IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS: A Romantic Narrative of the Loss of Captain Grant and the Brig Britannia and of The Adventures of His Children and Friends in His Discovery and Rescue. Illustrated with One Hundred and Seventy Engravings.
VERNE, Jules.

Large octavo, original green cloth decorated in black and gilt, all edges gilt, brown coated endpapers. Heavily illustrated throughout. The first American edition, and the first edition in English of Verne's fifth book, originally published in France in 1867 as LES ENFANTS DU CAPTAINE GRANT. Neat, clean repairs to the inner hinges, general very light wear to the corners and spine tips; a very nice copy, very good or better. Issued in several colours of cloth, both with and without gilt edges; this is certainly a preferred binding. ¶ Fantastic adventure novel. The contents of a shark's stomach contain a bottle containing notes written in several languages, which together reveal the partial whereabouts of Captain Harry Grant, whose ship The Britannia was lost over two years prior. The latitude of his location is known but not the longitude, and so a group of searchers goes and traces the 37th parallel across the southern hemisphere. The first edition contains all three parts of the tale, it was later republished - usually separately - under the titles VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD: South America / Australia / New Zealand or as THE MYSTERIOUS DOCUMENT / ON THE TRACK and AMONG THE CANNIBALS. The complete work as issued here was not published in the UK, it is one of the few of Verne's novels which did not get picked up by Sampson Low.

THE WHITE FAWN; Or, The Fairies of Fire and Water! Founded Upon the Celebrated French Drama Called "LA BICHE AU BOIS!" From Which the Fairy Extravaganza, Entitled "The White Fawn." Now Playing at Niblos, New York, Was Adapted.
ANONYMOUS.

Wrappers; disbound, complete, lacking a few preliminary blanks and perhaps a half-title. pp [5] - 84 . A few stamps from both the New York Public Library and also Kittles Circulating Library, 765 Sixth Ave., New York (on title and first leaf of text). Minor creases and a few stains; a very good copy. Rare. ¶ A fairy tale / fantasy novel, complete with princes and princesses, a dark towers, fairy kingdoms, a haunted forest, a magician and a magic talisman. THE WHITE FAWN ends at p. 49; it is followed by two other tales, KING CHARMING, also a fairy-tale, and THE STORY OF HASCHEM, an Arabian Nights type fantasy tale concerning the Caliph Harun al Rascid,

SHAFTS FROM AN EASTERN QUIVER. Illustrated by Arthur Pearse.
MANSFORD, C.J.

Octavo, original decorated grey cloth blocked and titled in black and brown on front cover, titled in gilt and decorated in black & brown on spine. Decorated endpapers. 279 pp. Frontispiece and numerous plates within the text. Small bookplate, inner hinges cracked, slight wear to spine tips; a bright, very good copy. ¶ Connected series of Oriental short stories collected from THE STRAND magazine. Fantasy & supernatural; a suspended animation tale of a woman frozen in ice, a tale of a man-sized spider, etc.

FAREWELL NIKOLA. Illustrated by Harold Piffard.
BOOTHBY, Guy.

Octavo, original blue cloth over beveled boards, titled in white (or-reverse-titled in white within gilt edged white boxes) on spine, stamped in white and with a pictorial paper label on front panel. 315 pp + [4] pp. publisher's ads at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard, plus seven additional full-page plates throughout the text. Foxing to the endpapers and the tissue guard; spine white lettering on spine faded otherwise a very good, bright copy. ¶ The final Doctor Nikola novel, concerning a criminal mastermind and sinister occultist who seeks immortality and plots to take over the world.

TOLD AFTER SUPPER. With 96 or 97 illustrations by Kenneth M. Skeaping.
JEROME, Jerome K.

Octavo, original orange-red cloth titled and decorated in black on upper cover, titled in black on spine. Top edges gilt. 169 pp + 14 pp publisher's catalogue at rear (which includes 2 pages of type specimens). Frontispiece and numerous illustrations throughout, both full page and within the text. Printed in dark blue ink on heavy pale blue paper. A few pages roughly opened, one signature sprung, small marks to the cloth; spine panel tanned and with a small chip repaired at head of spine; very good overall. ¶ Collection of Christmas ghost stories, but actually humorous spoofs of the genre. The setting is a drunken storytelling session on Christmas eve. The tales are none too spooky, but the format of the book and the illustrations are completely wonderful.

PHAROS THE EGYPTIAN. Illustrated by John H. Bacon.
BOOTHBY, Guy.

Octavo, original blue cloth titled and decorated in gilt on spine and front panel. 376 pp + [8] pp. publisher's ads at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard, plus 11 additional full-page black & white plates inserted throughout the text, all by Bacon. Light foxing, gilt on front cover a bit rubbed but a very nice, bright copy. Very good. ¶ Supernatural fantasy novel. Pharos, a re-animated Egyptian mummy, is a practicing sorceror and black magician who brings a plague down upon 19th century London. An excellent "mummy's revenge" novel, one of the best.

OLGA ROMANOFF; Or, The Syren of the Skies. A Sequel to "The Angel of the Revolution".
GRIFFITH, George.

Large octavo, original gold pictorial cloth, front cover designed and lettered in black & dark blue, spine designed and lettered in gilt. 377 pp + [3] pp publishers ads at rear. Frontispiece by Edwin S. Hope. Inner front hinge cracking at half-title leaf, text block a bit shaken, cloth lightly worn at head & heel of spine & at the corner tips, light bumping. A very good, bright copy, overall. ¶ Set in the year 2030, Olga Romanoff, descendant of the Czars, leads a counter-revolution against the anarchists, herein called the Aerians. Mind-control drugs, super-science, communication with Mars.

THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION. A Tale of the Coming Terror. With Illustrations by Fred T. Jane.
GRIFFITH, George.

Seventh Edition. Large octavo, original pictorial blue cloth over beveled boards, front panel stamped in red and black, spine panel titled and ruled in gold, dark brown coated endpapers. 395 pp + [1] pp publisher's ads at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard (by Edwin S. Hope) plus 16 additional full-page plates by Jane throughout the text. A nearly fine, bright copy. Identical in format to the first printing. ¶ Science Fiction novel of future global war. Set in 1903-1905, concerning an anarchist takeover of the world - and they succeed. Advanced inventions and airships, and Natasha - The Angel of the Revolution - so called because she has a penchant for singing anthems off the decks of the anarchists airships. Or maybe she's just pretty.

VALDAR THE OFT-BORN: A Saga of Seven Ages. Illustrated by Harold Piffard.
GRIFFITH, George.

Large octavo, original dark red pictorial cloth stamped in black and gilt on front panel, titled in gilt on spine. Of several known binding states this is the first and the nicest. 416 pp. Frontispiece and 15 additional full-page plates by Piffard inserted throughout the text. Small ink inscription dated 1900 on inner front cover, endpapers browned, small worn spot (1/2 inch) along outer front hinge, spine tips show wear; a very good tight copy. ¶ Heroic fantasy novel of immortality / reincarnation from Ancient Ninevah to the Age of Napoleon. Valdar, the Son of Odin, travels from one lifetime to another, doomed for eternity to beat up whoever and wherever it is that he ends up next. Basically a series of bloodthirsty historical novelettes strung together on a flimsy charge. A pretty nice copy of a very attractive book.

VEENI THE MASTER. "The Story of a Dream". A Romance.
LAMPORT, Richard Fifield.

Octavo, original red cloth stamped in black on front cover, gilt titles to spine. 305 pp + [3] pp ads + [48] pp publisher's catalogue dated January 1912 bound in at rear. Front & rear endpapers neatly replaced with matching paper; spine slightly canted, spine panel browned and spotted, inner hinges cracking; a fairly good copy of a very scarce book. ¶ Edwardian Science Fiction novel. "Science fantasy romance in which, just before life on earth is extinguished by the fires of a comet, a 'chosen few' are enabled by an omnipresent but non-altrustic Veeni to transfer their souls into the bodies of the human inhabitants of Zan, a planet round another star." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy [1980].

ERIC BRIGHTEYES. With Numerous Illustratons by Lancelot Speed.
HAGGARD, H. Rider.

Octavo, original bluish-green cloth over beveled boards, gilt titles on spine & front panel. 319 pp + 16 page publisher's catalogue bound in at rear, dated 12/90. 17 full-page illustrations and numerous woodcuts throughout the text. Small closed tear to outer margin of p. 88, one plate loose, spine lightly tanned and with one small spot; light tanning to edges of the cloth, minor rubbing and some tiny chips to spine ends. Overall, a very good bright copy, tight and with no cracking to the hinges.

THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST.
HAGGARD, H. Rider.

Octavo, original bluish-green cloth over beveled boards., gilt tiles on spine & front panel. 343 pp + 24 page publisher's catalogue, dated 9/94, bound in at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard and 15 additional full-page illustrations by Arthur Layard. Browning to tissue guard and catalogue at rear; some foxing, upper fore-edges of pages bumped, crease to p 217 and that leaf stands a little proud, inner front hinge starting to crack, light rubbing to cloth and slight wear at the tips; a very good , bright copy. ¶ African Lost race novel, a classic.

SHE. A HISTORY OF ADVENTURE.
HAGGARD, H. Rider.

First English edition, first issue with all the correct typographical errors ("Godness me", p. 269, etc). Original blue cloth with beveled edges titled and with a small cartouche in gilt on front panel, titled and with an image of a scarabaeus on spine. Two-page chromolithographic reproduction of "The Sherd of Armenartas" precedes title page. [2] pages of publishers ads at rear. An unrecorded variant issue with plain white endpapers instead of the 'Swan and Ship' patterned endpapers; priority (if any) unknown, but the endpapers are certainly original. W.H. Smith & Sons Subscription library label on front paste-down, partially effaced; inner hinges partially cracked, tiny tear at base of front spine hinge and a touch of corner wear, mild rubbing to the cloth. While not the brightest copy, it is certainly an attractive copy, and having handled and examined dozens of copies over the years I have never encountered a copy with plain endpapers. ¶ The lost city of Kor and the immortal Ayesha - the book which made Haggard' s career and the book by which all other Lost Race novels are measured.

THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. Edited by Paul Devon.
DAWSON, Erasmus, M.B. [pseudonuym of Paul Devon]

Octavo, original green cloth titled in gilt and black on spine, front panel decorated in brown and black, floral endpapers. Frontispiece with tissue guard, title page vignette (of a man falling into a pit of skeletons). 306 pp + 4 pp ads + 32 pp publisher's catalogue, dated April, 1891. Spine a bit canted and browned, small crease to front board, corners a bit soft; a very good copy. ¶ Lost race novel, a medieval kingdom of giants discovered by Victorian explorers in Borneo.

IRAS: A MYSTERY.
DOUGLAS, Theo. [pseudonym of Mrs. H.D. Everett]

Octavo, original orange cloth decorated with an Egyptian motif in silver, red and green on spine and front panel. 251 pp. Ink name on front free endpaper dated 1897, stain along fore-edge of back cover, spine a trifle canted and light wear to spine tips; a good to very good copy. ¶ Weird supernatural fantasy novel; magic, witchcraft and the raising of the dead. The mummy of a young Egyptian woman is revived in Victorian England. She is pursued by an Egyptian priest, and dies from an ancient curse.

THE PEOPLE OF THE MOON. A Novel. Illustrations by D'Aguilcourt.
CARTER, Tremlett.

Octavo, original pictorial blue cloth stamped in red and silver, all edges silver, floral endpapers. 402 pp + [8] pp publisher's ads at rear. Frontispiece and seven additional full-page plates inserted in the text, plus numerous illustrations within the text throughout. Ink name dated Mar 1 1896 at head of title page, moderate foxing, plate at p. 231 reinserted with some old glue marks along the inner margin, inner rear hinge cracked & neatly repaired, spine ends a bit chipped & worn (mostly at spine head, but with no significant loss); a very good copy. ¶ Science Fiction - an inner moon story with flying machines and monsters. A large snowball arrives on earth with a narrative of life on the moon enclosed. "An imaginative science-fantasy romance, with monsters and flying machines galore, of the life and civilization inside the moon; the manuscript was sent by means of an anti-gravity missile to earth for our edification." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy [1980].

IVANDA; Or, The Pilgrim's Quest. A Tale.
BRAY, Captain Claude.

Octavo, original pictorial brown beveled cloth decorated in black, red, brown, blue and gold, titles in black & gold. Decorated endpapers. 355 pp + [6] pp publisher's ads at rear. Frontispiece and several full-page illustrations on text paper and included in the pagination. Minor foxing, small scratches to the cloth, about a fine copy. ¶ Oriental adventure and lost race. A Utopian land in Central Asia populated by men of many origins. Our young hero is given an unusual golden lota by a dying pilgrim and is told to take it to "The Valley of the Peaceful Mind". The cover title runs "IVANDA: A Tale of Thibet".

A ROMANCE OF N'SHABÉ, Being a Record of Startling Adventures in South Central Asia.
ANDERSON, A.A. and A. Wall.

Octavo, original pictorial blue cloth decorated in black and titled in gilt, black coated endpapers. 366 pp. Frontispiece with tissue guard plus 7 (of 9) additional illustrations - this copy is lacking the plates at p. 73 "They gazed with amazement at the piled-up bodies" and p 238 "The Queen's Cave". Prize label on inner front cover, inner front hinge cracked, small stains and light rubbing to the cloth, a good to very good copy of a very scarce book. Lost Race novel - the discovery of the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in the lost city of N'Shabé somewhere in the Kalahari desert area.

THE WHITE PRINCESS OF THE HIDDEN CITY. Being the Record of Leslie Rutherford's Strange Adventures in Central America. With Six Illustrations by W. Boucher.
JOHNSTONE, David Lawson.

Octavo, original pictorial blue cloth designed in red, brown, black and white, titles in pale yellow, dark grey coated endpapers. [290] pp (page 290 is an ad page).Frontispiece with tissue guard and 5 additional full-page plates. A later issue binding - the first issue has the titles in gilt and a 32-page publisher's catalogue bound in at the rear, it also has the author's name mis-spelled "Johnston" on the front cover; here the titles are in pale yellow, there is no catalogue and the spelling of the author's name has been corrected. Cracking to front hinge at half-title leaf, small chip from lower corner of front free endpaper along with a 1" short closed tear, moderate light rubbing to the binding; a very good copy. ¶ The scarcest of Johnstone's three lost race novels. The impenetrable jungles of Nicaragua hide a rich and wonderful city of Incas called 'Oyalapa', ruled by a white queen of European ancestry.

FOR LUST OF GOLD: A Romance; Being a Narrative of the Adventures of Francis Boulmer, Anthony Goddad, and Certain Others, in their Search for the Golden City of Manoa.
WATSON, Aaron.

Octavo, original bevelled blue-green fine crackle-grain cloth ruled and elaborately blocked in black & gilt, embossed with lettering blue-green through gilt on sides and spine panel, all edges gilt. 312 pp, frontispiece, [16] pp publisher's catalogue inserted at rear. Certainly a later issue or later printing; Locke (Spectrum of Fantasy, 1980) describes a copy in a more elaborate binding which has six inserted plates. Gilt on spine very slightly dulled otherwise a fine, bright copy. ¶ Lost race novel set in Elizabethan times; a quest for El Dorado and the Fountain of Youth, culminating in the discovery of the lost city of Manoa.

THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE. A Winter's Tale.
STEVENSON, Robert Louis

Octavo, original red cloth titled and decorated in black on front & rear covers, gilt titles to spine, floral endpapers. 332 pp + 4 pp ads + [12] pp publisher's catalogue at rear, dated 5.G. 7.89 on the first leaf and 5 B 7.89 on the fith leaf. The first issue, with all points: half title lists 10 other titles; correct catalogue at rear; p. 41, the first line of the footnote has the 'l' dropped out of 'should'; p. 90, line 10, the 'f' in 'from' is out of line. Small bookplate of a noted collector on inner front cover, mild dust soiling to the cloth, head of spine with a short closed tear and a pronounced bump; a very good bright copy. Certainly scarce in the true first issue.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.
WELLS, H.G. [Herbert George].

Octavo, original grey cloth titled in black on spine and front panel. 303 pp. Of several noted variants, this is the issue with no publisher's catalogue inserted at the rear. Lacking the front free endpaper, and with a W.H. Smith & Sons Subscription Library label on the inner front cover; lower corners a trifle bruised, spine very slightly canted, a few small marks to the cloth. Overall, a very good copy, quite attractive. ¶ The classic Interplantary invasion novel.

THE CITY OF GOLD. A Tale of Sport, Travel and Adventure in the Heart of the Dark Continent. With Illustrations by H. Piffard.
MARKWICK, Edward.

Large octavo, original pictorial red cloth stamped in black and gilt. 324 pp + [4] pp ads at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard plus seven additional full-page black & white plates by Piffard. Bookplate on front endpaper of William Harry Hopkins; light marks to the cloth; some mild wear to spine tips and one small repaired tear to the rear spine hinge. A very good, bright copy. ¶ Lost Race novel, an ancient Phoenician civilization survives in Central Africa.

DEALINGS WITH THE DEAD. Two Volumes.
A SEXTON OF THE OLD SCHOOL [Sargent, Lucius Manlius 1786 - 1867].

Two volumes. Octavo, original publisher's brown cloth decorated in blind on upper & lower covers, ruled in blind & titled in gilt on spine panels, brown coated endpapers. 698 pp (continuous); Indexes at rear of Vol II. Engraved frontispiece with tissue guard and extra engraved title page in Vol I. Cloth lightly worn at head & heel of spine panels, slightly more pronounced at the base of the spine of Vol II, but overall a fresh and pleasing set. ¶ Collected essays by Sargent, a noted Antiquary, on funeral methods & treatment of the dead throughout the ages, along with passages on witchcraft, necromancy, divination, juggling et al. A curious and interesting collection; here first published in book form.

THE CROCK OF GOLD, And Other Tales; being a publisher's bind-up of four titles, THE CROCK OF GOLD: A Tale of Covetousness; THE TWINS: A Tale of Cocealment; HEART: A Tale of Falsewitness [and hidden away at the end] SIX AMERICAN BALLADS, Now First Collected. With Illustrations by John Leech.
TUPPER, Martin Farquhar.

Octavo, original brown cloth patterned in blind on all covers, titled in gilt on spine panel, yellow coated endpapers. 166 + 156 + 144 pp. Together, three volumes in one, each with a separate title leaf and frontispiece, Vols 1 & 2 with separate half-title leaf (none for Vol 3, and none called for), plus pp. 119-144 of Vol 3 prints MARTIN F. TUPPER'S SIX AMERICAN BALLADS, Now First Collected, with a separate half title leaf and printed note stating that they are being published for the first time in a collected form. Ink name on a preliminary blank, dated 1860; inner front hinge cracking; corners a bit knocked and the cloth with some wear, principally at head & heel of spine panel; spine a bit tanned; about a very good copy. ¶ Three Victorian novels, mostly melodramatic pot-boilers with criminous themes (thieves, rogues etc). One of the AMERICAN BALLADS is A STAVE FOR THE SOUTH is an anti-slavery polemic, the final lines of which refer to the California gold rush: "Then in the full season, with caution and care / Join England in Freeing the slave; / And all the degenerate world shall not dare / Take from him the gift that WE gave! / If glorious Columbia with Britain unite / In killing this hydra of earth, / Oh MAN shall have gain'd more of Good and of Right, / Than all California's worth".

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. Reprinted Pieces And Other Stories. With Thirty Illustrations by L. Fildes, E.G. Dalziel, and F. Barnard.
DICKENS, Charles.

Large octavo, bound in contemporary half-lather (calf) over marbled paper boards, the spine with raised bands, diced in the compartments, gilt rules, black title labels with gilt lettering. Marbled endpapers and page edges. 348 pp. Printed in two columns, illustrated throughout. Large format, the volume measures 250 mm x 185 mm. A volume of THE HOUSEHOLD EDITION, although unidentified as such. Scuffin to leathergeneral light rubbing, overall an attractive copy with tight hinges; internally clean. ¶ Dickens last novel, unfinished on his death, combined with 35 (!) other miscellaneous pieces.

THE LITTLE MINISTER. In Three Volumes.
BARRIE, J.M.

Three volumes. Octavo, original brown cloth titled in gilt on spine panels, light brown floral endpapers. 232 + 239 + 232 pp, [16] pp publisher's catalogue at end of Vol 1, dated 5.G. 9.91. With all half-titles. Evidence of labels (Mudie's Library?) removed from front covers,some marks to the cloth and slight wear; quite a decent set in the original cloth, all housed in a solander case with brown leather spine, gilt. ¶ Barrie's most critically acclaimed work, compared on publication with Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the the D'Ubervilles".

THE REBEL CHIEF. A Romance of New Zealand. With Illustrations by the Author.
NISBET, Hume.

First edition. Octavo, original pictorial green cloth stamped in black on front cover, titled in gilt on spine. 296 pp. Frontispiece with tissue guard & title page vignette by Nisbet. Early ink inscription on verso of half-title leaf "Ian Baillie / Present from Captain Colt"; recipient's small ink name & dated (8-5-07) on front endpaper and upper corner of title page; a fine, bright copy. ¶ Adventure novel set amongst the Maori of New Zealand. Australian author. Some minor supernatural passages.

PETSETILLA'S POSY: A Fairy Tale. For Young and Old. With Fifty Illustrations by F. Barnard, Engraved by the Brothers Dalziel.
HOOD, Tom.

Octavo, original green cloth over beveled boards, titled and decorated in gilt and black on spine and front panel, gray coated endpapers. 156 pp + 1 leaf of ads at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard, plus numerous illustrations throughout the text, some full-page. Although undated, there is a pencil inscription dated Xmas, 1870 on an initial blank. Tiny corner creases, some foxing to tissue guards, neat repair to inner front hinge; a bright, very good copy. ¶ Elaborately illustrated Victorian juvenile fantasy novel.

THE WRECKER. Illustrated by William Hole and W.L. Metcalf.
STEVENSON, Robert Louis and Lloyd Osbourne.

First edition. Octavo, original blue cloth titled in gilt on spine panel. 427 pp + 12 pp publisher's catalogue at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard, plus eleven additional full-page black & white plates throughout the text. Two corners lightly bumped, spine panel a touch browned; a very good bright copy. An old note in pencil to the upper margin of the first leaf of text gives the basis in life for two of the main characters - "Pinkerton" is based on S.S. McClure, founder of McClure's magazine, & "Tommy Haddon" is based on Jack Buckland, a sailor on the "Janet Nichol". ¶ Detective novel, a thrilling tale of adventure in the South Seas.

THE WRECKER. Illustrated by William Hole and W.L. Metcalf.
STEVENSON, Robert Louis and Lloyd Osbourne.

First American edition. Octavo, original light brown cloth heavily decorated on spine and front panel in black, green and gilt. 553 pp + 8 pp publisher's catalogue at rear. Frontispiece plus eleven additional full-page black & white plates throughout the text. Some minor bruising, spine panel a touch darkened, small booklabel of a prominent collector on the front paste-down; a very good, bright copy. The American edition came out two days after the first British edition. ¶ Detective novel, a thrilling tale of adventure in the South Seas.

LOVE MADE MANIFEST. Illustrated by Lucy E. Kemp-Welch.
BOOTHBY, Guy.

First edition, but undated. Octavo, original blue cloth over beveled boards, titled and decorated in gilt on spine & front panel. 376 pp + [8] pp. publisher's ads at rear. Frontispiece with tissue guard plus 3 additional black & white plates inserted throughout the text. Endpapers browned; a bright, very good copy. ¶ Crime fiction.

THE BLACK MAN'S GHOST. A Story of The Buccaneers' Buried Treasure of the Galapagos Islands. With Illustrations by W.S. Stacey.
HUTCHESON, J.C.

First or early edition. Octavo, original pictorial green cloth titled and decorated in black, white, red and gilt. Frontispiece with tissue guard + two inserted plates & one map. 258 pp + [2] pp ads at rear. Undated, and Ward Lock generally (but not always!) dates their first editions. Several old ink names on verso of front free endpaper and recto of frontispiece, which also has some marks and associated wrinkling from a long-ago removed bookplate; tiny spot of wear to one corner but overall a bright, fresh copy. ¶ Boys nautical adventure novel, with a typically portrayed black character.

COLD STEEL.
SHIEL, M. P. [Matthew Phipps].

Octavo, original pictorial brown cloth, upper front panel depicting a scene of knights with lances in black, brown & light blue, titled in black and ruled in brown on front cover, gilt titles to spine. 372 pp. A few specks to the spine, really quite a nice copy, very good and clean. ¶ Historical novel, a swashbuckling tale set in the court and times of King Henry VIII. The text of the 1899 Grant Richards edition and the 1901 Brentano's editions are identical, the later, 1920's versions published by Gollancz and Vanguard and extensively re-written.

KING SOLOMON'S WIVES; Or, The Phantom Mines. By Hyder Ragged [pseudonym]. With Numerous Illustrations.
RAGGED, Hyder [pseudonym of Sir Henry Chartres Biron, 1863-1940].

Octavo, bound without original wrappers, half-title or ads in contemporary pebbled wine-red cloth, gilt titles to spine. 125 pp, frontispiece, pictorial title page and numerous illustrations throughout the text, folding map. Small tear to the fold in the map, light foxing to endpapers, a bright, very good copy. Scott 627. ¶ Parody of H. Rider Haggard's KING SOLOMON'S MINES, thought for many years to be the work of Andrew Lang, but verified to be the work of H.C. Biron by the publisher Vizetelly in a letter to THE SKETCH in August 1921.

THE BOTTLE IMP. A Melo-Dramatic Romance, in Two Acts. Produced at the Theatre Royal, English Opera House, July, 1828... Illustrated with an Etching, by Pierce Egan the younger, from a drawing taken during the representation.
PEAKE, R.B. (Richard Brinsley), 1792-1847.

Wraps. 12mo, disbound without original wrappers, 29 pp., frontispiece. First leaf with light creases, minor browning; a very good copy. "Correctly printed from the prompter's copy with remarks, the cast of characters, costume, scenic arrangement, sides of entrance and exit, and relative positions of the dramatis personae." Rare. OCLC locates only the Huntington Library copy. First published in 1828 in London by Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper [this earlier edition known to OCLC in a single copy (?)] . OCLC indicates that the few libraries that have this title have it in a microform edition, only. ¶ Supernatural fantasy based upon an old German folktale, brought to prominence by La Motte-Fouqué's short story "Das Galgenmännlein" [1810], translated into English as "The Bottle-Imp" in POPULAR TALES AND ROMANCES OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS (1823). Stevenson attributed the plot of his tale "THE BOTTLE IMP" (1893) to Peake's play, but it is more obviously an older Germanic folktale - Stevenson just brought his excellence of craft to make it a popular modern tale. The tale is basically a version of the Faust legend, of 'selling one's soul to the Devil' for great wealth and power.

First edition. 12mo, original printed wrappers. The first issue, sewn along the spine and with only the Leatham imprint (later copies are stapled and bear the notice "Sold by William Reeves, 185, Fleet Street, E.C. Where all J. Leatham's pamphlets a re now to be had"). Unopened. Minor browning & dust-soiling to covers, a very nice copy, very good or better.

12mo, [16] pp, stapled at spine. Browning to one upper corner, otherwise about fine. A short story of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, who sends his nobles out to the vineyards to labor, that they may learn that the peasant life is not one of idleness. The tale originally appeared in Commonweal, a journal of the Socialist League, in 1886; it first saw book publication in A DREAM OF JOHN BALL and A KING'S LESSON [Reeves & Turner, 1888]. A very scarce pamphlet, published by Morris' friend James Leatham, a noted labour union organizer and publisher of socialist tracts.

PHANTASTES. A Faerie Romace For Men And Women.
MACDONALD, George.

First (or early) American edition. Octavo, original brown cloth elaborately titled in gold with borders in blind on front panel, spine panel titled in gold, rear panel bordered in blind. 286 pp. A few old names lightly inked out on front free endpaper, cloth lightly worn at edges, somewhat motted, small split on spine panel, inner hinges cracking. A very good copy. ¶ The author's first novel, a vastly influential and seminal nineteenth century work. Allegorical, fantastic, supernatural - one o f the first 'modern' fantasy novels. Macdonald was a friend of Charles Dodgson, 'Phantastes' is not only considered to be an influential work upon 'Alice in Wonderland', but also upon later writers - C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. A brilliant work

CHARLES OLDFIELD, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A STAFF OFFICER [cover title: Charles Oldfield; or, Recollections of a Staff Officer]. [Yellowback edition].
RUSSELL, William [a.k.a. "Thomas Waters"]

First edition. Octavo, original pictorial boards, a yellowback. 318 pp., The Renier copy, with the small Renier bookplate on the verso of the front free endpaper. Chip affecting a small portion of the spine panel; light wear; a very good copy. Rare, the only located copy is in the BM; not in Sadlier or Wolff. ¶ Historical fiction, the life of a British officer in the early 19th Century. Part of the book is set amongst the United Empire Loyalists in Upper Canada just after the War of 1812.

Reprint of a work first issued in 1849. Octavo, original gray-green cloth blocked pictorially in gold on the front panel, titled in gold on spine. 63 pp., frontispiece and 5 additional black & white plates. Trifle bit of darkening to spine panel, a nice clean copy, very good or better. ¶ The text is a satire on Richard Cobden, with marvellous plates symbolically depicting Cobden in various Blakean scenes involving lambs, sepulchres, factories belching smoke, etc. Cobden was a British statesman who successfully campaigned against the Corn Laws. The first edition of 1849 had colour plates and was pseudonomous, the Thackeray attribution may indeed be spurious.

A TILLYLOSS SCANDAL.
BARRIE, J.M.

First edition, first state. Ocatavo, original printed wrappers. Issued as The Belmore Series, Number 17. 270 pp. Covers mildly darkened and some minor spine creases but overall a clean, very good copy. An excellent example of a very scarce book. ¶ The correct first issue, with the publisher's address on cover & title page as 43, 45 and 47 East Tenth Avenue; seven titles including this one advertised on the rear wrapper. An unauthorized compilation, An unauthorized compilation, A TILLYLOSS SCANDAL was reprinted from magazine stories in the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, the Scots Observer, Good Words and the British Weekly. For many years this book held the auction record for a paperback book, based on the popularity of its author, its rarity and its pirated status.

THE PRAIRIE-BIRD.
MURRAY, Charles Augustus.

The first one-volume edition, issued as volume 98 in Bentley's Standard Novels series. Originally issued in 3 vols by Bentley in 1844. Small octavo, bound in half black calf over marbled boards, spine panel nicely decorated in blind and ruled in gilt with in compartments, contrasting red leather title labels lettered in gilt, all edges marbled. Engraved frontispiece, vii, 581 pp. Based upon Sir Charles' visit to the Western lands in 1835, when he spent several weeks living with the Pawnee Indians. Bookplate and a small stamp from Aspley House, Beds.; a little bit of foxing and trifling wear to the binding; a very nice copy, solid and very good condition overall.

ROOKWOOD: A Romance. Revised, Corrected, and Illustrated with a New Preface, and Notes, by the Author.
AINSWORTH, William Harrison, Esq.

New edition, originally published in 1834. 16mo. Bound in half black calf over marbled boards, red leather spine labels titled in gilt, the spine with raised bands, marbled edges. 409 pp. Engraved frontispiece, secondary title page with vignette. This edition bears a new 3-page dedication by the author and a new nine-page Preface by Claude Du-Val. Foxing to the engravings, trifling wear to edges of boards, a very good or better copy. Wolff 67e. ¶ An elaborately plotted novel, a chaotic, wild and energetic narrative which combines claustrophobic, charnel-house gothic horror with the romance and adventure of the outlaw and the open road. The section of the novel devoted solely to Dick Turpin, 'The Ride to York', became so popular in its own right that it was often published separately; the well-known legend that Turpin rode from London to York in one night is in fact entirely of Ainsworth's invention" - Stephen Carver, The Literary Encyclopedia. Bookplate on front paste-down, Aspley House, Beds.

REALMAH. By the Author of "Friends in Council". In Two Volumes.
HELPS, Arthur.

Two volumes. Octavo, original dark blue cloth bordered in blind and with a small decorative device in gilt on front panels, gilt decorations & titles to spines. Brown coated endpapers. 299 + 320 pp, [4] pp ads + [48] pp publishers cat alogue at rear of Vol. 1, dated 5.68. Withdrawn from the Birmingham University Library, with their bookplates on the front endpapers, stamps to title leaves and old call numbers neatly removed from the base of the spines. Corners a bit bumped and spines a trifle dull, a very good set. ¶ A Utopian novel of a pre-historic empire called "Sheviri" in Southern Europe. Also a planet of the living dead.

THE MYSTERIES OF PARIS.
SUE, Eugene.

Three volumes, Quarto, original blue cloth stamped in blind on upper and lower covers, spine panels stamped in gilt. 484 + 504 + 442 pp. Vignette title pages and numerous cuts within the text. Cloth somewhat worn and corners a bit bumped, minor foxing and browning, inner front hinge of Volume I a bit loose; a very good set, and very scarce in the original cloth. ¶ Originally published 1842-43 in Paris, this edition is often described as the first English edition, which it isn't; Sadlier had an 1844 edition published by Carvalho in 1844. It is, however, certainly one of the scarcest 19th century three-deckers to find in the original cloth, due to the oversize format. The first French novel to talk of the poor conditions of the working people of Paris, and to point out the social iniquities which lead to careers of crime. The novel was extremely popular, and in pointing out the need for social reforms it helped create a climate which allowed the 1848 revolution to occur, producing legislative reform and doing for the poor of Paris what Dickens's novels did for the poor of London.