Crime fiction
Collection of mystery and detective novels with the dust jackets, 1930s-40s
£945
Auction: 05 February 2025 from 10:00 GMT
Description
all 8vo, original cloth, with the dust jackets, references to Hubin, Crime Fiction II (1994) in square brackets. Titles include:
Grayson, Rupert. Gun Cotton - Adventurer. London: Grayson & Grayson, 1933. First edition, inscribed by the author ‘With best wishes to Mr and Mrs Jenkins from Rupert Grayson, September 1933’ on front free endpaper, dust jacket with loss to spine and various repairs verso [p. 346];
Idem. Ace High. London: Grayson & Grayson, 1937. First edition, losses to jacket [p. 346];
Ashe, Gordon [pseudonym of John Creasey]. The Speaker. London: John Long Limited, 1939. First edition (apparently the author's first novel at least under this name), spotting to edges of textblock, jacket bright [p. 33];
Vickers, Roy. The Man in the Red Mask. London: George Newnes, Limited, [1935]. Presumed first edition (published as part of Newnes's 'Half-Crown Novels' series with jacket priced 2/6, but no other iteration of jacket traced), jacket bright [p. 824];
Blane, Fergus. Money-Lender in Gloves. London: George Newnes, Limited, c.1939. First edition, apparently a later issue with jacket priced at 3/6, gift inscription dated 1941 to front pastedown, closed tears to rear panel of jacket [p. 78: the only novel recorded under this author];
Ferguson, W. B. M. London Lamb. London: John Long Limited, c.1939. First edition, later issue jacket with 4/ overprice sticker [p. 280];
Mills, Woosnam. Biting Fortune. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1939. First edition, 8/3 overprice sticker to jacket front flap;
Lindsay, David. The Man Nobody Knew. London: John Hamilton Limited, [1938]. First edition, loss to dust jacket [p. 504]; and 15 others, all in the dust jackets (23)
Provenance
The Golden Age of Detective and Adventure Fiction: Selections from the Stock of Obelist Books, Glasgow.