Penguin 1st Edition, published 1961.

Don Pancho, the retired Mexican chief of police, is called in by American millionaire John Belton to guard his wife's jewels while the couple are staying at the Gran Hotel Balnearia in Tuxpan, Mexico. Belton is there to negotiate mining rights over the residual mercury left in the hills as a result of silver extraction by the Spanish centuries ago.

Hoping to outbid Belton is a British contingent, and the Mexican owners of the hotel are keen to negotiate the best price. The disappearance of Belton is just the beginning in a plot full of intrigue, kidnapping, murder and subterfuge.

Condition grading: Fair. Light creases to both coves. Creasing and some wear to spine. Binding tight. The photographs form part of the description.

Puffin Story Book PS5. 1st edition, published 1941.

Smoky is the story of a horse--from his first hours on the prairie sod to his final years out to pasture. Smoky grows up wild and wise to the ways to the range, fighting wolves and braving stiff winds. Clint, a bronco-busting cowboy on the Rocking R Ranch, spots the spirited four-year-old and thinks it is the finest little horse he ever saw. After many adventurous years on the Rocking R, Smoky mysteriously disappears, only to turn up later as an outlaw bucking horse on the rodeo circuit. The reader follows the story--from range to ranch to rodeo--through Smoky's eyes.

Condition grading: Good. Wear spots and creasing to spine. Light foxing to front cover. Binding tight. The photographs form part of the description.

Penguin Illustrated Classic C4. 1st Edition, 1938.

In 1845 Thoreau, a Harvard-educated 28-year-old, went to live by himself in the woods in Massachusetts. He stayed for over two years, living self-sufficiently in a small cabin built with his own hands. Walden is his personal account of the experience, in which he documents the beauty and fulfilment to be found in the wilderness, and his philosophical and political motivations for rejecting the materialism which continues to define our modern world.

Condition grading: Very Good. Some wear to spine ends and edges. Light foxing and a few very light creases to front cover. Binding tight. The photographs form part of the description.

Penguin 1st Edition, published 1963.

It wasn't Archie's fault, really. It's true he went to America and fell in love with Lucille, the daughter of a millionaire hotel proprietor . . . and if he did marry her -- well, what else was there to do? From his point of view, the whole thing was a thoroughly good egg; but Mr. Brewster, his father-in-law, thought differently, Archie had neither money nor occupation, which was distasteful in the eyes of the industrious Mr. Brewster; but the real bar was the fact that he had once adversely criticized one of his hotels. Archie did his best to heal the breach; but, being something of an ass, genus priceless, he found it almost beyond his powers to placate the "man-eating fish" whom Providence had given him as a father-in-law. . .

Condition grading: Good. Light foxing to front cover. Minor wear to parts of spine. Binding tight. The photographs form part of the description.

Penguin 1st Edition of Penguin Special S90, published 1941.

Wartime publication designed to encourage greater food production and preservation on the Home Front.

Condition grading: Excellent Minus. Some foxing to right edge of front cover. Bright covers. Minor wear to spine ends. Binding tight. The photographs form part of the description.

Puffin Story Book PS54. 1st edition, published 1951.

Written in 1951, Fell Farm Holiday tells the story of the five Browne children’s summer in the Lake District. The children have holidayed at High Tarn Farm every year, but their father is away in India and although the war has now been over for six years, it seems that Mother, has been unable to get home since the war started. The children know every animal on the place and the country round. They make a 'hide' and spend their days bird watching, climbing, and camping out in the hills - a first-rate mixture of fun and adventure.

Condition grading: Good. Spot stain to right edge of first 10 inside pages. Some wear to spine. Binding tight. The photographs form part of the description.