Literature
EGGS, BEANS AND CRUMPETS.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1940. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-312, original green cloth, front and spine stamped in dark green, top edge stained yellow, fore edge uncut, bottom edge rough cut. First U. S. edition. Collects thirteen stories, six with Stanley Featherstone Ukbridge. The contents differ from the U. K. edition which collected nine stories this edition drops "All's Well with Bingo" and "Romance at Droitgate Spa." Of the six different contents stories, "Scratch Man" would not appear in a U. K. collection until 1959. McIlvane A62b.
THE GIRL IN BLUE.
London: Barrie & Jenkins, [1970]. Octavo, boards. First edition.
NO NUDES IS GOOD NUDES..
New York: Simon and Schuster, [1970]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First U. S. edition. A Blandings novel. First published in England as A PELICAN AT BLANDINGS.
VICE VERSA.
New York: Godwin, Publishers, [1935]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. A satirical and quite odd novel.
THE TIME OF HER LIFE.
New York: Mayfair Publishing Co., n.d., [c.1937]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5-96, pictorial wrappers. First paperback edition. Published by Mayfair in paperback, part of a reprint series of "Popular Novels." A jazz age novel.
ODD -- BUT EVEN SO: STORIES STRANGER THAN FICTION.
Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Company, 1942. Octavo, pp. [1-10] 11-337 [338: blank] [note: pagination starts with free end paper], original greenish gray cloth, front and spine stamped in dark orange, top edge stained orange, fore edge uncut, bottom edge rough cut. First U. S. edition. Collects fifteen short stories in two sections labeled "Queer" and "Quaint." "A miscellaneous collection of macabre and mainstream material which includes three supernatural pieces." - Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 504.
ROUGH SHOOTING: TRUE TALES & STRANGE STORIES.
Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Company, 1944. Octavo, pp. [i-vi] vii [viii] [9-10] 11-317 [318] [319-320: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], original red cloth, spine panel stamped in black. First U. S. edition. A mixed collection of twenty-two supernatural and adventure stories, including several of Wren's best weird tales. The occult and supernatural stories include "Man-Eating Saviour," "The Inexplicable Disappearance of Ai Toon," "The Joy Riders," " The Fatal Bite," "Elephantasy," "Fear," "A Franc's Worth of Gas," and "Robert Replies." "Good commercial work with excellent local color." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1739. The author's weird and fantastic fiction, collected here and in several other books, has been overshadowed by his popular writings about the French Foreign Legion, in which he served. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-215. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 503. Bleiler (1978), p. 212. Reginald 15636.
THE MAN OF PROMISE.
New York: John Lane Company. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1916. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 7-351 [352: blank], original brick red cloth, front and spine stamped in gold. First edition. The author's first novel. Stanford West, the protagonist of the novel, "the story of a man who possesses the potentialities of genius, but is dragged down by his high ambitions and by the women who cross his path..." The Book News Monthly, Volume 35, September 1916-August 1917. The author is popularly known for his Philo Vance mystery novels using the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine.
A LOVE EPISODE.
New York: Avon Book Co., Inc., [1948]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Paperback edition. Avon 150. From the front cover: "Translated from the French novel HELENE-specially edited for Avon Books."