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Online book search for used, out of print & rare books by Harry Stephen Keeler
H S Keeler
Maverick writer of American curious crime novels, Harry Stephen Keeler wrote very weird books.
If you can imagine a crossword in mixed languages including Klingon, you might appreciate the dementia of his implausible plots. Even his cult devotees describe him as 'the strangest writer who ever lived'.
By chance, both HSK and Agatha Christie were born the same year (1890). However, their lifelines shared no more similarity: AC's English middle class upbringing was separated by more than just language from Keeler's Chicago, where his mother committed him to a lunatic asylum as a boy.
Madman or no, he was both a magazine editor and signed by big international publishers. His first novel, 'The Voice of the Seven Sparrows' (1924) was published by Hutchinson, and his last English novel, 'Stand By …London Calling' (1953) by Ward Lock, and he turned out more than 70 novels and umpteen magazine stories. Some of his novels were so long that his publishers insisted on chopping them up: thus one of 350 000 words emerged as 3 full-length novels, 'Marceau Case' (1936), 'X Jones of Scotland Yard' (1936) and 'The Wonderful Scheme of Mr Christopher Thorne' (1937). But eventually, his publishers all dropped him, as his plots became impenetrable and his market infinitesmal. Still he kept writing. He died in 1967, leaving 16 complete unpublished manuscripts totalling 1.3m words.
His 'biographer', attorney Harry Nevins, described him as 'the sublime nutty genius of American literature'. Charmingly awful, his titles sound like cabalistic recipes and his characters Hogarthian mutants; his fiendish 'webwork' plots make Le Carre's convolutions seem like an OXO grid, and his outlandish dialogue puts Pratt's at 5th grade. Apparently, he collected newspaper cuttings of uncanny events and reputedly would pick a pile randomly and thread them into a web of criminal improbability. The main suspect was always the writer.
Anarchic, surreal, mysterious, verbose, dreamlike, grotesque, hilarious, bizarre - often all in one novel, and unashamedly urban American. If strange is your game, Keeler's your man.
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Amazing Web
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, c1930s
1st edition UK, (? not stated) out-of-print hardback in protected red cloth boards, bright with only very minor blemishes, slightly edge-rubbed, spine lean, dusty lightly foxed closed edges. VG. {a web of intrigue from this amazing web/work writer;} [FF 9157] £31.36 ($58.00) |
Amazing Web
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, c1930s
1st edition UK, (? not stated) out-of-print hardback in red cloth boards, bright with only very minor blemishes, slightly edge-rubbed, spine lean, dusty lightly foxed closed edges. VG. {a web of intrigue from this amazing web/work writer;} [d* 21619] £24.09 ($45.00) |
Fourth King
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, nd
Out-of-print hardback in protected red ornamented clth, quite glossy, evidence of slight damp damage & dye run to perimeters of prelims & edges of first few pgs, occasional spotting & pg blemish, dusty top-edge, neat owner's name or signature inscribed stamp, 255pp. VG- [FF 9504] £31.36 ($58.00) |
Fourth King
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, nd
Out-of-print hardback in red ornamented clth, quite glossy, evidence of slight damp damage & dye run to perimeters of prelims & edges of first few pgs, occasional spotting & pg blemish, dusty top-edge, neat owner's name or signature inscribed stamp, 255pp. VG- [d* 21621] £24.09 ($45.00) |
Green Jade Hand
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, 1931
Out-of-print hardback in protected dark green cloth, 318pp, bright clean boards, slight lean, slightly speckled/dusty edges, neat owner's inscription. VG. [FF 10559] £26.81 ($50.00) |
Green Jade Hand
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, 1931
Out-of-print hardback in dark green cloth, 318pp, bright clean boards, slight lean, slightly speckled/dusty edges, neat owner's inscription. VG. [d* 21624] £20.45 ($38.00) |
Magic Ear-Drums
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward, Lock & Co) London, 1939
1st edition UK stated (however, see following note), out-of-print hardback in protected dust jacket [pictorial artwork by Abbey, lightly sunned spine & vertical creases, price-clipped], 285 pp, red cloth, spine cocked, owner's name or signature inscribed, slightly dusty top-edge, covers & contents bright & unblemished. VG+/VG. [NB though 1st edition UK (1939) indicated on copyright pg, intrinsic evidence casts doubt: 1. dust jacket certainly 1942 in listing Peacock Fan last & including 902 on spine, though jacket is not a perfect fit & could be substitute; 2. printed by Butler & Tanner, whereas before & up to 1939, the publishers used first Tinnings, then Robinsons to print Keeler novels] [FF 28037] £49.54 ($92.00) |
Sing Sing Nights
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward, Lock & Co) London, c1931
Out-of-print hardback in protected decorative red cloth, Crown octavo over 7.5x5inches, 255 pp, clean bright boards with minimal edge-rub, owner's name or signature inscribed on fep, foxed top-edge & foredge o/w clean unmarked textblock. VG. [FF 28038] £25.00 ($47.00) |
Thieves' Nights - the Chronicles of Delancey King of Thieves
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, 1931
1st edition UK, out-of-print hardback in protected decorative red cloth, Foolscap octavo over 6.5x4.5inches, 254pp + publisher's adverts, clean boards with minor colour blemishes, spine darkened/rubbed & leans with slight fray at top-edge, board edges little chafed & corners bumped, closed edges slightly dusty with occasional foxing, light spotting to prel [FF 12190] £26.81 ($50.00) |
Thieves' Nights - the Chronicles of Delancey King of Thieves
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, 1931
1st edition UK, out-of-print hardback in decorative red cloth, Foolscap octavo over 6.5x4.5inches, 254pp + publisher's adverts, clean boards with minor colour blemishes, spine darkened/rubbed & leans with slight fray at top-edge, board edges little chafed & corners bumped, closed edges slightly dusty with occasional foxing, light spotting to prelims/adverts & [d* 21626] £20.45 ($38.00) |
Thieves' Nights.The Chronicles of Delancey, King of Thieves
Keeler, Harry Stephen (Ward Lock) London, 1931
1st edition UK, out-of-print hardback in clear archive-film protected loose dust jacket [clean bright pictorial jacket, only mild edge-rub & a couple of small closed/repaired snags to rear edge-fold, not price-clipped], Crown octavo over 7.5x5inches, 254 pp, blue cloth with black titling, no inscriptions, covers & contents excellent & unblemished, very nice copy. VG++/VG. [FF 30683] £43.18 ($80.00) |
[ Last updated 28 November 08 ]
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