSE. The novel was the basis for the 1932 film directed by James Whale with Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Raymond Massey and others. Five travelers seek refuge during a storm in "an eerie old mansion where they must spend the night with the weirdest household imaginable ... playing for laughs as well as chills, [Whale creates] ... a genuine masterpiece of black humor ... The Old Dark House is the definitive haunted house chiller, a horror film for connoisseurs." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. At one point considered a lost film, a print was discovered in the Universal vaults in 1968 and the film was restored. Hubin (1994), pp. 656-7.
THE RETURN OF THE SHADOW: THE HISTORY OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS PART ONE. (THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH VOLUME VI).
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1988. Octavo, Hardcover. First U.S. edition. Provides insight into the evolution of the sequel to the Hobbit-The Fellowship of the Ring.
[THE LORD OF THE RINGS] THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING [with] THE TWO TOWERS [with] THE RETURN OF THE KING.
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, [1966]. Octavo, three volumes, cloth. First British (and first hardcover) printing of the second edition. Follows the 1965 Ballantine Books text. Comprises THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWO TOWERS and THE RETURN OF THE KING. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 3-40. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1606, 1607, and 1608. Cawthorn and Moorcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 76. Pringle, Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels 16. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature II, pp. 897-915. Tymn (ed), Fantasy Literature, pp. 193-96.
THE BARGE OF HAUNTED LIVES ...
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1923. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-333 [334: blank], original brown cloth, front panel ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in gold. First edition. Interlocking sequence of macabre mysteries, involving vampirism, metempsychosis and cursed gems, in addition to the usual murder and mayhem. Clearly influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS (1882), with most supernatural elements being rationalized at denouement. Episodic, but cleverly constructed, with good weird atmosphere. Bleiler (1978), p. 197. Reginald 14374.
THE BARGE OF HAUNTED LIVES.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1923. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-333 [334: blank], original brown cloth, front panel ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in gold. First edition. Interlocking sequence of macabre mysteries, involving vampirism, metempsychosis and cursed gems, in addition to the usual murder and mayhem. Clearly influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS (1882), with most supernatural elements being rationalized at denouement. Episodic, but cleverly constructed, with good weird atmosphere. Bleiler (1978), p. 197. Reginald 14374.
THE CORPSE WITH THE GRIMY GLOVE.
New York: Popular Library, [1948]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First U.S. paperback edition. Popular Library #139. Mystery novel.