Chase, Beatrice

A Dartmoor Galahad

London, Longmans, Green & Co. 1923

First edition.  Very Good in green boards in Good only dust jacket with attractive front cover illustration (some loss and wear at extremities and closed tear halfway down front spine fold, but all printing of titles and illustration intact). 

Signed by the author,  Above her signature, Beatrice Chase has written ^Signed by the author".  Laid in loosely is a plain post card date post-marked 16 July 1941 and embossed with the author's address at Venton Lodge, Widecombe-on-the-Moor. The author has typed to the effect she has 'some unexpected stock in today' and lists some 4 titles to offer with prices. 

On the final line, she types "I wept when I saw them again!"

Scarce novel from a controversial but interesting author who left a wealthy home in London to live on Dartmoor. Although her work is regarded as too sentimental for modern tastes, her observations on life on Dartmoor in the early 20th century are seen as valuable.

Moseley, Philippa

Sir Tristram and The Great Commotion in The West

Peterborough, Upfront, 2007

Paperback original. Fine in illustrated laminated card cover.

All the significant characters and incidents in this novel are authentic; based on the tragic events of the Great Rebellion of 1549.  The people of the South West, particularly in Cornwall, were left so destitute that they could scarcely eke out a living from day to day.

Philip Caraman

The Western Rising 1549.  The Prayer Book Rebellion

Tiverton, Westcountry Books, 1994.

First edition. Fine in Very Good (price-clipped) dust jacket.

The suppression of the uprising in 1549, the Prayer Book Rebellion, is all too often ignored by historians.  The book deals both with the religious and military aspects of this tragic rebellion.

Benton, Caroline

The Path of The Dead

London, Constable & Robinson, 2006

First edition, first printing. Fine in loosely protected Fine dust jacket.  Signed by the author to the title page.

A middle-of-the-night call to a burnt-out house in Devon is pretty much routine for Devon Fire Brigade photograph Gus Tavender.  Discovering a charred body in a secret room is not.

Gentry, F.D.

Take Care of Your Fire and Candles.  An Account of Eleven Disastrous Fires in Devonshire Towns in the 19th Century.

Devon Books, 1985.  Fine paperback original without dust jacket as issued in illustrated laminated wraps.

Gray, Todd (Editor)

East Devon. Travellers' Tales

Exeter, Mint Press, 2000

First edition. Fine in Fine loosely protected dust jacket.  Signed by the author to the title. page.  45 first-hand accounts of travels in East Devon by 41 authors including Daniel Defoe, Celia Fiennes,  William Gilpin, John Leland, Robert Southey, etc.

Hardy, Christine & Cecil

Followed by Heavy Rain. Over 40s, Travel, Romance & Adventure

Ashford, Pirouetting Pig Publications, 2006

First edition, paperback original. Fine in laminated wraps.  Signed "With love, Chris & Cecil"

Chris and Cecil, who now live in East Devon, fell in love by letter in 1992. In November, 1993, they decided to sell house and possessions to travel the globe for two years.  This is their story, liberally illustrated with photographs from their travels.

Heard, Christopher

The Last Sorcerer

Paperback original (no hardback edition). Torrington, Harracott Publications, 2007.  First edition, first printing.  Fine as issued without dust jacket.  Signed by the author "Best wishes, C. Heard"  to the title page,

Christopher Heard, who lives in North Devon, set out to write this novel at the age of fourteen and completed it in just over a year. It was published to mark his sixteenth birthday. .

 978095548021

Hussey, Charmian

The Valley of Secrets

Callington, Cornwall, St Piran Press, 2003

First edition, first printing, paperback original (precedes hardback edition).  Fine unread in dark green illustrated card cover with French flaps and without dust jacket as issued.  Signed by the author to the title page.  Unusually for a private press publication, this children's novel set in Cornwall and the Amazon forest, was an instant bestseller when published in 2003. 

Jecks, Michael

The Death Ship at Dartmouth

London, Headline, 2006

First edition, first printing. Near Fine (slight toning to page edges) in Fine loosely protected dust jacket with Headline Signed by the author to the title page with Signed Copy sticker to front cover.  Foreword by the author includes the background of the historical context, followed by a map of the three districts of Dartmouth in 1324.

"It is 1324 and a disastrous autumn looms large, for as the leaves begin to fall there are those who wish to bring the Kingdom down as well".  

Morpurgo, Michael; Hughes, Ted

All Around The Year.  New Poems by Ted Hughes with photographs by James Ravilious and drawings by Robin Ravilious

London, John Murray, 1979

First edition.  Signed by Michael Morpurgo without inscription to title page.  Very Good (neat personal inscription on front free end paper) in Very Good but price-clipped dust jacket, with slight fading to spine, now loosely protected.  The diary is a record of the lives and work of the Ward Family throughout the year on Parsonage Farm in Iddesleigh. with Michael Morpurgo recording the events. Ted Hughes contributing 12 new poems and James Ravilious and Robin Ravilious providing the photographs and drawings respectively.

Rochester, Julia

The House at The Edge of The World

London, Penguin, 2015. First edition, first printing, Fine without dust jacket as issued.  Unsigned.  The novel was long-listed for the Bailey's Prize 2016 and short-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2016.  The author,  Julia Rochester. grew up in a village on the Exe Estuary. 

"John Venton's drunken fall from a Devon cliff leaves his family with an embarrassing ghost." 

Rochester, Ralph

For Love of Williamina

Dorset, Agre, 2001

First Edition. Fine in laminated card wraps (no hardback edition).

Signed by the author.

The moving true story of the last days of Williamina Belsches, first love of Sir Walter Scott - interspersed with poems.  Williamina sought relief from consumption in the village of Lympstone on the Exe Estuary, taking with her her youngest child, James. A fascinating and poignant glimpse of life in Georgian times in East Devon.

Starkey, F.H.

Odds and Ends from Dartmoor

Published by F.H. Starkey, 1984

First edition.  Very Near Fine in illustrated wraps. Illustrated with 29 monochrome photographs.

Tregoning, Lance

Bovey Tracey, An Ancient Town. Its Story and Legend.

Exeter, A. Wheaton and Co., 1983.

First edition. Very Near Fine in illustrated wraps.  The author was born in Bovey Tracey and served as churchwarden for many years, having access to the records formerly kept in the church. Liberally illustrated with monochrome photographs and maps.