Oswell Blakeston Sold at Auction Prices

[Blakeston (Oswell) and Roger Burford], "Simon". The Cat With the Moustache, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1935.

[Blakeston (Oswell) and Roger Burford], "Simon". The Cat With the Moustache, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author "To my friend John Gainswith" on title, endpapers and margins a little toned, occasional faint spotting, original cloth, a little discoloured, dust-jacket, broken or nearly broken along flap joints, repaired with tape, large portion of loss to lower third of spine, smaller portions of loss to spine head, chips and nicks to edges, 8vo, 1935. *** Rare: we cannot find another signed copy in commerce. Certainly an unusual title as evidenced by the blurb on the front flap: "Have you ever met a cat 'wearing a moustache like an Italian ice-cream merchant's? Probably not, and if ever you do it is not unlikely that you will become involved in as surprising a series of events as Inspector Peering does in this story. When a wealthy lady holds a psychic seance in her country house and invites a police officer on leave-who arrives to find the house completely empty and later discovers her ladyship's manservant dead in a ditch-when the trail leads to a private asylum in charge of a doctor almost as peculiar as his patients, and among the clues are a dwarf, a clairvoyant, a rose that turns into a cigarette and a music-hall dancer who sends out code messages during his 'turn,' then obviously here is a deep-laid scheme for the amiable inspector to unravel. All these ingredients, and others no less unusual, make up an eerie story which is mysterious to the last page".

[Blakeston (Oswell) and Roger Burford], "Simon". The Cat with the Moustache, first edition, 1935.

[Blakeston (Oswell) and Roger Burford], "Simon". The Cat with the Moustache, first edition, lacking front free endpaper, original cloth, mottling to covers, dust-jacket, spine ends and corners chipped with partial loss to spine titles, diagonal slash to spine, creasing to head and foot, closed tear and surface soiling to lower panel, 8vo, 1935. ⁂ A rare and unusual title, as evidenced by the blurb on the front flap: "Have you ever met a cat 'wearing a moustache like an Italian ice-cream merchant's? Probably not, and if ever you do it is not unlikely that you will become involved in as surprising a series of events as Inspector Peering does in this story. When a wealthy lady holds a psychic seance in her country house and invites a police officer on leave-who arrives to find the house completely empty and later discovers her ladyship's manservant dead in a ditch-when the trail leads to a private asylum in charge of a doctor almost as peculiar as his patients, and among the clues are a dwarf, a clairvoyant, a rose that turns into a cigarette and a music-hall dancer who sends out code messages during his 'turn,' then obviously here is a deep-laid scheme for the amiable inspector to unravel. All these ingredients, and others no less unusual, make up an eerie story which is mysterious to the last page".

Oswell Blakeston (British, 1907-1985) Abstract swirls 30.5 x 40.5 cm.