20th Century Classics

The Lost City – By Major Charles Gilson – 1920′s

Another adventure by Charles Gilson in striking pictorial covers published in the 1920’s. Gilson has been promoted since he wrote “On Secret Service”. Another Voyager favourite.

Published by “The Boy’s Own Paper”, Bouverie Street, London. Octavo, 378 pages with frontispiece in colour and eight other illustrations.

The longer title, as usual, gives a clue … “The Lost City … being the Authentic Account by Professor Miles Unthank of the search for the Sarcophagus of Serohis, and the Theft of the Mystic Scarab, formerly in the British Museum”. We love it!

Collectable … The Lost City

$70.00

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Penguin Island – Anatole France

An early Modern Library edition, pre WWII publication. Very good condition, top edge stained grey blue to match the binding, very good dust jacket.

Written in French a most unusual fantasy book by Anatole France, who was awarded the Nobel Prize.

A wayward Christian lands on an island and mistakes some auks for noble pagans and proceeds to baptise them. As this should only happens to humans, when he finds out he transform the auks to human form and from there the history of Penguinia unfolds .. a satire emulating the history of Europe and some strange affairs.

Maybe underneath we are really all penguins or auks?

$30.00

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Saturnalia in Room 23 – Arthur Weigall – First Edition 1927

Published by Fisher Unwin a first edition 1927. Red cloth covered boards, 288 pages, some marks and ageing but a rare copy from a most unusual writer.

The beauty Camilla causes a few problems on the Riviera. Saturnalia the ancient Roman Festival in honour of the God Saturn is honoured from 17th to the 23rd of December. The author was many things and nothing but controversial … in this novel he challenged the Church’s attitude to marriage which he regarded as rather primitive.

Rare first edition from controversial Weigall

Arthur Weigall (1880-1934) was a distinguished Egyptologist and author of biographies of Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Alexander the Great, Nero and Sappho. He studied hieroglyphics at Oxford: by age 24, he was appointed Inspector General of Antiquities for Upper Egypt and supervised excavations in the Valley of the Kings. During his career, Weigall made several important discoveries, mostly about the reign, life and death of Akhnaton. Later in life he wrote novels, stage plays, poems and was rather successful

$70.00

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The Way of the East – Arthur Weigall – First Edition 1924

Published by Fisher Unwin, London a first edition 1924. Blue cloth covered boards, 318 pages, the odd spot mark but on the whole a very good copy of a scarce and interesting book.

An unusual romance involving the an English Colonel Romance in Egypt. The setting and circumstances demand an explanation by the author for which he apologises. He need not as it is all quite dapper and intriguing.

Rare first edition from literary Egyptologist

Arthur Weigall (1880-1934) was a distinguished Egyptologist and author of biographies of Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Alexander the Great, Nero and Sappho. He studied hieroglyphics at Oxford: by age 24, he was appointed Inspector General of Antiquities for Upper Egypt and supervised excavations in the Valley of the Kings. During his career, Weigall made several important discoveries, mostly about the reign, life and death of Akhnaton. Later in life he wrote novels, stage plays, poems and was rather successful at it – viz this work.

$80.00

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Unproduced Film Script – Joseph Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness”

Late 1970’s unproduced film script titled “Voyage to the Inner Station: Joseph Conrad’s Descent and Return from the Heart of Darkness” 134 pages of script in the agency covers of Paul Kohner – Michael Levy.

The author is named John nelson Reid and believed to be one of the many pseudonyms of successful writer Shimon Wincelberg (Naked City, The Time Tunnel, The Paper Chase, Have a Gun – Will Travel etc).

The copy of Ilse Lahn who as a successful producer and worked at the agency around that time. Paul Kohner was in the movie business from the early days and would have been in his seventies when this script appeared. He was very successful and managed Ingmar Bergman, Maurice Chevalier, Dietrich, Garbo, Huston and many more. Michael Levy headed up CBS Theatrical Films which was generally unsuccessful.

There are no telling reasons why this script didn’t get to production. One of the difficulties would be that there was another unfulfilled script based on the book written by Orson Welles … it did not make it either … it was regarded as to difficult (read expensive) to produce but many think it was because Welles was frozen out of Hollywood because he upset Randolph Hearst when he made Citizen Kane.

We have read it through and we like it!

We also have the book see separate listing for the summary storyline.

Could be a gold mine waiting – Conrad’s Heart of darkness scripted but not acted

$190.00

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Hold Back the Dawn – Ketti Frings – First Film prmotion Edition 1948

Published by Triangle, New York 1948 a first edition of this type. Printed on war paper so the usual browning but very clean despite that … a very good dust jacket with a nice montage of the stars to the front.

The book of the Oscar nominated motion picture starring Charles Boyer and the beautiful Olivia de Havilland.

Romanian gigolo tries to gain entry to the USA by hitching up with visiting school teacher. It all goes wrong and wrong and then right.

First Film Promotion Edition 1948

$50.00

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The Lost City – By Major Charles Gilson – 1920′s

Penguin Island – Anatole France

Saturnalia in Room 23 – Arthur Weigall – First Edition 1927

The Way of the East – Arthur Weigall – First Edition 1924

Unproduced Film Script – Joseph Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness”

Hold Back the Dawn – Ketti Frings – First Film prmotion Edition 1948

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