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A Morbid Taste for Bones. A Mediaeval Whodunnit -
Ellis Peters (Pseud. Edith Pargeter)
1977 - MacMillan London Limited, London - First Edition
A fine and thus scarce true first edition of the first Brother Cadfael mystery, set in twelfth-century Britain. After leaving his home in Trefriw, Gwynedd, apprenticing with an English wool merchant and participating in the First Crusade and other adventures, Cadfael ap Meilyr ap Dafydd returned to England and joins a Benedictine monastery in Shrewsbury as gardener, herbalist and occasional translator.
Yes, he is Welsh, and yes this is a fine copy, with none of the toning to the spine usually encountered.
‘Cadfael must surely become a cult figure of crime fiction.’ – Financial Times, London.
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Price HK$ 6,000
1977 - MacMillan London Limited, London - First Edition
A fine and thus scarce true first edition of the first Brother Cadfael mystery, set in twelfth-century Britain. After leaving his home in Trefriw, Gwynedd, apprenticing with an English wool merchant and participating in the First Crusade and other adventures, Cadfael ap Meilyr ap Dafydd returned to England and joins a Benedictine monastery in Shrewsbury as gardener, herbalist and occasional translator. Yes, he is Welsh, and yes this is a fine copy, with none of the toning to the spine usually encountered.
‘Cadfael must surely become a cult figure of crime fiction.’ – Financial Times, London.
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Price HK$ 6,000
The Oldest Inhabitant. A Comedy -
Eden Phillpotts
1934 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First American Edition
A fine first edition in fine dust jacket.
A plot based in a small Devonshire village, and centred around one of it’s oldest residents, a sly old scamp and about whom his oldest friend says “a artfully and more utterly devious and downy old man than he is don’t draw breath”...
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Price HK$ 1,800
1934 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First American Edition
A fine first edition in fine dust jacket.A plot based in a small Devonshire village, and centred around one of it’s oldest residents, a sly old scamp and about whom his oldest friend says “a artfully and more utterly devious and downy old man than he is don’t draw breath”...
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Price HK$ 1,800
Minions of the Moon -
Eden Phillpotts
1934 - Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London - First Edition
First edition in a near fine and rare example of the dust jacket. A historical novel of Napoleonic times in Devonshire, and of course the prison of Dartmoor, which even then stood upon those desolate moors, with escapes, adventures, highway robbery, romance and full blooded drama.
True first edition in black cloth with yellow lettering, and publisher’s autumn 19324 catalogue to rear.
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Price HK$ 8,000
1934 - Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London - First Edition
First edition in a near fine and rare example of the dust jacket. A historical novel of Napoleonic times in Devonshire, and of course the prison of Dartmoor, which even then stood upon those desolate moors, with escapes, adventures, highway robbery, romance and full blooded drama.True first edition in black cloth with yellow lettering, and publisher’s autumn 19324 catalogue to rear.
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Price HK$ 8,000
The Case is Altered -
William Plomer
1932 - Farrar & Rinehart, New York - First American Edition
A bright and sharp first American edition of Plomer’s murder mystery based on the 1929 murder of Sybil de Costa by her partner Japanese-American James Achew in front of their child. The murder took place at the London boarding-house kept by Sybil in Notting Hill, this house was later occupied by Plomer himself.`
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Price HK$ 1,200
1932 - Farrar & Rinehart, New York - First American Edition
A bright and sharp first American edition of Plomer’s murder mystery based on the 1929 murder of Sybil de Costa by her partner Japanese-American James Achew in front of their child. The murder took place at the London boarding-house kept by Sybil in Notting Hill, this house was later occupied by Plomer himself.`
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Price HK$ 1,200
The Fool of the ‘Yard’ - Inscribed -
T. Arthur Plummer (pseud. Michael Sarne)
1942 - Stanley Paul & Co., London - First Edition
Rare first edition in dust jacket. Inscribed ‘To Mr & Mrs W. R. Harvey, with all good wishes, T. Arthur Plummer, Mar 23 / 42’.
Featuring Inspector Andrew Frampton.
‘From the moment Inspector Andrew Frampton was called in to the Breck Hollow Mystery he knew it was no ordinary killer. That was why he had to let the suspect – male or female – think him a fool; Frampton didn’t altogether like this; being just a little conceited; but (as he told himself) “needs must . . . when a killer drives!”’
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Price HK$ 3,800
1942 - Stanley Paul & Co., London - First Edition
Rare first edition in dust jacket. Inscribed ‘To Mr & Mrs W. R. Harvey, with all good wishes, T. Arthur Plummer, Mar 23 / 42’.Featuring Inspector Andrew Frampton.
‘From the moment Inspector Andrew Frampton was called in to the Breck Hollow Mystery he knew it was no ordinary killer. That was why he had to let the suspect – male or female – think him a fool; Frampton didn’t altogether like this; being just a little conceited; but (as he told himself) “needs must . . . when a killer drives!”’
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Price HK$ 3,800
The “J For Jennie” Murders (A ‘Frampton’ Story) - Inscribed -
T. Arthur Plummer (pseud. Michael Sarne)
1945 - Stanley Paul & Co., London - First Edition
Rare first edition in dust jacket. Inscribed ‘To W. Robertson Harvey, with every good wish for this New Year. T. Arthur Plummer, 1945-6’.
Featuring Inspector Andrew Frampton.
‘Tragedy stalked Dr. Weston quite a lot. What the mystery was that surrounded him gave Frampton of the “Yard” more than one headache. And when the first of the “J” for Jennie murders startled the community, it also startled Andy Frampton, to say nothing of Detective-Sergeant Arnold.’
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Price HK$ 3,100
1945 - Stanley Paul & Co., London - First Edition
Rare first edition in dust jacket. Inscribed ‘To W. Robertson Harvey, with every good wish for this New Year. T. Arthur Plummer, 1945-6’.Featuring Inspector Andrew Frampton.
‘Tragedy stalked Dr. Weston quite a lot. What the mystery was that surrounded him gave Frampton of the “Yard” more than one headache. And when the first of the “J” for Jennie murders startled the community, it also startled Andy Frampton, to say nothing of Detective-Sergeant Arnold.’
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Price HK$ 3,100
Tales of Mystery & Imagination -
Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
1935 - George G. Harrap & Co Ltd, London - First Rackham Edition
‘As for the murders, let us enter into some examinations for ourselves, before we make up an opinion respecting them. An inquiry will afford us amusement’ - Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin.
A fine copy in exceptional dust jacket, powerfully illustrated by Arthur Rackham with twelve colour plates tipped-in with captioned tissue guards, seventeen black and white plates, and in-text vignettes.
Presenting Poe’s three pioneering detective stories - ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Mystery of Marie Rogêt’, and ‘The Purloined Letter’. In addition to Poe’s three detective stories, a further twenty six tales are contained within including ‘The Cask of Amontillado‘, ‘The Fall of The House of Usher‘, and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.
But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound...
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Price HK$ 8,000
1935 - George G. Harrap & Co Ltd, London - First Rackham Edition
‘As for the murders, let us enter into some examinations for ourselves, before we make up an opinion respecting them. An inquiry will afford us amusement’ - Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin.A fine copy in exceptional dust jacket, powerfully illustrated by Arthur Rackham with twelve colour plates tipped-in with captioned tissue guards, seventeen black and white plates, and in-text vignettes.
Presenting Poe’s three pioneering detective stories - ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Mystery of Marie Rogêt’, and ‘The Purloined Letter’. In addition to Poe’s three detective stories, a further twenty six tales are contained within including ‘The Cask of Amontillado‘, ‘The Fall of The House of Usher‘, and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.
But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound...
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Price HK$ 8,000
The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason -
Melville Davisson Post
1896 - G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York - First Edition
A fine and thus rare copy of this ground breaking work of detective fiction which controversially laid out the legal loopholes on which a criminal could carry out his plans on the basis that he would be acquitted in court (the relevant statutes are cited). Obviously an unscrupulous and highly intelligent lawyer is required, that man being Randolph Mason, who features in this collection of seven stories.
Housed in custom clamshell case, with additional signed compliments slip from the author loosely laid in.
‘Post (1871-1930) studied law at West Virginia University in 1892, several years spent in the practice of criminal and corporation law in his native state gave him the background for these short stories. The book created something of a furore, moralists objecting that it gave too much advice to criminals. Post retorted that nothing but good could come of exposing the law’s defects. And in fact the second story ‘The Corpus Delicti’ is credited with hastening a long need change in criminal procedure.’ - Howard Haycraft, ‘Murder for Pleasure’.
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Price HK$ 20,000
1896 - G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York - First Edition
A fine and thus rare copy of this ground breaking work of detective fiction which controversially laid out the legal loopholes on which a criminal could carry out his plans on the basis that he would be acquitted in court (the relevant statutes are cited). Obviously an unscrupulous and highly intelligent lawyer is required, that man being Randolph Mason, who features in this collection of seven stories.Housed in custom clamshell case, with additional signed compliments slip from the author loosely laid in.
‘Post (1871-1930) studied law at West Virginia University in 1892, several years spent in the practice of criminal and corporation law in his native state gave him the background for these short stories. The book created something of a furore, moralists objecting that it gave too much advice to criminals. Post retorted that nothing but good could come of exposing the law’s defects. And in fact the second story ‘The Corpus Delicti’ is credited with hastening a long need change in criminal procedure.’ - Howard Haycraft, ‘Murder for Pleasure’.
More details
Price HK$ 20,000