Martel Charles Thomas Delf (3 results)

First Edition. Short detective stories by Thomas Delf [bookseller and publisher] wirting undert he Martel pseudonym. The stories included are: The Marked Money; The Button; The Forger's Cipher; How Sergeant Bolter's Prisoner Escaped; The Absconding Debtor; The Ebony Box; The Closest Shave of My Life; The Libertine's Victim; The Wrong Burglar; Caught in His Own Trap; Hanged by the Neck; Esther; The Ex-Policeman's Story; The Doctor's Story. In a modern half leather and cloth binding. VG.…

Leather. Condition: Good Only. First edition. Two very scarce 1860 collections of entertaining, macabre and thrilling short stories, framed as being excerpts from the diary of a Judge and a Detective. The first of these works is the scarce 1860 work 'Diary of a Judge, Being Trials of Life, Compiled from the Notebook of a Recently Deceased Judge', by Henry Robert Addison. Addison was the author of about sixty dramas and farces on the London stage, and authored a further twelve novels and stories.This collection of short stories is claimed to be 'carefully extracted from the note-book of the Baron de -----, who for several years acted as a judge during the reign of Napoleon'. Stories include 'The Haunted House', 'The Poisoned Creece', 'An Irish Ghost Story' and 'The Phrenologist'.The second work is the very scarce 1860 collection 'Diary of an Ex-Detective', edited by Charles Martel, which is the pseudonym of author and translator Thomas Delf.Short stories include 'The Murdered Judge', 'Cheating the Gallows' and 'Robbing the Bank'.Two thrilling collections of extraordinary tales. In a half calf binding, with marbled paper covered boards. Loss of calf to back strip head. Light rubbing to joints, board perimeters, and back strip tail. Front joint starting, with board firmly held. Rear joint starting and firmly held. Rear free endpaper removed. Internally, firmly bound. Pages lightly age toned, with handling marks and instances of spotting throughout. Good Only. None (illustrator). book.…

Hardcover / Hardback. Condition: Very Good. First edition. Hardback. Rebound Yellow-Back. A collection of 14ss. of Victorian detective fiction, Yellow Back format. Contents include : The Marked Money; The Button; The Forger's Cipher; How Sergeant Bolter's Prisoner Escaped; The Absconding Debtor; The Ebony Box; The Closest Shave of My Life; The Libertine's Victim; The Wrong Burglar; Caught in His Own Trap; Hanged by the Neck; Esther; The Ex-Policeman's Story; The Doctor's Story. 312pp. 16mo. rebound h/back. Half-calf brown leather with gilt title and bands to sp. Browned edges, covers and sp. rubbed and worn. Nr. Vg. Scarce 1st edn. early detective/mystery fiction.…