{"title":"Fiction from the Edges","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"sade-marquis-de-les-120-journees-de-sodome-1931-35-3000","title":"Les 120 Journées de Sodome","description":"Par Le Marquis de Sade. Édition critique, établie sur le manuscript autographe par Maurice Heine \u003cbr\u003eParis: Par S\u0026amp;C., aux dépens des bibliophiles souscripteurs.. 1931-35.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003ePORNOLOGY\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eThe first critical edition. Number 197 of 300 copies (numbered from 61-360) on \u003cem\u003evélin de Rives \u003c\/em\u003epaper. Three volumes in the original grey wrappers. Title printed in black and red to upper covers and spines. 275x210mm. pp. Tome Premier, xvi, 218; Tome Second, [iv], 219-402; Tome Troisième, [iv], 403-498, [1]. Frontispiece in volume one is a photograph of the original manuscript scroll with de Sade's minuscule writing. Introduction by Maurice Heine. Critical apparatus of notes and primary source references in the margins. Some chipping to head and foot of spine of volumes one and two. Scuffing to a small patch on the lower cover of volume one with loss of grey paper but overall an excellent copy of the first full edition of this profoundly moral work of anti-enlightenment satire. De Sade's description of the sexually corrosive nature of power and wealth is strikingly modern. Read as political and social philosophy the book transcends the degeneracy of its ostensible genre and becomes, to use Deleuze's word, \"pornology\" not pornography.    \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"SADE, Marquis de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":12232438939759,"sku":"3000","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/products\/33._120_days_of_Sodome.JPG?v=1532705972"},{"product_id":"farmer-philip-jose-the-image-of-the-beast-an-exorcism-ritual-i-1968-3375","title":"The Image of the Beast. An Exorcism Ritual I","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNorth Hollywood, California Essex House. 1968.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 170x108mm. pp. 255. Original paperback, pictorial card cover with postscript by Theodore Sturgeon. Very good condition with a little light rubbing to covers. Internally fine. Described on the front cover as a \"remarkable adult novel\", The Image of the Beast is an extraordinary book combining the surreal, the erotic, and the grotesque to create a genre described as \"biosexopsychic science-fiction\".\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"FARMER, Philip José","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31487381995631,"sku":"3375","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/products\/20200429_155100_resized_19c32204-4f79-44dd-b34d-1ef4b39b7be6.jpg?v=1588173232"},{"product_id":"lambert-de-saumery-pierre-the-devil-turnd-hermit-or-the-adventures-of-astaroth-banishd-from-hell-a-satirical-romance-1741-and-1742-3230","title":"The Devil turn'd Hermit: or the Adventures of Astaroth Banish'd from Hell. A Satirical Romance.","description":"Exposing. With great Variety of Humour, in a Series of Conversations between that Demon and the Author, The scandalous Frauds, lewd Amours, and devout Mockery of the Monks and Nuns; the Intrigues of Courts; the Ambition, Avarice, and Cruelty of Ministers; the Insincerity, Luxury, Prostitution, and Ingratitude of many private Characters; with other Capital Vices of the present Age. Founded chiefly on real Facts, and interspersed with the Portraits and secret History of most of the considerable Persons that have lived in\u003cem\u003e Europe\u003c\/em\u003e within these thirty Years past. \u003cem\u003eTranslated from the Original French of Mr de M***.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Printed and sold by J. Hodges, J. Robinson, J. Wilcox and J. Brindsley (Vol. II printed for T. Waller). 1741 and 1742.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eThe natural order of things is all reversed\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition in English. In two volumes (the second without the attribution to M de M***). 12mo (Vol I, 12mo in 6s). 164x91mm. pp. xii, iv, 276; x, 254. Engraved frontispiece. Contemporary calf, double fillet in gilt to covers, rebacked with most original spines laid down., compartments decorated with double fillet in gilt, red morocco labels, lettered in gilt. Corners bumped and rubbed. Internally very good with a little marking in places and a small hole to the title page of volume two, not affecting legibility. Edges sprinkled red. Of the four variants described by ESTC, this is the first, containing the misnumbered preliminary pages, vii and xii instead of viii and xi respectively. Front pastedowns have armorial bookplate of Henry Corbet A.M. and the label of Richard Corbet, Adderley. Sir Henry was the Rector of Adderley and the last of the Corbet Baronets of Adderley and Stoke dying in 1750 without issue. Richard Corbet lived at Adderley Hall. He died in 1872. Rare in commerce and institutionally. ESTC locates five copies of the first volume in the UK and ten in the US and only two copies worldwide for the second volume. A very good copy of this vicious but amusing attack on loose French morals.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003ePierre Lambert de Saumery's scabrous satire on the French Catholic Church was first published, in two volumes, in Amsterdam in 1741 as \u003cem\u003eLe diable hermite\u003c\/em\u003e. It was clearly an immediate success being translated into English that same year, with the second English volume appearing the following year. de Saumery seems to have been an extraordinary figure. He was born in France to Calvinist parents who moved to England when Pierre was a child. He was brought up and educated in England and, at 29, became a Calvinist minister. He then travelled around the continent as a preacher ending up in Liège where he converted to Roman Catholicism. It has been suggested that his conversion was inspired less by theological conviction than by the hope of gaining access to the courts of ecclesiastical grandees. If that was so, then he was clearly successful as after a few years he published this \"Satirical Romance\" of life at the court of a Prince-Bishop. The conceit is that Astaroth has left hell to wander Europe where, despite having \"seen in hell a great many devilish tricks\" he discovers, among the French aristocracy (both secular and ecclesiastical) a venality, immorality and corruption that shock even him. \"The natural order of things is all reversed in this region. They sleep in the day, riot in the night, and shorten life by unheard-of excesses. The soul is a stranger to all sincerity, and all compassion. Double-dealing, imposture, scandal, and ostentation are the only virtues known to courtiers\". Shortly after publication of Le Diable Hermite, de Saumery escaped to the Netherlands, reconverted to Calvinism and died in Utrecht in 1767.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"[LAMBERT DE SAUMERY, Pierre]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":37584715350207,"sku":"3230","price":650.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/products\/3230_2.jpg?v=1606475632"},{"product_id":"bukowski-charles-ham-on-rye-1982-4229","title":"Ham on Rye","description":"\u003cbr\u003eSanta Barbara: Black Sparrow Press. 1982.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSIGNED WITH AN ORIGINAL PAINTING\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eLimited edition number of 67\/100, signed by Bukowski and with an original oil painting by Bukowski on a blank preliminary. 228x150mm. pp. 283 [5]. Half blue cloth, illustrated paper covered boards, protected by original acetate wrapper. In very good condition throughout. The painting is of a human head in profile. Owing something to cubism (in its structure), Mondrian  (in its colour) and Gaudier-Brzeska (in its monumentality), this is a striking work in thickly applied oils. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eHam on Rye\u003c\/em\u003e is widely regarded as among Bukowski's finest works. A semi-autobiographical novel which deals with family and societal dysfunction and the decline of the American dream. \"A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for a presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves\". However redemption and solace can be found, Bukowski assures us, in great literature. A comforting thought. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"BUKOWSKI, Charles","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43429855920319,"sku":"4229","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20240510_124131_inPixio.jpg?v=1718121287"},{"product_id":"gray-alasdair-lanark-a-life-in-4-books-1985-4332","title":"Lanark. A Life in 4 Books","description":"\u003cbr\u003eEdinburgh: Canongate Publishing. 1985.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSIGNED LIMITED \"DEFINITIVE\" EDITION\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eLimited edition, signed by Alasdair Gray and numbered 603\/1000. 233x155mm. pp. [6], 560, [2]. Original black cloth lettered in gilt \"Endure You are not alone\" on the boards and with the title, author and imprint on the spine. Original illustrated dust jacket. Slight fading to jacket but otherwise in immaculate condition throughout. A beautiful copy of what is regarded as the \"definitive\" edition of Gray experimental, dystopian masterpiece. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"GRAY, Alasdair","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53474988884345,"sku":"4332","price":225.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4332.Lanark_1.jpg?v=1727874822"},{"product_id":"roberts-thelma-red-hell-the-life-of-john-goode-criminal-1934-4372","title":"Red Hell. The Life of John Goode, Criminal","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York: Rae D. Henkle. 1934.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 200x140mm. pp. 320. Black cloth, decorated and lettered in red. Original illustrated dustjacket with a very striking design. Tear to top edge of the upper cover dustjacket with c25x15mm missing. A repaired tear and one small tear to bottom edge of the dustjacket but otherwise a very good copy and internally excellent. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eRed Hell \u003c\/em\u003eis the memoir of the career criminal John Goode (1864-1934). He was encouraged by Rae Henkle, the publisher and a friend, \"to put his story into some form of written order\". Goode spent much time in prison and the book is an attempt to discourage others from falling into the Red Hell of continual crime and punishment.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"ROBERTS, Thelma","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54815343772025,"sku":"4372","price":275.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20241029_133424_inPixio.jpg?v=1732898577"},{"product_id":"gates-h-l-the-devils-lady-1933-4375","title":"The Devil's Lady","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York: The Macaulay Company. 1933.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 189x126mm. pp. [8], 9-283 [1bl]. Yellow cloth illustrated and lettered in red. Original illustrated dustjacket, chipped and creased in places and with the spine a little faded but overall in very good condition. Internally excellent. An \"exotic drama of passion and intrigue\" about Fanya \"a mandarin whose river junks carry contraband arms, a famous dealer in drugs, a Javanese dancer, a renegade aviator, a powder salesman posing as a card sharp, a Russian secret agent, adventurers and adventuresses of all sorts and nations - and Captain \"Flips\" Guerin, American attache, hopelessly sunk in his love for the inaccessible Fanya\". Blimey. Rare though.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"GATES, H.L","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54815343870329,"sku":"4375","price":175.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20241029_132547.jpg?v=1732898237"},{"product_id":"hesse-hermann-das-glasperlenspiel-1943-4472","title":"Das Glasperlenspiel","description":"\u003cbr\u003eZürich: Fretz \u0026amp; Wasmuth. 1943.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInscribed by Hesse\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eInscribed by Hesse: \"Ein Gruss für Reinhard Weiss von H. Hesse\". Third edition (Drei Auflage), issued the same year as the first.  Two volumes. 8vo. 182x108mm. pp. 451, [1]; 441, [1]. Original pale blue cloth with HH monogram in gilt to upper covers and spine decorated in gilt with black label lettered in gilt. Original dust jackets. Spines of dustjackets browned and a little soiled with slight chipping to the foot of the jacket of volume one. Housed in a cardboard slipcase. A very nice copy. Hesse was not profligate with his inscriptions and this is an important book on which to find his signature. Rejected for publication in Germany because of the Hesse's opposition to the National Socialist regime \u003cem\u003eDas Glasperlenspiel\u003c\/em\u003e was Hesse's last full length novel. It is a complex utopian meditation on education, learning, psychology the relationship between intellectuals and society. Three years after its publication, Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"HESSE, Hermann","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54986913841529,"sku":"4472","price":950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20250228_114047.jpg?v=1740745638"},{"product_id":"selvon-samuel-the-lonely-londoners-1956-4406","title":"The Lonely Londoners","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Allan Wingate. 1956.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\"the father of black writing\". One of the central works of post-colonial literature \u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 184x120mm. pp. [7], 8-171 [1bl]. Original green cloth with original strikingly illustrated dustjacket. Head and top corners of dustjacket a little chipped and some wear to the jacket. Internally it is a little toned to the edges but overall an excellent copy of this groundbreaking and important book. Rare in commerce, no copies appear in the auction records.\u003cbr\u003e\"If I were to point to a writer who captures the tone...and texture of London when the austere '50s were about to give way to the swinging sixties...for acuity of vision, intellectual rigour and sheer beauty...it would have to be the works of Sam Selvon which would figure pre-eminently\". For Caryl Phillips, Selvon's significance as a writer lies in his creation of a new linguistic style - that of the spoken language of the West Indian London diaspora. This stretching of literary and linguistic boundaries has led Selvon, a Trinidadian who moved to England in 1950, to be called the \"father of black writing\" and there is no doubting his central place in the history of English post-colonial literature. Once an outsider in every sense, his place in the canon is now assured.\u003cbr\u003eBut, as well as capturing the speech of the Caribbean immigrants who came to Britain after the War, Selvon wrote about how they lived, not so much in terms of formal plot-lines but rather in their daily relationships with each other, with the people into whose world they had come, and with the London itself. The novel \"encapsulates the romance and disenchantment of an imagined city that was both magnet and nightmare for its new colonial citizens, a promised land that despite its lure turns out to be an illusion\". (Susheila Nasta, introduction to the Penguin Modern Classics edition).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"SELVON, Samuel","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55124576305529,"sku":"4406","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/P1030577.jpg?v=1748878193"},{"product_id":"defoe-daniel-the-fortunate-mistress-1724-4494","title":"The Fortunate Mistress:","description":"or, a History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II.\u003cbr\u003eLondon: printed for T. Warner; W. Meadows; W. Pepper; S. Harding; and T. Edlin . 1724.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo, (viii), pp.407, engraved frontispiece of \"The famous Roxana\". Early nineteenth-century calf, covers with a blind-tooled border, spine decorated in gilt and blind, chestnut brown endpapers, edges lightly rubbed, short hairline crack at top of one joint. A little foxed and browned throughout but otherwise a very good copy of the rare (only three appearing at auction in the last fifty years) first edition of Defoe's last novel, published anonymously and only attributed to him in 1775. \u003cbr\u003eThe plot of The Fortunate Mistress is of baroque complexity, purporting to be the autobiography of Madamoiselle de Beleau who rises and falls (the Vast Variety of Fortunes of the subtitle) numerous times before dying in prison, a penitent pauper. \u003cbr\u003eOften referred to now as a proto-feminist novel, The Fortunate Mistress serves as a pendent to Moll Flanders and the two novels have been described (by ODNB) as offering \"two of the strongest and most important women characters in the history of literature\". It is thought that Defoe refused to put his name to the novel in order to avoid scandal. And it is certainly true that the frank dealing with themes of prostitution, promiscuity, shame, guilt,self-loathing and failed family relations were, and still are to an extent, strong meat. But Defoe is sympathetic to his heroine and critical of the social and sexual mores of his age, creating in this strange, wild novel, \"an important milestone, one that invited the reader not to judge the heroine for being a prostitute, but to accept that her circumstances gave her no alternative.\" (M. Rendell, Sex and Sexuality in Georgian Britain)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"[DEFOE, Daniel]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55124579746169,"sku":"4494","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/Defoe-Copy.jpg?v=1748873655"},{"product_id":"le-fanu-j-s-the-wyvern-mystery-a-novel-1889-4554","title":"The Wyvern Mystery. A Novel.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Ward and Downey.  . 1889.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eFrom the Libraries of Barry Humphries and Montague Summers.  \u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst single volume edition. 8vo. 191x125mm. pp. vii [ibl], 351 [1]. Six engraved plates by Brinsley Sheridan Le Fanu. Publisher's decorated cloth. Slight bumping and rubbing to corners and to head and foot of spine which is a little rubbed and darkened. Hinges weak and some minor marking but otherwise a very good copy of the first single volume edition of the novel initially issued in three volumes in 1869. The front pastedown has the striking St Jerome bookplate of Alphonsus Montague Summers designed by Eric Gill, together with the bookplate of the comedian Barry Humphries. It is unsurprising that the darkly gothic Le Fanu should have appealed to Summers who has been described as \"arguably the most seminal twentieth century purveyor of pop culture occultism.\" Nor that Summers, with his theatricality and taste for adopting multiple personalities, should have appealed to the flamboyant Humphries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"LE FANU, J.S","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55291527659897,"sku":"4554","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4554.Lefanu_1.jpg?v=1749122187"},{"product_id":"webb-jane-mrs-jane-c-louden-the-mummy-a-tale-of-the-twenty-second-century-1827-4592","title":"The Mummy! A Tale of The Twenty-Second Century.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Henry Colburn.. 1827.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eScience fiction, feminism and reanimation. The first appearance of the Mummy. \u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. Three volumes. 12mo. (185x113mm). pp. viii, 300; [ii], 348; [ii], 303 [1, publisher's adverts]. Bound without half-titles in volumes II and III (volume I was issued without a half-title). Tan half calf, marbled paper covered boards. Spine with green morocco label, lettered in gilt. Some repairs and strengthening to joints, head and foot of spines and corners. Slight scuffing to spines and rubbing to boards. Internally there is some cracking to the hinges of volume one with gathering H torn at the foot and a little loose. Some foxing and marking and a small black ink stain between pp 239-244 and 251-261 of volume III. Otherwise in very good condition throughout. Front pastedowns have the bookplate of Charles William Orde of Nunnykirk. He was a breeder of racehorses who ran his stud operation from the family house, Nunnykirk Hall. A nice copy of a rare book which has appeared in the auction records only five times in the last 100 years. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Mummy! \u003c\/em\u003erepresents the mingling of two cultural currents. The first is the early nineteenth obsession with ancient Egypt inspired by the work of French archaeologists and scholars following Napoleon's invasion in 1798. Of the many manifestations of contemporary Egyptomania, perhaps the most bizarre were the public \"mummy unwrappings\" which took place in 1821 in a Piccadilly theatre. The second is Mary Shelley's \u003cem\u003eFrankenstein, \u003c\/em\u003ethe begetter of reanimation novels. Jane Webb's (she became Louden on her marriage in 1831 to John, the botanist and early fellow of the Linnean Society) \u003cem\u003eThe Mummy!\u003c\/em\u003e tells of the  Pharoah Cheops brought back life in 2126. Unlike Frankenstein's monster, Cheops is essentially benign dispensing wise advice and benefactions along with observations along the lines of  \"Human nature is still the same even in this remote corner of the globe\", the banality of which evaporates into despair when one remembers that the person uttering these words is nearly 4700 years old so has, presumably, seen a thing or two. \u003cem\u003eThe Mummy!\u003c\/em\u003e is, however, more than just a work of Gothic  early science fiction. By setting the novel in a far distant future ruled by the absolutist Queen Claudia, Webb can hold up a satirical mirror to contemporary society. Her critical standpoint is broadly conservative by the standards of the time (she was no Mary Shelley) save for her belief that the world (or at least England) was better and more peaceably governed by a woman than by a man, thus making \u003cem\u003eThe Mummy\u003c\/em\u003e! something of an early feminist novel. As remarkable are Webb's uncannily accurate predictions of life in the future: coffee machines, smokeless cities a form of internet and AI doctors and lawyers. And although the mummy is now a staple of horror films and novels, one must not forget that Webb's novel marks the emergence of the \"mummy genre\". It is an extraordinary work.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"[WEBB, Jane (Mrs Jane C. Louden)]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55371988795769,"sku":"4592","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20250610_151941.jpg?v=1750784679"},{"product_id":"riddell-charlotte-elizabeth-l-a-mad-tour-1891-4593","title":"A Mad Tour.","description":"A Journey Undertaken in an insane moment through Central Europe on foot. \u003cbr\u003eLondon: Richard Bentley and Son. 1891.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003ePresentation copy. Psycho-geography\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003ePresentation copy. First edition. 8vo. 202x135mm. pp. [viii], 388. Publisher's red cloth lettered in gilt and blind to upper cover and spine and with some decoration in blind. Rubbing to edges, corners bumped and worn. Bumping and some slight nicks and chips to head and foot of spine which is a little sunned. Slightly foxed and toned with some creasing to the foot of the last ten leaves. Overall a very good copy. Rare in commerce: three copies were sold at auction between 1896 and 1907 but nothing has appeared in the auction records since then. Title page is inscribed: \"Mrs Lawrie with the Author's love. Nov. 6th 1891\". \u003cbr\u003eSomething of the spirit of this bizarre book can be gauged from the cover design. The title appears to have been scrawled in a moment of derangement and snaking out from the ends of the letters are jagged lines indicating the haphazard nature of the mad tour. This was no straight progress. \u003cbr\u003eIt is slightly unclear how much of this work is true. By 1891, Charlotte was nearly sixty and not in good health (she was diagnosed with cancer in 1892) but she was living with a younger man - the Arthur Hamilton Norway to whom A Mad Tour is dedicated. It seems that he persuaded her to embark on this journey but she was an unwilling partner describing herself as having been sold into \"slavery when I agreed to be led by Bobby (the name she gives Norway in the book), and to become the victim of his whims\". Among Charlotte Riddell's talents as a writer was, it is said, an ability to conjure up the atmosphere of places of which she had no first-hand knowledge. This talent may be on display here but in the end, whether she and Bobby\/Arthur did roam as widely as this book suggests is perhaps not the point. For what we have here is an early form of psycho-geography. The journey is as much through Riddell's mind as through Central Europe. It was a mind and a journey affected by the laudanum she was taking to ease the pain of her illness. The madness of the tour reflected her growing mental turmoil. \"A land of enchantments! a dream-country, where the real so constantly mingles with the unreal that one can scarcely tell where the waking ends and the dream begins!\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"RIDDELL, Charlotte Elizabeth L","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55371991679353,"sku":"4593","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20250610_152155.jpg?v=1750784556"},{"product_id":"stewart-james-lovedale-past-and-present-1887-5108","title":"Lovedale: Past and Present.","description":"A Register of two thousand names. A record written in black and white, but more in white than black. With a European Roll. \"It is nothing, if it is not truth\".\u003cbr\u003eLovedale: South Africa. Printed at the Mission Press.. 1887.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 210x135mm. pp. xxiii [ibl], [5]- 642. Register 3L is missing 3M has been printed in duplicate - clearly a printer's error. Light brown cloth, lettered in black. Edges and corner worn, spine and boards marked. Head and foot of spine bumped and joints rubbed. Hinges weak and slightly cracked and foxing to title page but overall a nice copy of a book that is scarce in commerce, none appearing in the auction records. \u003cbr\u003eLovedale Mission Station was founded in 1824 by the Glasgow Missionary Society as an evangelical church mission. In 1841, the Lovedale Missionary Institute was established as a school for native South Africans boys and girls. James Stewart who had explored the Zambezi with David Livingstone, joined Lovedale in 1867 and became the principal in 1870. The education offered was truly progressive and Stewart seems to have been an inspirational figure. He dispensed with Greek and Latin on the grounds that the time would be better spent teaching English. The school was mixed race and offered technical training alongside academic studies. They farmed their own land and operated a printing press and later Lovedale expanded to include a teacher training college and a hospital. The school closed in 1979 but not before it educated figures as important as Steve Biko and Thabo Mbeki. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eLovedale: Past and Present\u003c\/em\u003e begins with a history of the Institute, a description of the site and the school's purpose, methods and results. The bulk of the book is a fascinating register of the pupils who had attended the school or were still there. There are over 2000 names, each with a potted biography. Some of these are only a few lines but others are much fuller. Reading these brief lives of people who were given a transformational opportunity, is moving and absorbing. There are sad stories here but uplifting ones too.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"[STEWART, James]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57088586482041,"sku":"5108","price":600.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5108_1.jpg?v=1777654944"},{"product_id":"crews-harry-karate-is-a-thing-of-the-spirit-1972-4596","title":"Karate Is a Thing of the Spirit.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Secker \u0026amp; Warburg. 1972.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eWondering what the hell's going on. \u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst UK edition. 197x125mm. pp. 218. Publisher's blue cloth with slight damage to spine. Original illustrated pop art dustjacket designed by Paul May in the manner of Roy Lichtenstein. Some slight rubbing to the extremities of the jacket, marking to the lower cover and creasing to the spine. Internally in excellent condition throughout. A rare book and an even rarer dustjacket. \u003cbr\u003eCrews learnt karate in order to write this book - a typically immersive act. But the book is only partly about karate. Rather it is a study of the dark spirit of America - \"an America obsessed with sex, violence, and violent, loveless sex. It also a book about a man's quest for faith and belief; and about being alive and wondering what the hell's going on\".\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"CREWS, Harry","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57095861141881,"sku":"4596","price":250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4596.webp?v=1776542361"},{"product_id":"zangwill-edith-ayrton-the-call-1924-5135","title":"The Call","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: George Allen \u0026amp; Unwin. 1924.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eA rare suffragette novel.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 182x120mm. pp. 378. Green cloth, lettered in red. Fading and slight soiling to spine and bumping to head and foot of spine. Edges toned and slight cracking to hinges. Ownership inscription on front free endpaper. Overall a very good copy of a scarce book, Worldcat recording eleven copies and no copies appearing in the auction records. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Call\u003c\/em\u003e is regarded as on of the most important suffrage and feminist novels. Drawing heavily on the life of her stepmother, the scientist Hertha Ayrton, Zangwill tells the story of a young chemist Ursula Winfield who, angered at the injustices faced by women, abandons her work to join the suffrage movement. As the war begins she returns to work where her development of a method of extinguishing liquid fire helps the war effort. Once more, she faces a struggle as she tries to persuade the military to use the invention. Edith Zangwill was an active (and activist) member of the Women's Social and Political Union and a founder of the Jewish League for Women's Suffrage. She acutely felt the difficulties faced by women both politically and professionally and this novel is her loud call for equality. Largely ignored through the twentieth century, \u003cem\u003eThe Call \u003c\/em\u003ehas recently been revived in a scholarly edition published by Bloomsbury and an attractive Persephone Books edition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"ZANGWILL, Edith Ayrton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57099509334393,"sku":"5135","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5135_1.jpg?v=1777655176"},{"product_id":"matthiessen-peter-raditzer-1961-2343","title":"Raditzer","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York: The Viking Press. 1961.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 202x135mm. pp [6], 152. Quarter cream cloth, blue paper covered boards, spine lettered in blue. Original illustrated dustjacket. Slight creasing to top edge of jacket and chipping to head of spine and three small closed tears to the jacket but otherwise in excellent condition and near fine internally. A very good copy of Matthiessen's third novel which examines the fragility of goodness in the face of all-encompassing evil. Matthiessen was one of the founders of the Paris Review and the only writer to win the National Book Award for fiction and non-fiction. He was an early adopter of LSD for psychotherapeutic purposes and his work explores the intersection of nature and spirituality.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"MATTHIESSEN, Peter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193274966393,"sku":"2343","price":150.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/2343_1.jpg?v=1777653995"},{"product_id":"digit-the-confessions-of-a-twentieth-century-hobo-1924-4936","title":"The Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Herbert Jenkins. 1924.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 185x120mm. pp. 192. Illustrated with amusing line drawings. Green cloth blocked in black to upper cover and spine. In the scarce original illustrated dustjacket. Some rubbing to head and foot of spine and fading to edges of upper cover. Dustjacket is chipped and a little torn in places along the top and bottom edge and upper cover has a price label reading \"Offered at 1\/-\". Internally very good with some slight toning. \u003cbr\u003eAn entertaining novel which describes how a young man from Surrey who works his passage across the Atlantic on a coal burner ship and then journeys through America from New York to San Francisco by hopping on and off trains and relying on the kindness of strangers. It is all told with good humour and he manages to do it all with only seventy-five cents in his pocket.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"\"DIGIT\"","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193323430265,"sku":"4936","price":75.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4936_1.jpg?v=1777655190"},{"product_id":"a-square-abbott-edwin-flatland-a-romance-of-many-dimensions-1884-4139","title":"Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Seeley \u0026amp; Co.. 1884.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eSecond edition. 8vo. 217x185mm. pp.xvi, 102, [2bl]. With illustrations by the author. Original illustrated limp vellum covered card. Vellum worn, particularly at the spine where there is some loss, corners rubbed. Hinge with upper cover is cracked but holding. Otherwise a very good copy of a fragile book. Upper cover has an ownership inscription. This second edition, issued in the same year as the first, included a six page preface in which a fictional interlocutor addressed, on behalf of Abbott\/A Square two of the criticisms aimed at this strange book. \u003cbr\u003eThe first concerns the surprise of readers at the failure of Flatlanders to perceive thickness, and hence a third dimension, in a Line. Abbott (who is, lest we forget, a two dimensional Square) plays somewhat opaquely with the conceit before turning on his 3D Spaceland critics for their refusal to entertain the possibility of a Fourth Dimension. \"...it is as natural for us Flatlanders to lock up a Square for preaching the Third Dimension, as it is for you Spacelanders to lock up a Cube for preaching the Fourth. Alas, how strong a family likeness runs through blind and persecuting humanity in all Dimensions!\" \u003cbr\u003eThe second criticism was that Abbott was a \"woman-hater\". Women in Flatland are mere Lines, using their pointed ends to stab people. In reply, we are told that A Square has modified his personal views but there is, by way of conclusion, a gloriously condescending dig at the world (our world) of three dimensions. If A Square seemed misogynistic it was because he \"identified himself (perhaps too closely) with the views generally adopted by Flatland and (as he has been informed) even by Spaceland, Historians; in whose pages (until very recent times) the destinies of Women and of the masses of mankind have seldom been deemed worthy of mention and never of careful consideration\".\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"A SQUARE [ABBOTT, Edwin]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193323725177,"sku":"4139","price":450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4139_1.jpg?v=1777655204"},{"product_id":"a-square-abbott-edwin-flatland-a-romance-of-many-dimensions-1926-5014","title":"Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions.","description":"With Illustrations by the Author, A SQUARE (EDWIN A. ABBOTT)\u003cbr\u003eOxford: Basil Blackwell. 1926.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eThird edition. 8vo. 217x175mm. pp.xvi, 102, [2bl]. Original wrappers, some slight wear to extremities but otherwise in very good condition throughout and internally excellent. Protected by a transparent plastic cover. The first two editions of Flatland appeared in quick succession in 1884 but the book then fell out of print. Blackwell issued this third edition forty two years later. Textually it is has a few revisions from the second edition but its appearance is almost exactly the same as the earlier ones. It contains the celebrated preface from the second edition in which Abbott defended himself from criticisms aimed at the first edition. It also has an introduction by the physicist William Garnett who was a pupil of Abbott's at The City of London School.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"A SQUARE [ABBOTT, Edwin]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193324216697,"sku":"5014","price":250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5014_1.jpg?v=1777655218"},{"product_id":"black-clementina-an-agitator-1895-4940","title":"An Agitator.","description":"A Novel.\u003cbr\u003eNew York: Harper \u0026amp; Brothers Publishers.. 1895.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst American edition published the year after the London first edition. pp. 177, [1bl, 6 publisher's adverts]. Original beige cloth lettered in gilt and decorated in silver and brown. Some soiling and rubbing and internally there is some foxing but overall a nice copy. Front free endpaper is signed Clementina Black so this is either the author's own copy or was signed by her for someone else. Rare in commerce and comparatively uncommon institutionally, OCLC recording sixteen copies. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn Agitator\u003c\/em\u003e is Black's most overtly political work of fiction. It is about an engineer who becomes radicalized through the socialist movements of the late nineteenth century and embarks on a life of trade unionism, political agitation and strike action. Eleanor Marx (who was a friend of Black) described the novel as \"a realistic account of the British working-class movement\". Clementina Black was deeply involved in the world of socialist campaigning and suffragism but she was aware of the short-comings of the mostly middle-class leaders of these movements and An Agitator provides some wryly satirical digs at their impractical idealism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"BLACK, Clementina","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193325166969,"sku":"4940","price":350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4940_1.jpg?v=1777655246"},{"product_id":"black-clementina-caroline-1908-4941","title":"Caroline","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: John Murray.. 1908.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eInscribed by the author to her brother.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 185x120mm. [4], 295 [1bl, 4 publisher's adverts]. Blue cloth, lettered and decorated in white to upper cover and lettered in gilt on spine. Joints and edges of boards rubbed and head and foot of spine bumped. Some marking to boards. Quite heavily foxed. Front free endpaper is inscribed \"Ernest Black from C.B. January 1908\". \u003cbr\u003eClementina Black is best known as an activist and propagandist in the socialist, trade union and women's suffrage movements, but she made her living as a writer of political tracts and novels. Apart from the overtly political The Agitator, her novels are historical romances. Caroline is set in the eighteenth century and concerns a wealthy young woman and her suitors. Unsurprisingly, this led to critics making comparisons with Jane Austen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"BLACK, Clementina","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193325232505,"sku":"4941","price":350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4941_1.jpg?v=1777655260"},{"product_id":"bradbury-robinson-c-j-williams-mix-1971-4894","title":"Williams Mix","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York and London: The Olympia Press. [1971].\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eInscribed and with an introduction by William Burroughs. \"I'd rather read Winnie the Pooh\".\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eOne of only six uncorrected proof copies signed by William Burroughs. 213x175mm. Printed on recto only. ff. xv, 104. Brown wrappers, printed in black. In very good condition throughout. Half title has an inscription \"I'd rather read Winnie the Pooh. Bradbury Robinson\" which has then been crossed out in the manner of a Masson automatic drawing. Both the inscription and the scrawl are by William Burroughs who has signed the dedication leaf. Burroughs wrote the introduction which begins with the observation: \"The old barriers are breaking down and we must now recognise as human anything that humans actually do\". \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWilliams Mix\u003c\/em\u003e certainly breaks down old barriers. It has a strong claim to being the strangest and most controversial novel of the late twentieth century. Taking its title from John Cage's short piece of experimental electronic music for eight simultaneously played magnetic tapes, \u003cem\u003eWilliams Mix\u003c\/em\u003e is, as Bradbury Robinson, explains in his preface, \"very largely a book of voices…In \u003cem\u003eWilliams Mix\u003c\/em\u003e there is only one person: the different voices are different parts of his mind\". Bradbury Robinson compares the writer to a composer, \"a sound artist\" and the way the voices of his novel jump around, suddenly appear and then fade away mirrors the fragmentary unsettled quality of Cage's work. Aside from aleatory music, Bradbury Robinson's other major influence is psycho-analysis (he is a Kleinian analyst). Of the Freudian \"instinctual conflicts\" and the Kleinian \"moral conflict\" he offers the \"realisation that these structures, these conflicts are verbal. They are voiced\". But Bradbury Robinson's voices are, as he says, \"crying in the wilderness\". \u003cbr\u003eThis wilderness is perhaps best described in William Burroughs's extraordinary introduction to \u003cem\u003eWilliams Mix\u003c\/em\u003e - namely, \"sexual attraction for boys under the age of puberty\". This is the ostensible subject matter of the novel and it is, without doubt, difficult to see past it. But we should try. As Burroughs makes clear, the book is really about the pathetic desire, doomed to failure, to return to one's childhood, one's prepubescence. This \"impasse\", as Burrough's calls it, is the struggle between our past, present and future distilled into an acute psycho-sexual drama. \"The boy kills Bradbury Robinson so he can grow up. Or Bradbury Robinson kills the boy so he will never have to grow up.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWilliams Mix\u003c\/em\u003e is also about the art of writing and \"the music of language\". These were subjects that preoccupied Bradbury Robinson and Burroughs during their long conversations at Burroughs's London flat in the early 1970s. Bradbury Robinson greatly admired the older man's work, regarding \u003cem\u003eSoft Machine\u003c\/em\u003e as \"more or less, a continuous stream of poetry\". On the face of it, theirs was a strange friendship. At the time, Bradbury Robinson was a young, just-out-of-Cambridge, prep school master with no interest in the druggy, Beaty, pop culture which was beginning to see Burroughs as one of its godfathers. True, both men shared a similar but not entirely overlapping interest in boys but what drew them together and kept them talking was experimental literature. \"Burroughs would pull from his typewriter the page he was currently working on (\u003cem\u003eDutch Schultz\u003c\/em\u003e or \u003cem\u003ePort of Saints\u003c\/em\u003e), hand it to me and say, Musical enough for you, Brad? And we would examine the writing as a musical score.\" \u003cbr\u003eDuring an early meeting, Bradbury Robinson gave Burroughs a copy of his first novel (\u003cem\u003eA Crocodile of Choirboys\u003c\/em\u003e), extracts of which Burroughs had read in draft (when it was called Minor Incidents). Burroughs was impressed – \"You're a writer…those are the exact words Beckett said to me – You're a writer!\". Bradbury Robinson then asked Burroughs to write an introduction to his new novel – \u003cem\u003eWilliams Mix\u003c\/em\u003e. A long and tortuous gestation followed. Burroughs recommended it to The Olympia Press. Olympia, short of money and nervous of the reaction to the \"problematic\" subject matter, turned it down although they did print six proof copies of this extraordinary and beautiful work of avant-garde, musical, prose-poetry.\u003cbr\u003eThe quotes from Burroughs and Bradbury Robinson are taken from https:\/\/www.beatdom.com\/william-s-burroughs-c-j-bradbury-robinson-and-williams-mix\/\u003cbr\u003ewhich provides valuable insight into the relationship between the two men.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"BRADBURY ROBINSON, [C.J.]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193327296889,"sku":"4894","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4894_1.jpg?v=1777655273"},{"product_id":"bradbury-ray-fahrenheit-451-1953-4955","title":"Fahrenheit 451","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew York: Ballantine Books Inc.. 1953.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eNo false prophet\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst trade edition. 197x126mm. Pp. [6], 199 [3]. Red cloth, lettered in yellow to upper cover and spine. Original illustrated dustjacket. Some chipping and creasing to the edges of the jacket but otherwise in very good condition and internally excellent. Jacket is Currey's state D (no priority). Front free endpaper has a gift inscription dated October 22, 1953 \"To Don – With the hope that we can prove Ray Bradbury as false prophet! Polly\".\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOne of the great dystopian novels, Fahrenheit 451 was born out of Bradbury's novella The Fireman which itself borrowed elements from two short stories, Bright Phoenix and The Pedestrian. Famously, the title page explains that 451 is the fahrenheit \"temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns…\" Although it was the Nazi book-burnings that provided the most obvious inspiration for the novel which describes an America where books are banned and destroyed, Bradbury confessed to numerous motivations. McCarthyism was undoubtedly an influence but the spectre of mass media and television and its effect on reading habits also lay behind the book as, Bradbury later made clear, did political and social thought control and restrictions on freedom of speech. Sadly, Bradbury was no false prophet.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BRADBURY, Ray","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193328116089,"sku":"4955","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4955_1.jpg?v=1777655286"},{"product_id":"camus-albert-the-outsider-1946-4902","title":"The Outsider.","description":"Translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert. Introduction by Cyril Connolly.\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Hamish Hamilton. 1946.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition in English. 8vo. 185x120mm. pp. [iv], 3-103 [1]. Grey cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Original dustjacket illustrated by Edward Bawden. Bumping to head and foot of spine. Repair to top and bottom edges of dustjacket and two closed tears to top edge and slight chipping to bottom edge of rear of dustjacket but otherwise in very good condition and internally excellent. It is not common in a good jacket. Camus's concise, dense, absurdist novel of alienation first appeared in 1942. Stuart Gilbert's English translation was meant to published with the title \u003cem\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/em\u003e but, as a Polish novel had recently been translated with this title, Hamish Hamilton changed it to \u003cem\u003eThe Outsider \u003c\/em\u003ewhich captures rather better the psychological darkness of the novel.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"CAMUS, Albert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193329459577,"sku":"4902","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4902_1.jpg?v=1777655301"},{"product_id":"crowley-aleister-the-diary-of-a-drug-fiend-1923-4934","title":"The Diary of a Drug Fiend","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York: E.P.Dutton \u0026amp; Company. 1923.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eFirst US edition in the scarce dustjacket\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst US edition. 8vo. 185x125mm. pp. [8], 368. Black cloth, lettered in red to upper cover and spine. Original dustjacket. Repaired closed tear to fold of dust jacket at spine and upper cover and small tears at the fold with the flap on the lower cover. Chipping and creasing to edges of jacket including head and foot of spine but overall in very good condition particularly given that it is hard to find the jacket at all (only one copy of the first US edition with the jacket appears in the auction records). Internally very good. \u003cbr\u003eCrowley described this highly autobiographical novel as \"a true story. It has been rewritten only so far as was necessary to conceal personalities\". The novel treats of two of Crowley's favourite subjects, drug use and the occult. It describes the descent of Sir Peter Pendragon and his wife Louise into heroin and cocaine addiction and their eventual cure and redemption following their stay at the Abbey of Thelema in Sicily. Here, under the guidance of Basil King Lamus (a thinly disguised Crowley), they are initiated into the occult, discover their True Will and are freed from the chains of addiction. \u003cem\u003eThe Diary of a Drug Fiend\u003c\/em\u003e enjoyed an early succès de scandale principally due to its unsparing account of drug use and abuse but Crowley's real purpose was to show how his particular strain of magic and the occult could transform even the most difficult lives.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"CROWLEY, Aleister","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193329557881,"sku":"4934","price":5500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4934_1.jpg?v=1777655314"},{"product_id":"golding-louis-magnolia-street-1932-4907","title":"Magnolia Street","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Victor Gollancz Ltd.. 1932.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eInscribed by the author to Dennis Wheatley.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eInscribed to Dennis Wheatley and with Wheatley's bookplate. First edition. 195x120mm. pp. 607 [1bl]. Black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Original dust jacket, lettered in black and with removable red band indicating \"The Book Society's \"first\" recommendation for January\". Some minor chipping to head of spine of dust jacket and some creasing and a closed tear to top edge and spine a little faded. Internally very good with slight foxing to fore-edges. Overall an excellent copy in the rare dust-jacket and the even rarer band. \u003cbr\u003eFront pastedown has the demonic bookplate of Dennis Wheatley and the front free endpaper is inscribed \"For Dennis Wheatley. This tale is a little humbler than most of his. with the admiration of Louis Golding. London. August 31. 1937\".\u003cbr\u003eLouis Golding (1895-1958) was always something of an outsider. Born into an Orthodox Jewish household in Manchester, he began writing at an early age. Often ill, he travelled widely in warm countries particularly in north Africa and the middle east and his writing from these worlds drew on his Jewish inheritance. \u003cem\u003eMagnolia Street\u003c\/em\u003e is his most celebrated work. Set in Manchester (which Golding calls \"Doomington\"), the novel describes the relationships between Jews and Gentiles. A contemporary review described it as \"a magnificent achievement: copious, humorous, romantic, tragic, genial, ironical, angry, wise; alive with action in every part, and crammed with the rich stuff of humanity\". Magnolia Street was enormously successful, translated into twenty-seven languages and banned by Hitler and Mussolini. This would have pleased him for he was an unrepentant and enthusiastic anti-fascist which perhaps led Orwell to include Golding as one his \"Crypto-communists and fellow travellers\". Although it is \"the larger drama of the Jewish people\" that forms the backdrop to most of Golding's writing other novels deal with themes of black magic and crime and he also wrote on boxing, food and James Joyce. He is due a revival.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"GOLDING, Louis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193329688953,"sku":"4907","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4907_1.jpg?v=1777655328"},{"product_id":"gordon-john-the-giant-under-the-snow-1968-4947","title":"The Giant under the Snow.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Hutchinson Junior Books. 1968.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 184x120mm. pp. 184. Grey cloth, spine lettered in red. Original illustrated dustjacket. Apart from some light shelfwear and a little foxing to the edges, this is in excellent condition throughout. \u003cem\u003eThe Giant under the Snow\u003c\/em\u003e was John Gordon's first novel and established him as a striking new voice in children's supernatural fiction. It concerns mystery dogs, lost treasure and epic battles between good and evil. Gordon moved to East Anglia from County Durham as a child and the strange flat land of the Fens and its strong sense of folkloric tradition was an important influence on his writing from the very start.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"GORDON, John","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193329754489,"sku":"4947","price":350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4947_1_892dc7e3-c51b-427b-9d6e-2e82907c7646.jpg?v=1777656818"},{"product_id":"gregory-h-b-dark-sanctuary-1940-4949","title":"Dark Sanctuary","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Rider \u0026amp; Co.. [1940].\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\"one of the great novels of supernatural horror\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 182x115mm. pp. 288. Blue cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Original illustrated mauve dustjacket. Rubbing and slight chipping to edges of the jacket, marking and slight soiling to spine and lower cover of jacket. Internally very good but the text block is a little cocked and there is some spotting in places and slight soiling to the edges. Overall a very good copy of what is widely regarded as one of the great novels of supernatural horror and an important successor to the work of H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker. Indeed, it was the inclusion of Dark Sanctuary in Karl Edward Wagner's 1983 \"13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels\" that revived interest in Gregory and this extraordinary novel which weaves, around the plot, much occult arcana. \u003cbr\u003eMost of the copies of the first edition of \u003cem\u003eDark Sanctuary \u003c\/em\u003ewere destroyed in an air raid during the Blitz and it is said that only twelve made it into circulation. We suspect that a few more may have survived but the book is undoubtedly rare, and the original dustjacket is almost unfindable. OCLC records it in only six libraries with Library Hub adding the BL and only one copy appears in the auction records.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"GREGORY, H.B","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330213241,"sku":"4949","price":6000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4949_1.jpg?v=1777655370"},{"product_id":"kundera-milan-the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-1984-4810","title":"The Unbearable Lightness of Being.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York: Harper Row. 1984.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eSigned by Kundera on the title page. First US edition and the first edition in English translation. 219x138mm. pp. [6], 314. Publishers black paper covered boards, and tan cloth, spine lettered in black. Original dustjacket. Very light shelfwear but otherwise a fine, near mint copy of one of the great philosophical novels of the late twentieth century.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"KUNDERA, Milan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330246009,"sku":"4810","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4810_1.jpg?v=1777655384"},{"product_id":"ka-tzetnik-135633-tr-moshe-m-kohn-house-of-dolls-1956-4942","title":"House of Dolls","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Frederick Muller Ltd.. 1956.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition, first impression. 196x126mm. pp. 240. Red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Original illustrated dustjacket. Some creasing to edges of jacket and slight chipping to foot of spine but otherwise in excellent condition and internally near fine. \u003cem\u003eHouse of Dolls\u003c\/em\u003e ran to several printings in year of publication but this first impression, particularly in the dustjacket, is rare in commmerce.\u003cbr\u003eKa-Tsetnik 135633 is the pseudonym of Yehiel De-Nur who survived two years in Auschwitz. Ka-Tsetnik is Yiddish concentration camp slang for a prisoner and 135633 was his camp number. \u003cem\u003eHouse of Dolls\u003c\/em\u003e is a lightly fictionalised novel based on the diaries of a young girl taken from her school in Poland in 1939 and forced into a Nazi labour camp and then into a brothel (a Joy Division) established for German armed forces. It is a graphic, violent and disturbing novel and a key work in Holocaust literature and is sometimes regarded as the inspiration behind the short-lived and controversial \"Stalag fiction\" genre.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Ka-Tzetnik 135633 (tr. Moshe M. Kohn)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330311545,"sku":"4942","price":395.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4942_1.jpg?v=1777655397"},{"product_id":"lindsay-norman-redheap-1960-4896","title":"Redheap","description":"\u003cbr\u003eSydney: Ure Smith. 1960.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst Australian edition, the novel having been banned there for 28 years following its first publication in England in 1930. 8vo. 196x125mm. pp. 318. Red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Original dustjacket. Slight creasing and chipping to edges of jacket and a mark to the foot of the spine but otherwise in excellent condition. Internally very good with a little toning to the edges. This novel of small town, backwoods life in the Australian state of Victoria set in the 1890s portrays a society constrained by snobbery and tightly controlled social norms. Beneath a carapace of humour Lindsay critiques Australian society which led to the banning of the book there, not the only one of his works so treated. His interest in the erotic pagan power of the extraordinary Australian landscape led to his being dismissed as \"anti-Christian, anti-social and degenerate\". Lindsay was also a keen opponent of what Australians and New Zealanders rather brilliantly call \"wowsers\" - those strict, tiresome moral puritans who frown on such lax behaviour as drinking, smoking and gambling. He'd have been busy now.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"LINDSAY, Norman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330475385,"sku":"4896","price":110.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4896_1.jpg?v=1777655412"},{"product_id":"linnaeus-banks-mrs-g-through-the-night-tales-of-shades-and-shadows-1882-5117","title":"Through the Night: Tales of Shades and Shadows","description":"\u003cbr\u003eManchester and London: Abel, Heywood and Simpkin Marshall. 1882.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eA Dour Weird. A rare collection of Victorian supernatural tales\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 183x120mm. pp. [8], 303 [1bl], 20 adverts dated February 1883. Publishers red cloth, block in black. Very light bumping to head and foot of spine. Some foxing but overall a very good copy. Worldcat locates only ten copies and none appear in the auction records.\u003cbr\u003eMrs G. Linnaeus Banks (aka Isabella Banks, née Isabella Varley) is best known for her novel \u003cem\u003eThe Manchester Man\u003c\/em\u003e which tells the story of the growth of the city through the life of its hero Jabez Clegg. Mrs Banks was a leading figure in the literary, intellectual and political life of Manchester.\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eShe was also interested in local folklore and legend and it is these that lie behind\u003cem\u003e Through the Night: \u003c\/em\u003eindeed, in the appendix, Mrs Banks provides the sources for each of the fourteen tales. The stories were originally published in periodicals and were collected here for the first time towards the end of her life. The collection is firmly in the tradition of the Victorian supernatural spine-chiller - ghosts, fairies, dreams, voodoo and curses - and, with its antiquarian interests can perhaps be seen as a precursor to M.R. James. The work is best summed up in the wonderful title of one of the stories - \u003cem\u003eA Dour Weird\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"LINNAEUS BANKS, Mrs G","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330508153,"sku":"5117","price":1000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5117_2.jpg?v=1777655426"},{"product_id":"lovecraft-h-p-the-haunter-of-the-dark-and-other-tales-of-horror-1951-4959","title":"The Haunter of the Dark and Other Tales of Horror.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1951.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eWho is Lovecraft? H.P.Lovecraft's first appearance in the UK.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst UK edition. 8vo. 183x120mm. pp. [4], 5-303 [1bl]. Orange cloth, original yellow Gollancz jacket. Some fading to edges of boards. Chipping to edges of jacket and at head of spine and some soiling to spine and lower cover of jacket. Internally very good. A nice copy of the first collection of Lovecraft's work published outside America. This selection brings together ten of his best stories including \"The Rats in the Walls\" and \"The Call of Cthulhu\", the latter introducing Lovecraft's evil monster of that name and its fictional universe of malevolent forces ready to subsume the world. \u003cbr\u003eH.P.Lovecraft died, aged forty-seven, in 1937 having achieved little material success, his stories appearing in cheap pulp magazines and never published in book form. After his death however, his wildly imaginative fantasy stories gained a cult following in America but it wasn't until the early 1950s that they crossed the Atlantic when they were presented to an unsuspecting public in the form of this collection, hence the question on the front cover \"Who is Lovecraft?\" and the useful introduction by his protégé August Derleth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"LOVECRAFT, H.P","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330573689,"sku":"4959","price":250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4959_1.jpg?v=1777655441"},{"product_id":"mitford-nancy-the-blessing-1951-4950","title":"The Blessing.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Hamish Hamilton.. 1951.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003ePresentation copy with inscription to Alvilde Lees-Milne.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. Presentation copy with inscription to Alvilde Lees-Milne. 183x120mm. pp. 270. Red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Illustrated dustjacket (supplied from another copy). Extremities bumped and lower board a little stained and cockled. Tears, with some loss, to head and foot of spine of jacket and slight chipping to edges at the flaps. Internally, there is some foxing, heavier to the half title and title page. Dedication page is inscribed \"Alvilde with love from Nancy\" and there is the ownership inscription of Alvilde on the front free endpaper. Overall a nice copy. Alvilde (née Bridges) Chaplin (from 1933 to 1951) and Lees-Milne (from 1951 to her death in 1994) was a garden historian and designer. She and James Lees-Milne moved easily in the world where aristocracy and literature meet. While at Eton, James had been a lover of Nancy Mitford's brother Tom which gives this nice presentation copy a little extra spice.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"MITFORD, Nancy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193330639225,"sku":"4950","price":950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4950_1.jpg?v=1777655455"},{"product_id":"macvicar-angus-space-agent-from-the-lost-planet-1961-5132","title":"Space Agent from the Lost Planet","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Burke Publishing Co. Ltd. 1961.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 183x120mm. pp. 158. Green cloth, lettered in black to the spine. Original illustrated dustjacket. Slight creasing and two closed tears to head of jacket and rubbing to foot of spine of jacket but otherwise a very good copy of the sixth of MacVicar's \u003cem\u003eLost Planet \u003c\/em\u003eseries. Written for children and originally created for the radio, the series is a clever weaving together of science fiction, pacifism and Christian ethics.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MacVICAR, Angus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193333555577,"sku":"5132","price":150.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5132_1.jpg?v=1777655469"},{"product_id":"naughton-bill-alfie-1966-4957","title":"Alfie","description":"\u003cbr\u003e[London]: Macgibbon \u0026amp; Kee.. 1966.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eInscribed by Naughton to the critic John Russell Taylor.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition of the novel taken from the 1963 stage play, itself adapted from a radio play. 196x127mm. pp. [8], 9-208. Brown cloth, original illustrated dustjacket. Some rubbing to extremities of jacket and a small mark on upper cover but otherwise in excellent condition throughout. Front free endpaper is inscribed \"To John Russell Taylor with good wishes from Bill Naughton. 13th Feb 66\". Loosely inserted is a letter to Russell Taylor (also dated 13th February 1966) from Naughton's wife Erna: \"Here is the book I promised to post to you. I told my husband that you won't read it till you have seen the film\". The film was, of course, the ground-breaking and now classic picture starring Michael Caine. Also loosely inserted is a letter from a firm of London estate agents inviting Russell Taylor to have his flat valued and suggesting that it might be worth £1.1m. Which would have solved some of Alfie's problems. \u003cbr\u003eBeneath a chirpy, cocksure exterior, Alfie the character and \u003cem\u003eAlfie\u003c\/em\u003e the play\/novel\/film is dark and uncomfortable. It deals with infidelity, abortion, mental breakdown and transgresses the class barriers which, at the beginning of the 1960s were still in place, but by the end, had started to dissolve, in no small part thanks to works such as this. The association with John Russell Taylor is an important one. Taylor was one of the most important and perceptive film, theatre and art critics of the late twentieth century as well as a biographer of many of the leading figures of the film world, including Hitchcock, Ingrid Bergman and Orson Welles. He also wrote extensively on \"Angry Theatre\", that genre of \"Kitchen Sink Drama\" kickstarted by John Osborne and of which Bill Naughton's \u003cem\u003eAlfie, \u003c\/em\u003ewith its portrayal of working-class disaffection, is a close cousin.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"NAUGHTON, Bill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193335390585,"sku":"4957","price":850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4957_1.jpg?v=1777655482"},{"product_id":"north-w-the-city-of-the-jugglers-or-free-trade-in-souls-1850-4943","title":"The City of the Jugglers; or, Free-Trade in Souls.","description":"A Romance of the \"Golden\" Age.\u003cbr\u003eLondon: H.J.Gibbs.. 1850.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\"Soul exchange\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 199x120mm. pp. xii, 250 [2bl, 5 publisher's adverts, 1bl]. Frontispiece and three etchings by F.H.T.Bellew. Modern brown cloth, slight rubbing to extremities. Frontispiece is a little chipped along fore-edge and all plates are a little foxed and there is offsetting from them. Some other light foxing and marking elsewhere but otherwise a very good copy of a rare book, only two appearing in the auction records in the last century and OCLC locating only ten copies.\u003cbr\u003eThis 1850 edition was, it seems, the only edition of this strange novel until the University of South Carolina Press reprinted it, with no doubt unintended irony, in the 2008, the year of the great financial crash. \u003cem\u003eThe City of the Jugglers\u003c\/em\u003e is a satire on the stock market frenzies of the 1840 and describes how, following a financial crash, there develops a futures market in human souls. A strange fantasy on the relation between mammon and the spirit. Incidentally, the frontispiece contains a portrait of the author asleep and dreaming of this \"soul exchange\". This is thought to be the only portrait of one of the most elusive of Victorian writers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"NORTH, W","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193335554425,"sku":"4943","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4943_1.jpg?v=1777655498"},{"product_id":"pirsig-robert-m-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-an-enquiry-into-values-1974-4956","title":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. An Enquiry into Values.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: The Bodley Head.. 1974.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst UK edition, first printing. 215x15mm. pp. [10], 11-412. Brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Original illustrated dust jacket. Front free endpaper has gift inscription. Some rubbing to extremities and a repaired tear to upper cover of dust jacket and a smaller one to lower cover but otherwise a very good copy of this popular and influential novel which takes a father and son motorbike road trip and mixes in Eastern philosophies, Indigenous American wisdom, ancient Greek thought (one of the characters is called Phaedrus) and countercultural Peyotism - a heady combination that Pirsig called the Metaphysics of Quality.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"PIRSIG, Robert M","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193336570233,"sku":"4956","price":120.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4956_1.jpg?v=1777655511"},{"product_id":"plaatje-sol-t-mhudi-an-epic-of-south-african-native-life-a-hundred-years-ago-1930-5130","title":"Mhudi. An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLovedale, South Africa: Lovedale Press.. [1930].\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eThe first novel in English by a black South African. In the rare dust jacket.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 185x120mm. pp. [12], 225 [1bl]. Green cloth, lettered in gilt to upper cover and spine. Original illustrated dustjacked, chipped and a little torn along top and bottom edges but overall very good and rare in any condition. Internally there is some foxing. An excellent copy, in the scarce dustjacket, of an important work of African fiction and one of the earliest attempts by an African writer to give an account of pre-colonial Africa and the first novel in English by a black South African. \u003cbr\u003eSol Plaatje (1876-1932) took his name from the Boer family who employed his family on their farm. A brilliant student, Plaatje mastered seven languages, including Dutch and English which gave him the right to vote although this would be taken away when the new Union of South Africa was created. Throughout his life, Plaatje was a leading figure in the struggle for black liberation and was a founder member and first General Secretary of what would become the ANC. Plaatje wrote Mhudi in 1919 although it would take him eleven years to get it published. During this long gestation, the book was revised and altered, some critics suggesting that it went through a process of censorship and bowdlerization. Whether or not that is so is a matter of scholarly dispute but what is not in doubt is that this novel, now firmly established in the African canon, represents a brave and early attempt to preserve and regenerate native South African tradition in the face of colonialism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"PLAATJE, Sol. T","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193336766841,"sku":"5130","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5130_1.jpg?v=1777655524"},{"product_id":"portis-charles-true-grit-1968-4945","title":"True Grit","description":"\u003cbr\u003eNew York: Simon and Schuster. 1968.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition, first printing. 195x125mm. pp. 215 [1bl]. Blue cloth. Original illustrated dustjacket. Spine of jacket has some fading and a repaired closed tear and there is some light foxing to lower cover. Internally excellent, this is a very good copy of one of the great American novels.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"PORTIS, Charles","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337225593,"sku":"4945","price":350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4945_1.jpg?v=1777655540"},{"product_id":"praed-mrs-campbell-nadine-the-study-of-a-woman-1882-4939","title":"Nadine. The Study of a Woman","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Chapman \u0026amp; Hall.. 1882.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. Two volumes. Small 8vo. 178x115mm. pp. vi, 199 [1bl]; vi, 208. Collates complete although the pagination in signature H of volume is somewhat awry, the printer having mixed up some pages - but the text is all present. Green cloth, brown morocco label on spine, lettered in gilt. Top edges gilt. Decorated, floral endpapers. Front pastedown has the armorial bookplate of Sir William Eden Bart whose ownership inscription is in both volumes. Slight rubbing to corners but otherwise in fine condition throughout. There is the very occasional light pencil mark or annotation in the margins. Rare in commerce and not common institutionally, OCLC recording fifteen copies.\u003cbr\u003eRosa Campbell Praed (1851-1935) was born into a comfortable Australian colonial family but, on her marriage to Arthur Campbell Praed in 1872, went to live with him on Curtis Island, off Queensland. This was a hard, wild life and so when she began writing fiction, her experiences there shaped her authorial voice. While on Curtis Island, she also became interested in spiritualism and the supernatural. In 1876, following the failure of their farm, the Praeds came to London and Rosa's career as a novelist began. She was successful, popular and feted forming links with Wilde, Kipling and Bram Stoker. Most of her books are set in Australia and reflect the difficulty of the female experience in the tough, masculine outback. She was critical of the colonial world and painted a sympathetic portrait of Aboriginal people. Another common theme was the challenge of the unhappy marriage. Hers was not a good one and, indeed, in \u003cem\u003eNadine: The Study of a Woman\u003c\/em\u003e, Praed writes about how a woman thrives when she is unmarried and childless.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"PRAED, Mrs Campbell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337258361,"sku":"4939","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4939_1.jpg?v=1777655552"},{"product_id":"rive-richard-writing-black-1981-5133","title":"Writing Black","description":"\u003cbr\u003eCape Town: David Philip. 1981.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eSigned by Rive.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 210x145mm. pp. [8], [8 photographs], [2], 221 [1bl]. Signed by Richard Rive on the title page. Red cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Original dustjacket with photograph of Rive on upper cover. Slight soiling and light shelfwear to dustjacket but otherwise a near fine copy of Rive's \"rumbustious, always perceptive autobiography\" which was developed and expanded from his ground-breaking key-note speech at the University of Indiana's African Literature Association conference in 1979. Rive was something of a prodigy and few people have done more to give a voice to African writers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"RIVE, Richard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337422201,"sku":"5133","price":150.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5133_1.jpg?v=1777655566"},{"product_id":"roy-namba-black-albino-1961-4944","title":"Black Albino.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: New Literature (Publishing) Ltd.. 1961.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003ean inverted parable of the cruelty of colour prejudice\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 209x135mm. pp. 196. Orange cloth, lettered in black. Original illustrated dustjacket. Slight bowing to the boards and some creases and closed tears to the edges of the jacket and chipping to head and foot of spine of jacket. Overall a very good copy an extraordinary novel set among the Jamaican Maroons - a community of indigenous Caribbean Arawakan people who mixed with enslaved Africans who had broken free. It tells of a white boy born to a chief of the Maroons and the tensions that arise as a result. In his preface to this moving novel Tom Driberg describes it as \"an inverted parable of the cruelty of colour prejudice\". Namba Roy was a Maroon himself and worked in the Merchant Navy during WWII before becoming a painter, sculptor and writer. He died in 1961 at the age of only 51.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"ROY, Namba","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337454969,"sku":"4944","price":375.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4944_1.jpg?v=1777655580"},{"product_id":"shearing-joseph-margaret-bowen-the-fetch-1942-5118","title":"The Fetch","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Hutchinson and Co.. 1942.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eRare supernatural crime\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 184x130mm. pp. 184. Pale blue cloth, lettered in red. Original illustrated dustjacket. Top and bottom edges of jacket a little chipped and two small closed tears to foot of jacket. Internally very good but with some toning to the edges. Overall a very good copy. Rare (Worldcat recording ten copies) and especially so in the dustjacket.\u003cbr\u003eMargaret Long wrote under seven pseudonyms, principally as Marjorie Bowen. As Joseph Shearing she wrote crime mysteries, based on true stories overlaid with the supernatural. The Fetch is set in 1870 England and concerns a young aristocrat's obsession with the murder of a girl committed by one of his forebears. Unsurprisingly, this causes the girl's spectral double (her \"fetch\") to be stirred up and the novel charts the hero's descent into madness and the thwarting of the romantic plans of his fiancée Adelaide Fenton.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"SHEARING, Joseph. [Margaret Bowen]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337487737,"sku":"5118","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5118_1.jpg?v=1777655594"},{"product_id":"shelley-mary-frankenstein-or-the-modern-prometheus-1831-5134","title":"Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. 1831.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eThird edition published with the first illustration of Dr Frankenstein's monster\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eThird edition, published as volume IX of Standard Novels series issued with the first part of The Ghost-Seer. 162x100mm. pp. xii, 202; [2], 163 [5]. Frontispiece and illustrated additional title page. Black half calf, marbled paper covered boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt. Housed in a green cloth covered dropback box. Rubbing to boards and scuffing to head and foot of spine. Corners bumped. Internally very good but with some foxing and slight soiling. The frontispiece and illustrated title page are somewhat browned. Blank preliminary with a contemporary gift inscription and a later ownership inscription.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eThis is the first Bentley edition, the first to appear in one volume and the first with any illustration. The frontispiece, engraved by W. Chevalier from a painting by Theodor von Holst, shows the monster emerging from a skeleton while Dr Frankenstein runs out of the door in horror. Holst (who was the great-uncle of the composer) studied with Fuseli and illustrated many important literary works especially those of the German romantics and the European gothicists. No-one was better qualified to produce the first illustration of the great gothic monster. Montague Summers, A Gothic Bibliography, p330.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SHELLEY, Mary","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337815417,"sku":"5134","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5134_1.jpg?v=1777655614"},{"product_id":"simmons-herbert-man-walking-on-eggshells-1962-4938","title":"Man Walking on Eggshells","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Methuen \u0026amp; Co Ltd.. 1962.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst UK edition, published the same year as the first printing in America. 200x130mm. pp. [6], 250. Blue cloth, illustrated and lettered on spine. Original illustrated dustjacket. Slight creasing to edges of jacket and light soiling to lower cover but overall very good and internally fine. \u003cbr\u003eSet in the world of the St Louis jazz scene, Man Walking on Eggshells is a clever melding of words and music adopting the speech of Simmons's own African American community and the rhythms and improvisations of jazz.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"SIMMONS, Herbert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193337880953,"sku":"4938","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4938_1.jpg?v=1777655627"},{"product_id":"smith-dodie-i-capture-the-castle-1949-4948","title":"I Capture the Castle.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: William Heinemann Ltd.. 1949.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\"sitting in the kitchen sink\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 182x120mm. pp. [4], 338. Illustrated with engravings by Ruth Steed from drawings by Dodie Smith herself. Blue cloth decorated and lettered in gilt. Fading to spine and to edges of boards. Illustrated dustjacket (supplied from another copy) with some creasing, chipping and closed tears. Internally, there is foxing, heavier in one or two places but overall a very good copy of an ever-popular comedy-romance-coming of age novel written \"sitting in the kitchen sink\".\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"SMITH, Dodie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193338372473,"sku":"4948","price":550.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4948_1.jpg?v=1777656863"},{"product_id":"stoker-bram-draculas-guest-and-other-weird-stories-1914-4935","title":"Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: George Routledge \u0026amp; Sons, Ltd. 1914.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003ethe first appearance of a new Dracula story\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition. 8vo. 182x120mm. pp. [8], 200. Red cloth, decorated and lettered in blind on upper cover. Spine lettered and decorated in gilt and blind. Illustrated dustjacket in a later state with the price of 1\/3net replaced with 2\/- but in all other regards the jacket is the same as that of the first impression with its chilling illustration by Handforth. There is a split to the cloth at the joint with the lower cover and some fading to spine. The jacket is chipped at head and foot of spine and there is some creasing to top edge and chipping at the head and foot of the folds with the flaps. Internally there is a some foxing and marking but overall a very good copy in the rare and striking dustjacket.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eDracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories\u003c\/em\u003e was published two years after Stoker's death. As his widow Florence explains in the preface, Stoker had, at his death, three collections of short stories planned for publication. This was one of them although Florence did add to this set the long title story which she describes as \"an hitherto unpublished episode from \"Dracula\"...originally excised owing to the length of the book\". She hopes that the story \"may prove of interest to the many readers of what is considered to be my husband's most remarkable work\". This is thus the first appearance of this additional Dracula story.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"STOKER, Bram","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193338405241,"sku":"4935","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4935_1.jpg?v=1777655651"},{"product_id":"sullivan-vernon-i-shall-spit-on-your-graves-1948-4814","title":"I shall spit on your graves","description":"with an introduction by Boris Vian.\u003cbr\u003eParis: The Vendôme Press. 1948.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eA fusion of prime US pulp and French sado-eroticism.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst edition in English. 193x140mm. pp.201 [1]. Original wrappers. Slight creasing to upper cover and spine, a small tear and some marking and soiling to lower cover and a short tear at foot of spine at joint with lower cover. Some ink underlining in a few places. Internally very good. A nice copy of a rare and scandalous book. \u003cem\u003eI shall spit on your graves\u003c\/em\u003e first appeared in French in 1946. The anti-hero is Lee Anderson, an African-American whose pale complexion allows him to pass as white. After the lynching of his brother, Anderson takes a job in a second-hand bookshop and embarks on a trail of sex with underage girls and ever more gruesome violence. The novel ends with his own lynching. It is a brutal tale, brutally told and has been described as \"A fusion of prime US pulp and French sado-eroticism\". But it was created as a hoax born out of the author's desperation to get published. Vernon Sullivan is the pseudonym of Boris Vian. Earlier novels having been rejected, Vian devised the plan of pretending to be an American writer of hard-boiled fiction. Borrowing descriptions and style from Chandler and Richard Wright, Vian concocted this disturbing novel and then pretended that he was an American forced to leave the USA to avoid censorship. In fact, the French censors sought to ban the book which, as is the way with such things, fuelled sales and publicity and encouraged Vian to write three more \"Vernon Sullivan\" novels. His initial hoax was not discovered until some years after publication. In 1959 the book was made into a film. Vian\/Sullivan disapproved of the adaptation but attended the premiere where he collapsed and died of heart attack. Film noir indeed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"SULLIVAN, Vernon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57193338470777,"sku":"4814","price":950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4814_1.jpg?v=1777655666"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/collections\/fiction-from-the-edges.png?v=1777649607","url":"https:\/\/voewoodrarebooks.com\/collections\/fiction-from-the-edges.oembed","provider":"Voewood Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}