The Son
SIMENON, Georges 8vo, pp. 191. Original red boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. Offsetting to endpapers, otherwise a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket a little sunned at spine, and with a single, barley visible closed tear to head of spine. Dust jacket design by Peter Probyn. First English-language edition, first published as Le Fils in France the previous year. HUBIN, p. 377- $75
- $75
Shame the Devil
PELECANOS, George P. 8vo, pp. 345. Original marbled quarter boards, lettered in gilt to black spine. Black endpapers with devil device in gold. Illustrated dust jacket. Original slipcase. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket and slipcase. Dust jacket design and interior artwork by Joe Servello. First edition, one of 52 quarter bound copies, of a total edition of 452. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. The printed limitation states that this is a lettered copy, but no letter has been entered by hand. A fine, unread copy.- $119
- $119
Cockfighter
WILLEFORD, Charles 8vo, pp. 247. Original yellow boards, lettered in red to spine. Illustrated dust jacket, author's photographic portrait to rear flap. A near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with a little light edgewear, most noticeably at spine ends. First hardback edition, with some textual differences from the first edition published as a paperback original in 1962. Charles Willeford [1919-1988] -- orphan, boxcar rider, soldier as soon as he was old enough -- proved an unplaceable talent for most of his career: too intellectual for the sleazier imprints, too brutal for the mainstream, and too weird for just about everybody. Cockfighter is a case in point: a take on Homer's Odyssey, it follows a mute hero through the American South, making his way in a subculture where chickens are forced to fight to the death for sport. The book was first published by the Chicago Paperback House, an offshoot of a soft-core porn imprint, in 1962. It disappeared without trace. Slightly rewritten, it was republished in this edition in 1972, and filmed two years later by Monte Hellman with a cast including Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton, from Willeford's own screenplay. A 70s indie high spot, the film is now difficult to track down (and a difficult watch if you manage to). A well preserved copy of some kind of classic.- $219
- $219
Death of a Train
CROFTS, Freeman Wills 8vo, pp. 282. Original red boards, lettered in white to front panel and spine. Illustrated dust jacket. A near fine copy in a very good dust jacket, some darkening to rear (white) panel, and a little wear to corners and spine ends. First edition. An Inspector French title. HUBIN, p. 102- $219
- $219
For the Defense: Dr. Thorndyke
FREEMAN, R. Austin 8vo, pp. 310. Original blue boards, lettered in black to front panel and spine. Illustrated endpapers, top edge blue, leading edge uncut. Illustrated dust jacket. Contemporary ('Xmas 1934') presentation inscription to front free endpaper, otherwise a near fine copy in a very good price-clipped dust jacket, head of spine professionally restored, a little wear to top front corner and a single small chip to foot of spine. First US edition of this Dr. Thorndyke title, first published in the UK earlier the same year. HUBIN, p.157- $157
- $157
Resurrection Row
PERRY, Anne 8vo, pp. 204. Original dark brown boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dust jacket, author's photographic portrait of the author to rear panel. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. First edition, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. The fourth title in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series of Perry's historical detective novels featuring the late Victorian husband and wife sleuths. A fine copy.- $219
- $219
Whispering Windows :Tales of the Waterside
BURKE, Thomas 8vo, pp. 309. Original tan boards, lettered in black to front panel spine. Lower edge uncut. Illustrated dust jacket. Offsetting to half-title, but a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket, fading to spine and with just the lightest of edgewear, and some tape reinforcement to reverse at spine. First edition, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR TO FRONT FREE ENDPAPER. In his early books, Thomas Burke [1886-1945] chronicled life among the immigrant Chinese community in London's East End. Limehouse Nights (1916) proved hugely popular with early Hollywood: D.W. Griffith based his films Broken Blossoms (1919) and Dream Street (1921) on stories in the book, and Charlie Chaplin used another as the basis for A Dog's Life (1918). Whispering Windows is another collection of short stories, again set along the river banks of London's East End. Scarce in this condition, and extremely rare signed. HUBIN, p. 58- $940
- $940
When the Cat’s Away
BULLETT, Gerald 8vo, pp. 312. Original green boards, lettered in black to spine. Author's initials in black to front panel. Top edge black, leading edge uncut. Illustrated dust jacket. Offsetting to endpapers, otherwise a fine copy in a fine dust jacket. First US edition. First published in the UK (in an altogether dowdier edition) in 1940. An excellent copy.- $63
- $63
Singing in the Shrouds
MARSH, Ngaio 8vo, pp. 255. Original red boards, lettered in black to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with some spotting to rear panel. First UK edition. A Roderick Alleyn title -- one of more than thirty -- and an excellent copy. HUBIN, p. 282
Pinktoes
HIMES, Chester 8vo, pp. 256. Original black quarter boards, lettered in gilt to pink spine. Author's initials blind stamped to front panel. Illustrated dust jacket, author's photographic portrait to rear panel. Loss of gilt to spine, but a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with a little fading to spine. First US, and first hardback edition. First published by the Olympia Press in Paris in 1961. Sex, politics and sexual politics across the racial divide, and for that reason published in France first and the US only later. 'Pinktoes is a term of indulgent affection applied to white women by Negro men, and sometimes conversely by Negro women to white men, but never adversely by either.' (Chester Himes)
The Case of the Bouncing Betty
AVALLONE, Michael 8vo, pp. 204. Original red boards, lettered in silver to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. A fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with just a little darkening to (white) rear panel. First UK edition. First published as an Ace paperback original in the US in 1957. An Ed Noon title. The impossibly prolific Michael Avallone [1924-1999] wrote countless short stories, novels and movie and TV tie-ins, under an army of pseudonyms. The Ed Noon series ran to more than thirty titles; this was number six. There is never any danger of mistaking Avallone for Chekhov: the title character of The Case of the Bouncing Betty is a four hundred pound mattress tester who, according to the blurb, 'jumps on one mattress too many, and comes to a sudden and distressing end.' A fine copy. HUBIN, p. 18
The Boss
McCONAUGHY, J.W. and SHELDON, Edward 8vo, pp. 316. Original illustrated orange boards, lettered in white to front panel and spine. Contemporary ownership signature to front pastedown, lettering to spine a little rubbed, but a tightly bound and very well preserved copy. First edition. Sheldon wrote the stage play, McConaughy collaborated with the novelisation, and the whole was filmed in 1915 by Emile Chautard. (The film is now lost.) HUBIN, p. 266
Lady Killer
COXE, George Harmon 8vo, pp. 235. Original patterned boards, lettered in dark green to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. A fine copy in an all but fine dust jacket with a single small abrasion to top front corner. First edition. A Kent Murdock title. Previously published in abridged form in American Magazine. A fine copy in dust jacket. HUBIN, p. 97
Red Wind
CHANDLER, Raymond 8vo, pp. 253. Original black boards, lettered in red to spine, with black titling on red sash to front panel and spine. Top edge red. Illustrated dust jacket. Usual browning to poor paper stock, otherwise a very well preserved copy in a chipped dust jacket with some loss to spine ends, a closed tear to front fold, and some small tape reinforcements to the reverse. First edition of this collection of short stories which were first published in the 1930s in Black Mask and Dime Detective magazines, and the Saturday Evening Post. HUBIN, p. 76
The Far Traveller
[pseud. MANNING, Adelaide and COLES, Cyril] COLES, Manning as GAITE, Francis 8vo, pp. 190. Original green boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dust jacket. Gilt faded at spine, but a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with some tape reinforcement to reverse, some old water staining to front fold, and a little light chipping to head of spine. First UK edition. Published the previous year in the US under the name Manning Coles. HUBIN, p. 161 X. Jones of Scotland Yard
KEELER, Harry Stephen 8vo, pp. 448. Original purple boards, lettered in black to front panel and spine. Top edge orange, leading edge uncut. Illustrated dust jacket. A little fading and spotting to spine, offsetting to endpapers, small bookseller's label to rear pastedown. A very good copy in a very good price-clipped dust jacket with a little spotting to spine. First edition. As in its predecessor The Marceau Case (1936), Keeler writes X. Jones of Scotland Yard in the style of an official police dossier. The Wonderful Scheme of Mr. Christopher Thorne (1937) completed the trilogy. A very well preserved copy. HUBIN, p. 234
The Case of the Golddigger’s Purse
GARDNER, Erle Stanley 8vo, pp. 218. Original black boards, lettered in black on red to front panel and spine (where the first part of the title is lettered in red on black). Illustrated dust jacket. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with just a little fading to spine and the lightest of wear to spine ends. First edition. A Perry Mason title in the almost impossibly prolific Erle Stanley Gardner's bibliography. This is the twenty-sixth title featuring fiction's most famous criminal attorney -- there were eighty-five in all. HUBIN, p. 162
Madame Baltimore
KNOWLAND, Helen 8vo, pp. 210. Original brown boards, lettered in yellow to spine, Red Badge device to front panel. Illustrated dust jacket, author's photographic portrait to rear panel. A near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with some wear to corners and chipping to head of spine. First edition of Knowland's only book. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HER FATHER-IN-LAW, THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN SENATOR JOSEPH R. KNOWLAND: 'Dear Dad: I've been told that other great statesmen found relaxation in such books as Madame Baltimore -- so I send this to you with that in mind. Love Helen. 4/8/49'. Senator Joseph R. Knowland [1873-1966] served in the US House of Representatives between 1904 and 1915, leaving to become owner and editor of the Oakland Tribune. Helen Knowland was married to Knowland's son William, who was Senator for California from 1945 to 1959. (The book is dedicated 'To Billy'.) HUBIN, p. 242
The Fifth Man
[pseud. MANNING, Adelaide and COLES, Cyril] COLES, Manning 8vo, pp. 256. Original dark blue boards, lettered in green to front panel and spine. Leading edge uncut. Illustrated dust jacket. A near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with creasing and wear to lower edge and spine ends. First US edition, preceded by the UK edition of the same year. Only the sixth Tommy Hambledon title -- there were twenty-five in all. HUBIN, p. 89
The Backup Men
THOMAS, Ross 8vo, pp. 222. Original black quarter boards, lettered in silver to spine. Red endpapers. Illustrated dust jacket, photographic portrait of author to rear flap. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Dust jacket design by Leonard Ratzkin. First edition of the third Mac McCorkle title, and a fine copy. HUBIN, p. 402
Arsène Lupin
JEPSON, Edgar and LEBLANC, Maurice 8vo, pp. 344, 32pp. advertisements bound in at rear. Original black boards, lettered in gilt to spine and red to front panel. Cameo photographic portrait of Gerald du Maurier as Arsène Lupin to front panel, publisher's monogram blind stamped to rear panel. Lower edge uncut. Slight and occasional foxing to text block, cameo to front board just a little chipped, but a very good copy with some light bumping to corners and spine ends. First edition of this novelisation of the play by Maurice Leblanc and Francis de Croisset. Mills and Boon published a cheaper paperback edition the same year (and possibly simultaneously). This clothbound issue of the first edition is extremely scarce. HUBIN, p. 226
The Battling Prophet
UPFIELD, Arthur 8vo, pp. 226. Original red boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dust jacket, author's photographic portrait to rear panel. Offsetting to endpapers, but a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with just a little loss to corners and the lightest of wear to spine ends. First edition. An Inspector Bonaparte title. Indigenous Australian Inspector Napoleon 'Bony' Bonaparte was the hugely successful creation of Arthur Upfield [1890-1964], born in England but whose more than thirty crime novels are all set in the vast Australian interior. The novels were the basis for a popular 1970s television series. HUBIN, p. 412