FICTION

Autograph Signature of the novelist Gilbert Frankau, cut from letter.

Author: 
Gilbert Frankau (1884-1952), popular British novelist
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£23.00

On 12 x 21 cm rectangle, cut from the base of a 4to leaf. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with part of the card mount adhering to the reverse. A firm flowing signature which reads: 'Yours sincerely | Gilbert Frankau'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Victorian novelist Ethel Bourne [to Rupert Simms, author of the 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis'] explaining her reasons for publishing under the pseudonym 'Evelyn Burne'.

Author: 
Ethel Bourne, Victorian novelist under the pseudonym 'Evelyn Burne' [Rupert Simms (1853-1937), bookseller and author of the 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis']
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Hilderstone Hall, Stone, Staffordshire. 18 May 1892.
£38.00

1p., 12mo. 10 lines. On bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She explains that her only publications up to that point are 'Stormbeaten and Weary' and 'Spectre Stricken' ('a Christmas Story'). 'I wish to remain unknown until I can write a book I consider sufficiently good to have my own name - for this reason I have called myself "Evelyn Burne".'

The Popular Family Tales of Mrs. Craik

Author: 
[Mrs Craik]
Publication details: 
London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co (earliest published work in BL 1890).; Glasgow: Thomas D. Morison[after 1887, her year of death]
£350.00

430pp., 8vo, “Biographical Sketch,” unsigned, p. 5–6,bookplate (Presentation), bokseller's label (both inside front cover), very dark red smooth cloth, spine blocked in gold., sl. worn, corners bumped wear to edges of spine, eps foxed, pages stained (mainly sides), ow good. Copy in Parish Collection, Princeton; none listed on COPAC, WorldCat. or Woolf.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ada Ellen Bayly / "Edna Lyall."') by the novelist Edna Lyall (real name Ada Ellen Bayly), on the part played by illustrations in novels.

Author: 
'Edna Lyall', pseudonym of the novelist Ada Ellen Bayly (1857-1903)
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 6 College Road, Eastbourne. 11 January 1893.
£90.00

2pp., 12mo. Fifteen lines. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. The male recipient is not named. She apologies that 'the crowd of Christmas engagements' has meant that his letter has gone unanswered until now. 'With regard to the question you ask, my feeling is that where an artist and an author can contrive to work well together illustrations are a decided improvement to novels. But it is most trying to an author to see his characters presented to the public in a way utterly unlike his own conception of them.' In her view it is 'clear gain' if a book can be 'well illustrated'.

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed from the Welsh writer Showell Styles.

Author: 
Showell Styles (1908-2005), Welsh writer and mountaineer, whose detective fiction appeared under the pseudonym 'Glyn Carr'
 Autograph Letter Signed from the Welsh writer Showell Styles.
Publication details: 
Dated August 1970; on letterhead of Trwyn Cae Iago, Borth-y-Gest, Portmadoc, Caernarvonshire.
£38.00
 Autograph Letter Signed from the Welsh writer Showell Styles.

The 12mo letter has been cut into two sections, both laid down on a piece of mustard paper, with typed caption. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The body of the letter is on a piece of paper roughly 11 cm square. Six lines of text, enclosing 'autograph & quotation' (not present), and apologising for having 'no photo available'. 'Glad you enjoy my books, & thanks for your good wishes'. The smaller piece, with letterhead and Styles's dating, is roughly 8.5 x 3.5 cm.

Galley proofs of Damon Knight's 1962 anthology 'A Century of Science Fiction'.

Author: 
Damon Knight (1922-2002), American science-fiction writer and editor
Publication details: 
New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1962.
£350.00

126 galleys, numbered in type, each 60 x 15 cm, and containing the text of two pages. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with fraying and light staining to some extremities. Red Simon and Schuster label, with typed publication date and price, on reverse of last leaf. Under seven headings from 'Robots' to 'Marvelous Inventions', and featuring the work of authors from Jules Verne to Brian W. Aldiss. Introduction and linking passages by Knight himself. Although present in the proofs, one story - 'The Mindworm' by C. M.

A Book of Counsels for Girls. Published under the direction of the Tract Committee.

Author: 
Mary Bell, Victorian novelist, author of 'By Northern Seas' (1897)
A Book of Counsels for Girls.
Publication details: 
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. [1888.]
£125.00
A Book of Counsels for Girls.

12mo, 96 pp, followed by four-page SPCK catalogue (with first page listing works by the Rev. F. Bourdillon). Text clear and complete. In original olive cloth binding, gilt, stained with damp. Damp damage at rear leaving light staining to corners of last few leaves and catalogue, together with heavier damage to rear endpapers. Traces of Library label on front pastedown. Cloth faded, worn and stained. Bell explains in her preface that 'The poor are excellently well provided with all sorts of books of counsel and help.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'Dear France'.

Author: 
Edgar Jepson [Edgar Alfred Jepson] (1863-1938), English writer of detective fiction, sometimes under the name 'R. Edison Page'
Publication details: 
Letter One: 17 May 1907; Hillfarance, Elm Road, Wembley. Letter Two: 29 June 1907; 23 Bath Road, Bedford Park. London W.
£95.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Letter One: 12mo (15 x 10 cm), 1 p. He thanks him 'for the Tickets': 'we are looking forward to seeing you act. I shall be very pleased to come to smoke a cigarette after the first act off the Duel.' ('The Duel' was produced at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1907.) Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp. He thanks him 'for the excellent evening you gave me at The Coronet the other night. | The Incubus is an admirable play, and admirably acted.' He hopes France 'had a good week of it': 'I told innumerable people not to miss it.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Gilbert Parker.') to 'Mr Anderson'.

Author: 
Sir Gilbert Parker [Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker] (1862-1932), Canadian novelist and British politician [early cinema]
Publication details: 
5 April 1922; on letterhead of 24 Portman Square, [London] W.1.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. On aged, worn paper with small area of loss at head (not affecting text). He will be 'pleased to act on the Committee to judge of the stories for filming', and is glad that 'the work will not be onerous'. In a postscript gives the version of his name he wishes given for announcing ('Right Hon. Sir Gilbert Parker Bt.'). According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, no fewer than sixteen of Parker's novels were filmed. As head of British propaganda in America, 1914-1916, Parker had a direct involvement with the medium.

Typed Note Signed ('Phillips Oppenheim') to Lawrence Mack, editor of Everybody's Weekly.

Author: 
E. Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) [Lawrence Mack; Everybody's Weekly]
Publication details: 
26 April 1928; on letterhead of Villa Deveron, Cagnes, Alpes-Maritmes, France.
£56.00

8vo: 1 p. Good, on lightly-creased paper, with a faint 4cm pink stain in the right-hand margin. Reads 'Many thanks for the copy of your interesting paper, and the kindly reference to my novel.'

An Buaiceas. 1. ceithre sgéalta rug craobh an Oireachtais leó 'sa bhliadhain 1898. [Sgéalta nua-dhéanta. - IV.]

Author: 
Pádraig Ó Séaghdha (pseudonym ‘Conán Maol’) (1855-1928), Irish writer
Publication details: 
I mBaile Átha Cliath: Ar n-a gcur amach do Chonnradh na Gaedhilge, 1903.
£200.00

12mo: 97 pp. A good, tight copy, on aged paper, in contemporary calf binding gilt. All edges gilt, marble endpapers, dentelles. Binding rubbed and worn. Apparently complete (and certainly complete as bound), containing all four stories listed in the National Library of Ireland entry, but having 97 rather than the 167 pp in that entry. A landmark work in Irish literature, highly regarded as a pioneering attempt to modernize Gaelic narrative.

Her Royal Highness; A Romance of the Chancelleries of Europe.

Author: 
William Le Queux
Publication details: 
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914.
£56.00

Octavo: 190 pp. In original red cloth binding. First edition. Lacks rear free endpaper. On aged paper and in heavily worn binding. INSCRIBED by author on creased front free endpaper 'Much that is contained in this book is founded on fact | [signed] William Le Queux | Oct 1916'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Laurence W. Meynell') to 'Miss Card'.

Author: 
Laurence Meynell [Laurence Walter Meynell] (1899-1989), English children's writer
Publication details: 
19 April 1937; on letterhead of Lime Tree Cottage, Great Kingshill, Buckinghamshire.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Creased, and with an unobtrusive 1 cm closed tear. He thanks her for her 'charming letter of appreciation'. He is delighted that she 'so enjoyed' 'The Door' ['The Door in the Wall' (1937)]: 'a similar story (or rather one dealing with Phillip Markham & Baikie) will be appearing in the autumn probably in early October'. 'It always cheers an author up to know that he has pleased his readers - & if they do him the good turn of recommending his book to their friends he is vastly obliged!'

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr. Nunnez'.

Author: 
Elinor Glyn [born Elinor Sutherland] (1864-1943), English novelist
Publication details: 
15 March [docketed 1936]; on letterhead of 11 Connaught Place, London W.2.
£80.00

8vo, 2 pp. Very good. She has been recovering from influenza at Brighton. 'I think your Paper is going on Splendidly [last word underlined] & I am so glad! [last two words underlined]'. 'Yes, isnt Margaret Ettinger a charming Creature! She told me you had talked together of me'. Asks for Ettinger's address. 'How's the home? - how's the charming wife? - & when shall we discuss the affairs of the world, the flesh, & the devil?!' She is well, 'all but my knee, which has been behaving like an ungrateful child'.

Autograph Subscription signed.

Author: 
Virginia Frazer Boyle, American Science Fiction writer, novelist.
Boyle
Publication details: 
No place or date surviving.
£50.00
Boyle

Scrap of paper,3.5 x 1", with the words, in Boyle's hand, "you and believe me / with sincere regard, / Your friend / P.G. Wodehouse,". Paper partly laid down on card, unevenly and crudely cut, staining, corners have remnants of a laying down, and another hand has added "Author of 'Devil Tales' &c. Memphis, Tenn." (the word "Author" partly obscured. The text is clear if a little faded. Items in Boyle's hand appear to be scarce.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. H. Mallock') to 'Mrs Nesbit'.

Author: 
William Hurrell Mallock (1849-1923), English author [Edith Nesbit]
Publication details: 
10 October 1879; 15 Savile Row, London.
£35.00

12mo: 1 p. On discoloured paper with wear at head and traces of previous mount adhering to blank reverse. He sent the publishers Chatto & Windus her novel the previous Monday, 'begging them to write to you on the matter, and giving your work my best recommendation'. He has not heard anything from them himself, but expects it will 'take a week or two, before they can give an opinion'. The recipient may be Edith Nesbit, although this is unlikely as Nesbit was her maiden name. She became Edith Bland in 1880. None of her works appear to have been published by Chatto & Windus.

Fear. Reprinted from the "Manchester Quarterly," April 1914.

Author: 
L. Conrad Hartley
Publication details: 
London: Sherratt and Hughes. Manchester: 34 Cross Street.
£28.00

8vo: 8 pp. Stapled and unbound. In original grey printed wraps with rusted staples. Grubby and dogeared. Signed ('L. Conrad Hartley') presentation inscription dated 31 May 1915. No copy of the offprint of this short story on COPAC.

The Neophyte and the High Priest. Reprinted from the "Manchester Quarterly," January, 1915.

Author: 
L. Conrad Hartley
Publication details: 
London: Sherratt & Hughes. Manchester: 34 Cross Street. 1915.
£28.00

8vo: 11 pp. Unbound and stapled. In original beige printed wraps. Grubby and dogeared, with rusted staples. Signed (L. Conrad Hartley') presentation, dated 31 May 1915. No copy of the offprint off this short story on COPAC.

Typed Letter Signed ('Dorothy Black') to [Kathleen Cruise O'Brien] O'Duffy, the wife of the Irish writer Eimar O'Duffy.

Author: 
Dorothy Black (Delius) (1899-1985), English romantic novelist, travel and short-story writer [Ladies' Home Journal; Eimar O'Duffy]
Publication details: 
26 June 1925; La Chaumiere, Shillong, Assam.
£85.00

4to: 3 pp. Text clear and entire on creased, chipped airmail paper. A chatty, vivacious and entertaining letter, casting light on the state of mind of an English colonial wife. Thanks her for her 'kind remarks about my stories.

The Art of Fiction. A Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution on Friday evening, April 25, 1884 (With Notes and Additions).

Author: 
Walter Besant
Publication details: 
London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly. 1884. [Billing and Sons, Printers, Guildford.]
£28.00

Octavo: 39 pp. Stitched. In original orange wraps, with grey printed paper boards. On spotted, aged paper, with insect holes to a couple of leaves. Wraps stained and worn. First English printing of an essay noted for its coupling with Henry James's piece of the same name (not present here) in an American edition of 1885.

A co-operative [booksellers'] catalogue' entitled 'Detective Fiction: A Century of Crime: First and Early Editions'.

Author: 
R. A. Brimmell; Boris Harding-Edgar (Charles Rare Books)
Publication details: 
Hastings and Hildenborough; [circa 1966].
£120.00

Forty-four pages, octavo, with two-page leaf of addenda loosely inserted. Four pages illustrating seventeen pictorial covers on art paper. In printed card wraps. A worn and creased copy of an influential catalogue, issued at a time when, as the introduction points out 'catalogues devoted to detective fiction [were] something of a rarity in the book trade'.

Projet d'application de la lumiere electriqu[e] a l'eclairage des villes

Author: 
[ELECTRICAL ILLUMINATION VIA BALLOONS] Charles Dubos, French inventor or scientist
Publication details: 
No date (mid-to late Nineteenth-Century).
£350.00

Four pages, folio, chipped with small loss of text. IN FRENCH. He begins: "Les nombreuses experiences que j'ai fait sur la lumiere electriquee l'appareil que j'ai confectionne me mettant en meme de pouvoir l'appliquer a l'eclairage des villes avec avantage et economie sur tout autre systeme". He discusses the expense of gas and gives a precis of his plan ("L'agende"), giving letters which correspond to a "dessin" which is not present, and listing his points with a little detail: un ballon de gaz; filet ensoie; cordes en soie; Lampe electrique . .

Autograph Note Signed to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Fergus Hume.
Publication details: 
44 Eton Gardens, London, SW, 2 Sept. 1900.
£180.00

Australian Novelist, author of "Mystery of a Hansom Cab" (1886). One page, 8vo, suitable for framing, with bold signature, minor defects, text clear and complete as follows: Dear Sir, / Better late than never. Herewith the autograph you asked me for 14th February last / Yours faithfully, / Fergus Hume..

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mrs Valentine'.

Author: 
Victor Sawdon Pritchett
Publication details: 
16 December 1985; on letterhead '12 REGENTS PARK TERRACE | LONDON N.W.I'.
£28.00

English novelist (1900-96). One page, octavo. Good, but with slight marking from staple in top left-hand corner. He is glad his correspondent is 'having therapy for your bad back for, hard work though it is, and must be in your case, I'm sure you will find it helpful. | About author's proofs, they of course usually go back to publishers; but what I am glad to be able to send you is the jacket of my latest book which at least has a picture and my signature, and I hope it will, at least, be decorative in your study.' Signed 'Victor S Pritchett'.

Family (holiday) newspaper, typescript, "The Frinton Some-times". And another item.

Author: 
A member of the Farjeon Family, prob. Joan Jefferson Farjeon, later a set designer.
Publication details: 
1928
£225.00

Three issues, 12-8-1928, 13-8-1928 and 4-9-1928 (incomplete), 12 pp., 4to, not bound, loose pages as issued (with paper clip), marked by paper-clip rust, mainly good. The first two are also headed "Final Edition", and are vil. 1, nos.1,2. The third has only a title. Much of it is spoof with the rest light-hearted, making copy out of events and people that occur during a holiday. J. Jefferson Farjeon features frequeently with a sprained ankle, breaking the golf-course record (a 6 hole course), and there is news of other members of the family and friends who visit inc.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
George Payne Rainsford James [G.P.R. James]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£20.00

English novelist (1799-1860). On fragment of paper approximately 4 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. In poor condition: creased and discoloured from previous mounting. Reads 'Your most faithful Servant, | G. P. R James'. Docketed on reverse 'March | - | Ap 28 | a 2 May'.

A memorial service for Dorothy Leigh Sayers (Mrs. Atherton Fleming) M.A. (Oxon.): Hon. D.Litt. (Durham) Born 13th June, 1893 Died 17th December, 1957

Author: 
[Dorothy Leigh Sayers]
Publication details: 
ST. MARGARET, WESTMINSTER [...] on WEDNESDAY, 15th JANUARY, 1958 at 12.30 p.m.'
£75.00

Unbound bifoliate. Four unpaginated pages. Dimensions of leaf roughly 8 inches by 5 inches. In very good condition, but with two instances of light creasing. The lessons were read by Val Gielgud and Judge Gordon Clark, and the panegyric was by C. S. Lewis.

Typed letter signed to Josephine Bell, detective story writer, and Chairman of the Crime Writers Association.

Author: 
Hillary Waugh.
Publication details: 
Chestnut Cottage, Flimwell, Wahurst, Sussex, no date.
£50.00

American Crime Writer. One page, 4to. He refers to his just having been welcomed into the Crime Writers' Association but has been too busy to reply sooner. He has ben packing and trying to "finish a novel (which failed)". He very much appreciates meeting CWA members. He adds that "the book is now en route for Crime Club" giving him the opportunity to look about him. He would welcome CWA visitors and prmises a good cup of tea from his Australian mother-in-law".

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