Search Results: Authors starting with L from Ash Rare Books

London : Modern Fiction (London), [ca.1952]. First edition. A novel set in the ruins of post-war Hamburg, as Ilsa decides to smoke her last cigarette - and wants a man to light it. Crown 8vo (18cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - young woman in green examines a puppet on her knee - a design, probably by H. W. Perl, previously used on an earlier Modern Fiction title ("Lost Love" by Henri Duprès) and here crudely adapted; wrappers used, worn, scuffed, creased and a little marked, with some chipping; some minor internal browning and discolouration, but a serviceable copy of an uncommon title. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

Dublin : Dedalus Press, (1989). First complete edition in English of "Strasna Mera". Fifty-two poems from a major European poet, translated by Francis R. Jones. This copy signed by both Lalic and the translator. Demy 8vo (22cm). (94),[ii]pp. Original white and maroon pictorial wrappers; very good indeed.

London : Phoenix Press, (1954). First edition. Agda wants a child but is unable to have one; her friend the beautiful Maryke does not want to spoil her figure. Although ostensibly a translation, no French edition is known and Eugene Lamartine is unknown to the Bibliothèque Nationale. Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; wear at tips; worn, creased, chipped and frayed; spine and front wrapper tape-repaired; staples rusted; text a little tanned, with some creases and a chip; an indifferent copy of a scarce book. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

London : for Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, 1808. First edition. Lamb's hugely influential rediscovery of the Elizabethans and Jacobeans, many of the specimens of their work culled from "plays which are to be found only in the British Museum and in some scarce private libraries" - Francis Beaumont, George Chapman, Thomas Decker, John Fletcher, John Ford, Fulke Greville, Ben Jonson, Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, John Marston, Philip Massinger, Thomas Middleton, George Peele, Cyril Tourneur, John Webster, and many more - "the most striking anthology perhaps ever made from English literature" (Edmund Blunden). Crown 8vo (185 x 113mm). xii,484pp. Bound, without half-title, in a very handsome later (early twentieth-century) full blue crushed morocco, banded and richly gilt, by Robert Riviere & Son; all edges gilt; inner gilt dentelles; marbled endleaves; some very minor rubbing and a hint of bruising, but a very good copy.

London : Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, (1980). First edition. A handsome listing of over 5,600 works by some 1,600 artists - with biographical notes (many of the minor artists being documented for the first time) and at least one example of each artist's work illustrated. Demy 4to (29cm). (xxiv),456pp. Colour plates. Numerous illustrations. Original cloth; some spotting of edges, but otherwise a very good copy in the dust-jacket - the jacket also very good.

Cambridge : Bowes & Bowes, (1954). First edition. A useful work of reference, giving biographical and career details of over 2,000 British librarians, with an index of special interests, etc. Royal 8vo (25cm). [xii],(270),[viii],[2]pp. Original cloth; endpapers lightly tanned, but a very good copy in a chipped and torn dust-jacket.

London : Longmans, Green & Co., 1902. First edition. "Wild, roaring fun" (Daily News, 20th November 1902). Two well-connected but impoverished young men recruit a team of likewise young, charming and penniless men and women, available for hire to disrupt and disentangle unfortunate or unsuitable romantic attachments before too much harm can be done either to the lovers or, more particularly, their families - "Adventure of the Exemplary Earl", "Adventure of the Lady Novelist and the Vaccinationist", "Adventure of the Fair American", and other tales. "In 'The Disentanglers' we have the apotheosis of the detective-story, with, as Mr. Lang's Canadian millionaire would say, 'every modern improvement', divorced, too, from 'all that cheap revolver business', to quote the hero and Disentangler-in-Chief ... Apart from the excellent construction and swing of the stories, there is endless fun in the sly digs at literature, modern and ancient - at the penny novelette, the British Museum girl, and the Celtic minor… Read More

London : T. V. Boardman & Co., (1948). First British edition. Old Elijah Mellor makes the contents of his will known before he dies - four murders ensue. The unconventional detective Tod Frick investigates. Set in San Francisco and surrounds. First published in Philadelphia in 1946. Crown 8vo (19cm). 160pp. Original pictorial wrappers - an unsigned design by Denis McLoughlin; some light rubbing and wear; short split at foot; a few slight marks, but overall still a very good copy. Just two copies (Bodleian and British Library) located in the major libraries worldwide. TVB Books 54.

London : Curtis Warren, [1951]. First edition. The "Leinster Principles" are adopted after the conclusion of the Earth/Mars wars, but one of Leinster's assistants steals the secret of the gyrator control and offers it to the Martian warlords. The Curtis Warren "King Lang" house-name here in the capable hands of one of their readers, David Arthur Griffiths. Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers - a design by Ray Theobald; light nick at head; some light rubbing and creasing; staples a touch rusted, but overall a very good copy. Eight copies located in major libraries worldwide, but just two in the UK (British Library & Liverpool). Bookseller's stamp of Goodwins Librarie's [sic] Exchange of Lincoln on title-page. Harbottle & Holland A216.

London : Arthur Barker, (1952). First edition. An innocent born in the year of the Amorous Dragon - abroad in ancient China. Crown 8vo (19cm). 192pp. Original black cloth, blocked and lettered in gilt; top edge crimson; a very good copy in the original dust-jacket, printed in red, black and gold - just a little sunned and with a few short nicks repaired on verso.

London : Bickers & Son, [1918]. First edition : the London issue of the American sheets. Thirty-six tales of inspiring bravery, ancient and modern, grouped under the headings of "Facing Death to Avoid It", "The Treasure-Seekers", "Soldiers Who Knew No Fear", "Some Exploits of the Sea", and "Famous Deeds of Discipline", with individual chapter titles such as, "How an Artist Outwitted a Pope", "A Great Novelist among the Corsairs", etc. Post 8vo (197 x 129mm). xii,420pp. Sixteen plates. Bound in a handsome full prize tree calf, by Bickers & Son, banded and gilt, with the arms of Guy Henry Fisher-Rowe (1877-1946) of St. David's School, Reigate, on the upper cover; top edge gilt; marbled endpapers; just a hint of rubbing, but a very good copy indeed. School prize-label dated 1930, signed by Fisher-Rowe, and made out to W. G. Peck of the Lower Third.

London : T. V. Boardman & Co., (1951). First British paperback edition. Skip-tracer needs to find his wife's murderer to prove his own innocence - with a cast of "artists, models, gamblers, skip-tracers, free-living and free-loving girls". First published in hardback in New York in 1949 and London in 1950. Crown 8vo (18cm). 160pp. Original pictorial wrappers - a design by Denis McLoughlin; a little worn, creased and slightly split; revised price over-stamp; opening leaves a little marked, but otherwise a good copy. Just a single copy (Sydney) of this edition located in major libraries worldwide. TVB Books 102.

New York : Red Circle Magazines, (1943). First edition under this title. The well-known cartoonist with his first murder mystery - comic-book artist accompanies a friend to a weekend party with an odd group of people - a secretary who could not type, a reformed gangster, a teetotal tobacco magnate, a libellous reporter, etc. Originally published by Phoenix Press as "Death Paints a Picture" earlier that same year. Red Circle Crime Novel Selection (CNS) 6. Post 8vo (20cm). 128pp. Pictorial title-page. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; spine a little worn and lightly sunned, with a slight split; wrappers rubbed and creased; text lightly tanned and a little loose; some minor nicks and creases; a serviceable copy. Just three copies located in major libraries. Contemporary ownership inscription of T. Rogers.

London : Faber & Faber, (2002). First edition. Larkin's original ambition was to be a novelist and the present volume gathers together his early fiction for girls written under the pseudonym "Brunette Coleman", as well as unpublished drafts of two unfinished novels, "No for an Answer" and "A New World Symphony", and further similar material. Edited by James Booth. Demy 8vo (23cm). xlvi,498pp. Original blue boards, lettered in white; text very lightly tanned as usual, but a very good copy in a very good dust-jacket.

Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [ca.1948]. First edition. Music critic spellbound by tall, slender, lovely and mysterious pianist - "a creature of another world". This obscure and probably pseudonymous writer, author of at least half a dozen titles for M. C. Publications, here has his or her name mis-spelt "L'Aurnaud" on the title-page. Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some wear and faint spotting to spine; rear wrapper a little nicked and creased; staples slightly rusted; text very lightly tanned and lightly bruised in places, but a good and serviceable copy of an uncommon Scottish title. Just a single copy (National Library of Scotland) located in major libraries worldwide.

Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [ca.1948]. First edition. The double life of Broadway producer - and the fate of footlight-struck Sally Marshall. Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a little scuffed and soiled; small scorch-mark at head; American price over-stamped on upper wrapper; staples rusted; text a little marked and tanned; an indifferent copy. Just two copies located in major libraries worldwide, only one (National Library of Scotland) in the United Kingdom.

Oxford : Sycamore Press, (1977). First edition. Three poems - "The Librarian", "Theory of Being", and "Portrait of a Lady". Post 8vo (21cm). Single sheet, printed in green and black, and folding to form three leaves; very good.

Boston : Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, 1995. First edition. A rather more detailed bibliography than the title might imply - recording all Beardsley's known published work, illustrations, cover designs, etc. Lists 216 items and their variants, with a further useful list of eight common misattributions. Medium 8vo (24cm). 128pp. Illustrations. Original cloth; very good indeed in a slightly marked dust-jacket.

London : Kaye Publications, [1954]. First edition. The beautiful Renate dreams of escape from her tawdry life on a tropical island. Lorenzo, a handsome visitor, offers her an opportunity. Crown 8vo (18cm). [iv],9-132pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; somewhat worn, chipped, and creased; a few internal marks, chips and spots, but a serviceable copy of an uncommon title. Just two copies (British Library, and Trinity College, Dublin) located in major libraries worldwide. The present example has been furnished with a neatly made and lettered home-produced modesty jacket.

London : Kaye Publications, [1953]. First edition. "Gaspard Luclaire was in the mood for love. His whole being ached for romance - but not the sordid kind". He finds Nicolette at a village fete in North Africa. Crown 8vo (18cm). [iv],9-132pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a little worn, slightly chipped and somewhat creased, with a few short nicks; some spotting of edges, but a good copy. Pencilled ownership inscription. Just three copies (Bodleian, British Library and Trinity College, Dublin) located in major libraries worldwide.