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Three Plots for Asey Mayo -
Phoebe Atwood Taylor
1942 - W. W. Norton &, New York - First Edition
‘He made rapid plans as he strode forward. After another look about the landing he’d visit Brandt’s studio. Somehow he could get in. Somewhere he should be able to find a clue to the girl’s name and her address...’
A superb copy in the striking dust jacket. Three Mayo Mysteries packed into one volume: the adventures of Taylor’s wonderfully imaginative and down-to-earth detective, Asey Mayo; dedicated protector of Cape Cod, as he catapults through crime scenes in a manner reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy.
Mayo’s personal history is ambiguous, since he seems to have engaged in secret work during World War I but once claimed to have spent the war years peeling potatoes.
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Price HK$ 1,500
1942 - W. W. Norton &, New York - First Edition
‘He made rapid plans as he strode forward. After another look about the landing he’d visit Brandt’s studio. Somehow he could get in. Somewhere he should be able to find a clue to the girl’s name and her address...’A superb copy in the striking dust jacket. Three Mayo Mysteries packed into one volume: the adventures of Taylor’s wonderfully imaginative and down-to-earth detective, Asey Mayo; dedicated protector of Cape Cod, as he catapults through crime scenes in a manner reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy.
Mayo’s personal history is ambiguous, since he seems to have engaged in secret work during World War I but once claimed to have spent the war years peeling potatoes.
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Price HK$ 1,500
A disturbing duo - The Family Arsenal - with - My Secret History -
Paul Theroux
1976 - Hamish Hamilton, London - First Editions
Two first editions of of Paul Theroux’s more exotic and disturbing works.
The Family Arsenal - Hood, a renegade American diplomat, envisions a new urban order, flirts with terrorists. Mayo, has just made a political statement - stealing a Flemish painting. Murf the bomb-maker scrawls 'Arsenal Rule' across the city's walls, whilst Brodie bombs Euston and afterwards worries about her complexion. A novel of London lowlife and the dispossessed, and a powerful and violent thriller of disenchanted people.
‘One of the most evocative, intelligently crafted suspense novels in years - like the early fiction of Graham Greene.' - The New York Times.
'Brilliant and haunting. . . the ingenious of the plot, the London setting. . . the trapped and interwoven people, and the balefully witty observation, have an undistracted force' - Observer.
My Secret History - 'Nothing on the shelf has quite prepared the reader for My Secret History… Parent saunters into the book aged fifteen, shouldering a .22 Mossberg rifle as earlier, more innocent American heroes used to tote a fishing pole. In his pocket is a paperback translation of Dante's Inferno… He is a creature of naked and unquenchable ego, greedy for sex, money, experience, another life' - Observer.
‘Merges the two genres he's famous for... My Secret History is about the permanence of marriage in the face of mistrust and infidelity; it's about the wisdom of women and the foolishness of men; and it's about mature love as the necessary and sometimes successful antidote to youthful selfishness.’ - New York Times Book Review.
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Price HK$ 900
1976 - Hamish Hamilton, London - First Editions
Two first editions of of Paul Theroux’s more exotic and disturbing works.The Family Arsenal - Hood, a renegade American diplomat, envisions a new urban order, flirts with terrorists. Mayo, has just made a political statement - stealing a Flemish painting. Murf the bomb-maker scrawls 'Arsenal Rule' across the city's walls, whilst Brodie bombs Euston and afterwards worries about her complexion. A novel of London lowlife and the dispossessed, and a powerful and violent thriller of disenchanted people.
‘One of the most evocative, intelligently crafted suspense novels in years - like the early fiction of Graham Greene.' - The New York Times.
'Brilliant and haunting. . . the ingenious of the plot, the London setting. . . the trapped and interwoven people, and the balefully witty observation, have an undistracted force' - Observer.
My Secret History - 'Nothing on the shelf has quite prepared the reader for My Secret History… Parent saunters into the book aged fifteen, shouldering a .22 Mossberg rifle as earlier, more innocent American heroes used to tote a fishing pole. In his pocket is a paperback translation of Dante's Inferno… He is a creature of naked and unquenchable ego, greedy for sex, money, experience, another life' - Observer.
‘Merges the two genres he's famous for... My Secret History is about the permanence of marriage in the face of mistrust and infidelity; it's about the wisdom of women and the foolishness of men; and it's about mature love as the necessary and sometimes successful antidote to youthful selfishness.’ - New York Times Book Review.
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Price HK$ 900
The Crooked Samaritan - Inscribed -
Paul Trent (Pseud. of Edward Platt)
1933 - Ward, London and Melbourne - First Edition
Inscribed to the half title ‘To Llew. S. Jones, from his friend The Author, December 1933’ and signed ‘Paul Trent’ to the title page.
A fine signed and inscribed first edition of this courtroom drama in a very good example of the rare dust jacket.
Featuring Roger Welby, Barrister and gentleman romantic, who comes to the aid of his persecuted father, a lawyer who had been tempted away from his profession by the riches of the city and a life of financial schemes which finally proved his undoing. The author, Edward Platt was himself a solicitor.
Paul Trent was the pseudonym of Edward Platt (1872-1946), English solicitor, goalkeeper (made his debut for Gloucester AFC as a goalkeeper in 1889), and prolific novelist who wrote over 80 books under the pseudonyms of Paul Trent and Wilmot Kaye.
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Price HK$ 5,000
1933 - Ward, London and Melbourne - First Edition
Inscribed to the half title ‘To Llew. S. Jones, from his friend The Author, December 1933’ and signed ‘Paul Trent’ to the title page.A fine signed and inscribed first edition of this courtroom drama in a very good example of the rare dust jacket.
Featuring Roger Welby, Barrister and gentleman romantic, who comes to the aid of his persecuted father, a lawyer who had been tempted away from his profession by the riches of the city and a life of financial schemes which finally proved his undoing. The author, Edward Platt was himself a solicitor.
Paul Trent was the pseudonym of Edward Platt (1872-1946), English solicitor, goalkeeper (made his debut for Gloucester AFC as a goalkeeper in 1889), and prolific novelist who wrote over 80 books under the pseudonyms of Paul Trent and Wilmot Kaye.
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Price HK$ 5,000
The Crooks Shepherd -
Seldon Truss
1936 - Lothrop, Boston - First American Edition
A fine copy in a bright and rare dust jacket.
Featuring Chief Inspector Gidleigh of Scotland Yard.
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Price HK$ 3,500
1936 - Lothrop, Boston - First American Edition
A fine copy in a bright and rare dust jacket.Featuring Chief Inspector Gidleigh of Scotland Yard.
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Price HK$ 3,500
Alibi -
Frederic F. Van de Water
1930 - Published for the Crime Club by Doubleday, New York - First Edition
First edition in fine dust jacket.
Featuring Corporal Haddenfield in a ‘swift moving tale of murder and the State Police’.
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Price HK$ 3,500
1930 - Published for the Crime Club by Doubleday, New York - First Edition
First edition in fine dust jacket.Featuring Corporal Haddenfield in a ‘swift moving tale of murder and the State Police’.
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Price HK$ 3,500
The Red Pavilion -
Robert H. Van Gulik
1964 - Heinemann, London - First English edition (First published by Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur, 1961)
The tenth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically fourteenth tale, being set in China 670 AD. Written in Kuala Lumpur whilst Van Gulik was stationed there as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of Malaya
With six illustrations from woodblock prints, and a Sketch Map of Paradise Island, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 2,900
1964 - Heinemann, London - First English edition (First published by Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur, 1961)
The tenth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically fourteenth tale, being set in China 670 AD. Written in Kuala Lumpur whilst Van Gulik was stationed there as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of MalayaWith six illustrations from woodblock prints, and a Sketch Map of Paradise Island, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 2,900
The Red Pavilion - Inscribed -
Robert H. Van Gulik
1961 - Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur - First Edition
A bright sharp copy of this rare first edition, with hand-written dedication by Van Gulik, dated February 1962.
One of three Judge Dee titles first published in Kuala Lumpur, whilst Van Gulik was stationed there as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of Malaya. The tenth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically fourteenth tale, being set in China 670 AD.
With six illustrations from woodblock prints, and endpapers illustrated with a Sketch Map of Paradise Island, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 15,000
1961 - Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur - First Edition
A bright sharp copy of this rare first edition, with hand-written dedication by Van Gulik, dated February 1962.One of three Judge Dee titles first published in Kuala Lumpur, whilst Van Gulik was stationed there as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of Malaya. The tenth book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically fourteenth tale, being set in China 670 AD.
With six illustrations from woodblock prints, and endpapers illustrated with a Sketch Map of Paradise Island, in Chinese style by Van Gulik.
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Price HK$ 15,000
The Haunted Monastery -
Robert H. Van Gulik
1961 - Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur - First Edition (the first English edition was published by Heinemann, London 1963).
True first edition, in superior condition, of the seventh book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically eighth tale, being set in China 677 AD. Written by Van Gulik in Beirut between November 22,1958 and the middle of January 1959, before he was posted to Kuala Lumpur as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of Malaya.
With eight illustrations and one plan from woodblock prints by Van Gulik in Chinese style, and endpapers illustrated with a Sketch Map of the Monastery.
‘Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder’
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Price HK$ 7,000
1961 - Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur - First Edition (the first English edition was published by Heinemann, London 1963).
True first edition, in superior condition, of the seventh book in the Judge Dee series, and chronologically eighth tale, being set in China 677 AD. Written by Van Gulik in Beirut between November 22,1958 and the middle of January 1959, before he was posted to Kuala Lumpur as Dutch Ambassador to the federation of Malaya.With eight illustrations and one plan from woodblock prints by Van Gulik in Chinese style, and endpapers illustrated with a Sketch Map of the Monastery.
‘Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder’
More details
Price HK$ 7,000