Lord Castleton
Autograph Letter Signed
, , n.d. . Unbound. Near fine condition. A short letter to a Mr Agnew. Castleton was an MP and served in both South Africa and the Egyptian Campaign. Stamp glue to reverse. Addressed from the Travellers' Club, Pall Mall. [11197, Hyraxia Books]. n.d.
More from Hyraxia Books
The Other Side of Zero
New York, Gernsback Publications, 1953. Manuscript. Unbound. Very good condition. Published in the first issue of the short lived magazine. Donald H. Menzel (1901–1976) was an American astrophysicist and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the fields of solar physics, astrophysics, and UFO research. Menzel was a professor of astrophysics at Harvard University and an advocate for proving the UFO's did not exist. Marked up throughout, some in Gernsback's hand (and initialled by him on the first leaf), others one would presume to be in Moskowitz's hand. 40pp typed, numerous amendments, some cutting and pasting. Some grubbiness and a few tears and creases. [11203, Hyraxia Books]. The King’s Missal
London, Herbert Jenkins, 1934. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy, lacking the jacket. A weird novel involving a book bound in human skin, the spirit of who haunts the tale. Some sunning to the spine, and a little bumping to the tips and corners. Internally neat. [11234, Hyraxia Books]. The Isle of Lies
London, T. Werner Laurie, nd [1909]. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy, no jacket. A mad scientist novel, set on a remote island. Tips a little bumped and boards a little soiled, internally a little offsetting but a pleasing copy overall. [11233, Hyraxia Books]. nd [1909] The Napoleon of Notting Hill
London, John Lane, 1904. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A near fine copy. An early Chesterton novel and one of his best known. A future history novel set in London in 1984 (apparently why Orwell set his book in the same year, but that's a bit speculative from what I can see). A little rubbing and edgewear, some bumping to the edges and corners, small split to the cloth at the lower edge of the spine. Some pencil markings to the pastedowns. [11232, Hyraxia Books]. The City of Gold [published as part of] W.T. Stead’s Penny Popular Novels [#98]
Edward Markwick London, The Masterpiece Library, nd. Later Edition. Paperback. A good copy only. Abridged edition. Lower wrap detached from one volume, some tanning and a few creases and tears. Worn. [11185, Hyraxia Books]. nd Vathek
William Beckford London, Chez Clarke, 1815. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy. This is the first French language edition published in England. Bound in full mottled calf, with some rubbing to the edges and corners, but neat overall. Pencil note to endpaper. A nice book. [11162, Hyraxia Books]. The Planet Mars and its Inhabitants: A Psychic Revelation
Iros Urides, A Martian [ed. J.L. Kennon] No Place, Mabel J. McKean, 1922. First Edition. Paperback. A very good copy. Did you know that the Martians met Christ 10,000 years ago? Well, you do now. A wonderful history of Mars (history in the loosest sense). Some tanning to the wrappers, and a little chipping to the edges, some pulling to the rear and rusting to the hinges. College stamp to front endpaper, so ex-lib. Publishers(?) sticker pasted in to front endpaper. [11119, Hyraxia Books]. The End of Eternity
Isaac Asimov New York, Doubleday, 1955. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy. An important Asimov novel. A couple of closed tears, the longest to the rear fold (~30mm). A little edge wear elsewhere but nice overall. Some bumping to the spine tips, and a little rubbing. Collector's plate to the front pastedown. Cover art by Mel Hunter [11070, Hyraxia Books]. The Gurgoyle Stories: 1859 & 1860
London, Gray's Inn, 1859-1860. Manuscript. Hardback. A fantastic manuscript, comprising 17 original, unpublished short stories and poems, with elements of fantasy and the supernatural. Appears to be the sole surviving artefact of the Gurgoyle Club, a group of Victorian barristers meeting at chambers in the Inns of Court. All seventeen contributions (twelve stories, three poems and two songs) apparently unpublished. All but a couple of the contributors were distinguished men (four feature in the Oxford DNB), with the Cambridge friends Ralston and Munby in particular noted for their literary achievements. The ten contributors are: Richard Butt; Victor Chevalley de Rivaz (1833-1895), writer of cookery books [two stories]; Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817-1878), Egyptologist; William Henfrey [two stories]; Sir James Charles Mathew (1830-1908), judge; Arthur Joseph Munby (1828-1910), civil servant, poet and diarist [poem and song]; Charles Spencer Perceval (1829-1889), F.S.A., Secretary to the Commissioners of Lunacy; William Ralston (1829-1889), writer and translator (reported to have become insane 'from too close a study of the mysterious Whitechapel murders') [story, poem and song]; John Lewis Roget (1828-1908), son of the compiler of the 'Thesaurus' [two stories]; Charles Mahon Tyndall (d.1881), barrister [two stories]. Most of the contributors were born in the late 1820s or early 1830s, and several were educated at Cambridge. The collection is entertaining, and flashes of humour abound, but horror and fantasy predominate. For example, the poem 'Ye Pot of Porter' Ralston finds himself standing beside "the grave of one I loved: .The coffin bursts, & from its reeking dark Rolls out a hideous mass of writhing flesh - She haunts me with her eyes: their glaring orbs Flash in the cornice, dance around the walls And mock me through the trellice of the grate."And in Goodwin's 'Chalybaeus' the narrator writes of a baby: "The poor thing screamed & struggled as I took it up, but I only hugged it the tighter and when I placed it in the arms of its mother it had ceased to scream; to my horror I found that it was a mere charred and roasted mass. In the heat of the moment I had not perceived that my arms had become redhot & the child had perished in my too ardent embrace." And in 'The Devil' Mathews writes: ".the demon sprang towards me & burst into a roar of fiendish laughter. He stood before me for an instant with his knees slightly bent & a hand resting on each: while his eyes transfixed me. An awful change rapidly came over him; his garments shrunk off him like burned skin off an eel; a hideous green cuticle covered with scales glistened upon him; a lurid flame burst out of a saucepan on his head; wings grew from his arms down his sides and to my unspeakable anguish he commenced tumbling in all directions round me. I lost all consciousness. Presently a horrible noise filled the chamber; I heard a voice like thunder consigning me to damnation. I felt that if I did not make a final effort & call the police I should be lost." 4to volume (leaf dimensions 25 x 19.5 cm): 338 unnumbered pages. The entire volume is written out in the same neat hand (only Roget's first contribution carries any emendation). The title, two half-titles, and the title of each piece are written out in red, with initials illuminated in gold, blue and white. Each page is enclosed in a red border. Internally tight and clean, with text clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper. In a sturdy red morocco binding, with the boards blind-stamped with a fleur-de-lys decoration, dentelles and marbled endpapers. Title in gilt Old English letters on spine. Worn and rebacked. Illustrated bookplate of the contributor V. C. de Rivaz, and label of Dr Michael Brown of Gerrard's Cross. The first eight pieces are grouped under the half-title 'The Gurgoyle Stories read at the Supper at Coates' Chambers vi Grays Inn Square the xix of Jan. mdccclix', and the last nine under 'The Gurgoyle St Astro Bubbles
Boston, The Four Seas Company, 1928. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy in a good jacket. An examination into the various speculations over the shape of earth. "A mixture of narrative and lengthy quasi-scientific discussion which combine to produce a decidedly eccentric view of the Earth and the surrounding cosmos. The book qualifies as a lost race fiction of the inner world sort, with a touch of the after life thrown in. Way out on the limb of the family tree of the oddball." [Locke, Spectrum I, p83]. The jacket presents well but is split at the spine along 90% of its length. Some chips, and edgewear. Boards a little rubbed at the corners, bumping to the spine tips. [11079, Hyraxia Books]. How I Came to Write ‘Looking Backward’ [published in] The Nationalist
Boston, The Nationalist Publishing Co., 1889. First edition, first impression. Paperback. A good copy. Volume I, number one. Uncommon. Some chipping to the wrappers, large tear to upper wrap, some splitting to the spine. [11215, Hyraxia Books].
Typed Letter Signed to Archibald Marshall
London, , 1913. . Unbound. Fine condition. A wonderful two page letter from Pain in which he provides feedback on Marshall's novel Upsidonia, which was published two years later. Some great feedback, and it would make a nice task to compare the final novel to Pain's feedback. [11198, Hyraxia Books]. Stinger
New York, Pocket Fiction, 1987. Proof. Paperback. A very good copy. Signed by the author without inscription to the title page. Advance reading copy. A little scuff to the lower corner, and an area of loss to the lower corner (this has been crudely taped back in place). A little rubbing, but a nice copy overall. [11179, Hyraxia Books]. A Goddess Arrives
London, Stockwell, 1939. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy, in a good jacket. An uncommon book revolving around the worship of Aphrodite. Gardner is best remembered for his work progressing modern witchcraft. The jacket has a large area of loss to the spine and a number of chips and closed tears. the book is a little bumped and shaken. Boards a little bowed. Internally neat. [11160, Hyraxia Books]. Nine by Laumer
New York, Doubleday, 1967. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A near fine copy. Uncommon. Collects nine short stories, with an introduction by Harlan Ellison. Not often seen. Jacket a little rubbed, owner's name to the front pastedown and a little edgewear. [11143, Hyraxia Books]. The Diamond Lens and Other Stories
London, Ward & Downey, 1887. First Edition. Hardback. A very good copy. Collects 13 short pieces, with 'a sketch of O'Brien'. Preceded by the 1885 Scribner issue, and pieces also published earlier in 1881. "a handful of brilliantly original sf tales, which were influential not only on subsequent sf but also on the development of the short-story genre." [SFE, Clute]. [11247, Hyraxia Books]. Nephelococcygia, or Letters from Paradise
London, W. Spurrell & Son, md [1928 or 1929]. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy. An uncommon book, this copy offered with an ALS from the author describing the book, and additionally inscribed by the author to the letter's addressee on the endpaper, and signed by the author with name only to the title page. A short novel and seven short stories, The title essentially translates to Cloud-Cuckoo Land, from Aristophanes' The Birds. Spine tips and corners a touch bumped, stain to the top edge on the upper boards, internally neat with just a little offsetting. [11226, Hyraxia Books]. md [1928 or 1929] John Stewart: A Portfolio
Lakewood, CO, Centipede Press, 2011. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A near fine copy. Signed by the publisher. Introduction by Andrew Smith, with a preface by Ramsey Campbell. A fantastic collection. #95 of 250 copies. Signed by Campbell and Smith. Small area of wear to the head of the spine and a small mark to the top of the block. Mark to foreedge. [11205, Hyraxia Books]. 2001: A Space Odyssey
London, Hutchinson, 1968. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A very good copy. An important work of science fiction, notably providing the plot for the Kubrick film (Clarke's short piece The Sentinel provided the bones of the story, the book is more of a novelisation of The Sentinel and film - a bit like von Harbou's Metropolis). Rolling and bumping rubbing to the jacket and spine tips. A slight reading lean, price-clipped and a small bookshop sticker to the front pastedown. [11235, Hyraxia Books]. 