Jean Devanny from Gavin de Lacy Rare & Secondhand Bookseller

Octavo, very good in original burnt orange cloth lettered & ruled in blue (sunned on spine). First edition. Rare early collection of Devanny's short stories ‒ published after her banned novel The Butcher Shop (1926). A reviewer claimed that 'I had to stop reading them in sheer disgust. What do the publishers mean by boosting this slimy sex stuff…? Nice copy.

Slender octavo, original black cloth lettered & decorated in silver. First edition. Novel set in North Queensland during WWII. Wartime edition, out of print and very hard to find.

Octavo, spotting on edges, original blue cloth (bit faded on spine) lettered in gilt. First edition. Very scarce.

Octavo, some foxing but very good in original coffee cloth, the poet Ian Mudie's copy with his signature, related newpaper clipping tipped-in, and his marginalia in pencil. First edition – first issue. One of 3000 (but much scarcer than this) 5/- cloth bound copies, preceeding the paperback issue. Includes glossary.

Octavo, diffuse foxing, original typographical wrappers (bookseller's stamp on front cover). Abridged edition of Bushman Burke (Taipo Burke is the eponymous hero of the novel). Magpie Books, first series, no. 38: 'A Gripping Story of the Triumph of Love'. Scarce.

Octavo, [5]pp. publisher's advertisements, bookseller's stamp on front free endpaper, original red cloth lettered in black on spine with publisher's device on lower board. Fourth impression. Banned in Australia in 1929. Scarce contemporary printing.

Octavo, diffuse foxing, original blue cloth lettered in gilt with chipped pictorial dustwrapper (bit oxidised on spine). Third impression in year of first publication. Early printing in exceptionally scarce 1920s dustwrapper reproducing the fabulous John Nicolson ('Nick') artwork from the first impression but not priced on spine. Banned in New Zealand in 1926 and in Australian from 1929 until 1958.

Octavo, original typographical wrappers priced at 1/-, foxing and a few blemishes but still a crisp copy. Abridged edition. Magpie Books, first series, no. 14. 'Pulsating Drama of the Canefields'.