Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Wilson, Colin. Ritual In The Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1960.
Price: US$9.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Publication of 416 pages. The dust jacket is a little shelf rubbed and small chipped pieces. The boards are in good condition. Internally the pages are immaculately clean and complete. Tightly bound and protected in cellophane. The binding is excellent. GK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services.
Seller: Chapter 1, Johannesburg, GAU, South Africa
Wilson, Colin:. Ritual in the Dark. London, Victor Gollancz, 1960, 1960.
Price: US$10.20 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Colin Wilson's first novel. Hardback, no d.j. Spine faded. some shelf-lean. Otherwise Vg. Size is 8vo. 416pp.
Seller: St Paul's Bookshop P.B.F.A., Peterborough, United Kingdom
WILSON, Colin.. Ritual in the Dark.. London, Victor Gollancz 1960., 1960.
Price: US$12.00 + shipping
Description: Second impression. Hardcover. Original red papered boards, spine lettered in black. Lacks jacket, edges slightly browned, bookseller's label on front paste-down, o/w very good. Author's first novel.
Seller: Larsen Books, Exeter, NSW, Australia
WILSON, COLIN. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz 1960, 1960.
Price: US$13.19 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION, 2ND IMP., octavo hardcover (VG) in d/w (VG-); all our specials have minimal description to keep listing them viable. They are at least reading copies, complete and in reasonable condition, but usually secondhand; frequently they are superior examples. Ordering more than one book may reduce your overall postage costs.
Seller: Hard to Find Books NZ (Internet) Ltd., Dunedin, OTAGO, New Zealand
Colin Wilson. Ritual In The Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1960.
Price: US$20.39 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: 1960. No Edition Remarks. 416 pages. Pictorial dust jacket over red cloth. Pages and binding are presentable with common faults. Text is legible throughout. Some issues present such as cracking, inscriptions, inserts, moderate foxing, tanning and thumb marking. Binding remains firm. Boards have noticeable shelf wear with rubbing and corner bumping. Moderate tanning and marking. Unclipped jacket is in two parts and has heavy edgewear with areas of loss, heavy tears, chips, and creasing. Water staining to rear panel. Light tanning overall.
Seller: World of Rare Books, Goring-by-Sea, SXW, United Kingdom
BKSL. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London, 1960.
Price: US$20.39 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Colin Wilson's first novel. Red cloth cover with black lettering on spine. 416 p.pages, 400g, 8" tall. No inscriptions except "Ist edition lightly penciled on endpaper. Jacket has slight edge wear, a very small closed tear (1/4" long) on bottom edge and 2 2 very small bits missing at bottom corners of spine. Unclipped, original price 18s. Protected in removable clear plastic wrapper.
Seller: Excalibur Books, Penzance, United Kingdom
Colin Wilson. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz, 1960.
Price: US$20.39 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Publisher - Victor Gollancz, London, 1960. 1st edition of Colin Wilson's first novel. Good condition, pages tanned and edge spotted, crack at title page but binding solid. From the library of the composer Marcus Blunt (1947-2022) who was a friend of Colin Wilson, with his signature to the ffep dated 13 November 2018. Another previous owner's name also to ffep.
Seller: The Mill Bookshop, Gatehouse of Fleet, United Kingdom
Wilson, Colin.. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1960.
Price: US$30.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition bound in brownish cloth. A Very Good copy in a Very Good, price-clipped dust jacket. The book has a 1 1/2" bump to the front cover's upper right corner. Smaller bumps to the lower corners. Mild tanning to the pages. Rubs/frays to the dust jacket's corners and spine tips. Rubs to the folds. The front panel has a closed, 1" vertical tear at its lower edge. Dust soiling to the panels. Tanning to the spine. Wilson's first novel.
Seller: Dearly Departed Books, Alliance, OH, U.S.A.
Wilson, Colin. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London, 1960.
Price: US$37.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 8vo. 416 pp. First Edition, 1960. Not Price Clipped. Tide mark on dj spine, rear jacket flap, and text block fore-edge with occasional ink marking in margin, and age-toned text block, else, no wear. No markings, tight binding, mostly clean. 5.5" x 8". Red cloth with black lettering to spine. In acetate protector. Size: Octavo
Seller: West Side Book Shop, ABAA, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.
Wilson, Colin. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., London, 1960.
Price: US$37.50 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 416 pp. First Edition, 1960. Binding tight with slight forward lean, slightly age-toned text-block, pages unmarked, red cloth boards with only light exterior wea, DJ with a few tiny chips, very light edge wear and lightly soiled panels unclipped in protector, 5.5" x 8" Red cloth with black lettering to spine. DJ In acetate protector. Size: Small Octavo
Seller: West Side Book Shop, ABAA, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.
Wilson, Colin. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1960.
Price: US$54.00 + shipping
Description: Red boards stamped in black on the spine. Mild slant to spine, bruised corners, foxing to top edge. A very good copy in very good dustjacket with three short closed tears to the edges. ; Octavo.
Seller: Parigi Books, Vintage and Rare, Schenectady, NY, U.S.A.
Wilson, Colin. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1960.
Price: US$56.99 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition (no additional printings indicated, 18/- net price on jacket flap). Includes original jacket and scarce belly band with Robert Pitman review. Two 1/2 inch jacket tears, jacket spine slightly toned with light stain to head, ink notes on endpapers and two text pages. Binding tight and square. 1960 Hard Cover. 416 pp. Author's first novel, a brilliant fusion of murder mystery and existential philosophy. Gerard Sorme is a lonely young Londoner at work on his first novel, in which he intends to express his belief in the meaninglessness of life. His life changes suddenly in unexpected ways when he befriends Austin Nunne, a wealthy and charming gay man with violent sexual desires, and meets Austin's circle of friends: Gertrude, his well-meaning but naive Jehovah's Witness aunt, the ugly but kindly Father Carruthers, and a strange and fanatical artist named Oliver Glasp. Meanwhile, someone else is busy exposing life's meaninglessness in a different way: a serial killer is brutally murdering women in Whitechapel in a manner reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper slayings. The police suspect a crazed sex maniac, but Gerard has his own theory of the killer's motives. As the killings continue and the investigation proceeds, Gerard suddenly finds himself haunted by a terrible suspicion: could his new friend Austin Nunne have anything to do with the crimes?
Seller: Yesterday's Muse, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, Webster, NY, U.S.A.
WILSON, Colin. RITUAL IN THE DARK. Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1960.
Price: US$57.62 + shipping
Description: Octavo, original red boards titled in black on spine panel. 416 pp. Spine a bit cocked, a very good, sound copy in a very lightly soiled & frayed dust wrapper. The author's first crime novel.
Seller: Thompson Rare Books - ABAC / ILAB, Hornby Island, BC, Canada
WILSON, Colin.. Ritual in the Dark.. , 1960.
Price: US$61.18 + shipping
Description: First edition. Victor Gollancz, London. 1960. Hardback with DW. 416 pages. Dust-wrapper has sl. rubbing to extremities with spine sl. darkened with tiny chips to ends. Some foxing to top edge and very small stain to fore-edge. No inscription, dust-wrapper not price-clipped. A nice copy.
Seller: Addyman Books, Hay-on-Wye, United Kingdom
Wilson, Colin. RITUAL IN THE DARK. Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1960.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, boards. The author's first novel. A psychological thriller about a modern Jack the Ripper who kills women in London's Whitechapel district. Some foxing to the preliminaries, corner bumped, a very good copy in a very good price clipped dust jacket with a short closed tear to upper front panel, shelf wear at head of spine panel and the corner tips. (5809)
Seller: John W. Knott, Jr, Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB, Laurel, MD, U.S.A.
Wilson, Colin. RITUAL IN THE DARK. Victor Gollancz, London, 1960.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: 1st Edition. Hardcover. First edition. 8vo. A near fine copy in lightly used dustwrapper (a couple of small chips, small repair on verso). Wilson's First Mystery. Quite scarce.
Seller: TBCL The Book Collector's Library, Montreal, QC, Canada
WILSON, COLIN. RITUAL IN THE DARK. LONDON GOLLANCZ LTD (VICTOR) 1960., 1960.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: NF/VG+. AUTHOR'S FIRST NOVEL D.J. HAS A SMALL BIT OF WEAR AT CORNERS AND SPINE-ENDS WITH A FEW TINY EDGE TEARS, AND VERY LIGHT SOIL ON THE YELLOW OF DJ. AN EXCELLENT COPY. FIRST EDITION. Binding is HARDCOVER.
Seller: JOHN LUTSCHAK BOOKS, BURLINGTON, WI, U.S.A.
WILSON, Colin (1931-2013). Ritual in the Dark. London: Victor Gollancz, 1960, 1960.
Price: US$67.97 + shipping
Description: [Modern literature] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.416. Publisher's red cloth, black titles to spine. With the typographic dust-jacket priced at 18/- to front flap. Internally toned, but clean. Hinge of title-page split. Some light marking to front endpaper. Toning and marking to textblock edges. Heavy adhesive stains to reverse of jacket. One small mark to rear panel. Some gentle wrinkling (probably due to past water damage). Very good. Wilson's first novel, about a serial killer who mimics the murders of Jack the Ripper.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom
Wilson, Colin. RITUAL IN THE DARK. Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1960.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, boards. The author's first novel. A psychological thriller about a modern Jack the Ripper who kills women in London's Whitechapel district. [Reference: Hubin, p. 869]. Mild spotting to page edges, upper corners a bit bumped, a nearly fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket with mild shelf wear to upper corner tips with a small 12 mm closed tear to the lower right front corner, mild dust soiling to yellow background of jacket and spine slightly age darkened. (23544)
Seller: John W. Knott, Jr, Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB, Laurel, MD, U.S.A.
Wilson, Colin. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd 1960, London, 1960.
Price: US$129.15 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 416 pp. Red cloth with black lettering to the spine, in dustjacket. Small tear at the head of the spine. Some bumping to the spine and creasing at the corners of binding. Internally clean. This is the first edition of the author's first novel, a philosophical yet thrilling murder mystery set in London. 8vo.
Seller: Foster Books - Stephen Foster - ABA, ILAB, & PBFA, London, United Kingdom
Colin Wilson. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1960.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: a bit cocked but otherwise very good, dj, shows minor signs of wear Language: eng Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng
Seller: Ian Thompson, Milton, ON, Canada
WILSON, Colin.. Ritual in the Dark.. Victor Gollancz. London First edition, 1960.
Price: US$203.92 + shipping
Description: pp. 416. Very good dust wrapper, not price-clipped, author's inscription : For Kay and Denis Hocking Warm regards Colin 22 Mar 75. *Recipient was F. D. M. HOCKING, pathologist. 'The pathologist Dr Denis Hocking did 35 000 examinations for the Cornish coroner starting in the 1930s. Before that all postmortem examinations were done by general practitioners in primitive mortuaries. Dr Hocking examined only one body in the home. "The widow refused permission to remove the body and also refused to let me do it on the kitchen table. One can sympathise with this! So I had to do it on the edge of a large double bed. To my credit I did not spill a drop of blood on the bedclothes." He was author of : Hocking FDM. Bodies and crimes: a pathologist speaks. Lewes: Book Guild; 1992.
Seller: Patrick Pollak Rare Books ABA ILAB, SOUTH BRENT, DEVON, United Kingdom
WILSON, Colin. Ritual in the Dark. Victor Gollancz, London, 1960.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. Corners a little bumped, very good or better in price-clipped very good dust jacket with two old, small tape shadows visible on the inside. Author's first thriller.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
WILSON, COLIN.. RITUAL IN THE DARK.. Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1960., London, 1960.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Author's first crime novel. Fine in a bright dust jacket lightly rubbed at head of spine and top front corner. An excellent mystery with a serial killer murdering on Whitechapel Road.
Seller: BUCKINGHAM BOOKS, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, GREENCASTLE, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$339.87 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition / First Print. Hardback copy in red cloth boards with black lettering to spine. Price clipped dustjacket in removable protective clear sleeve. 416pp. Signed by author in black ink to ffep. Not library copy, previous owners name in ink to ffep, some creasing to dustjacket. A stark, tragic, terrible tale of a modern Jack the Ripper. The author transposed the crimes of 1888 to the 'present day', inventing a sex-killer every bit as vicious as the real 'Jack' - and has let him loose on contemporary London. Colin Wilson's first novel, which was published to great acclaim. (46/5)
Seller: CURIO, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
WILSON, COLIN.. RITUAL IN THE DARK.. Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1960., London, 1960.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Author's first crime novel. Fine in a bright dust jacket with the original promotional wraparound band. An excellent mystery with a serial killer murdering on Whitechapel Road.
Seller: BUCKINGHAM BOOKS, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, GREENCASTLE, PA, U.S.A.
WILSON, Colin.. Ritual in the Dark.. Victor Gollancz. 1960, 1960.
Price: US$373.86 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION. Half title. Orig. red cloth. Yellow printed d.w., unclipped; a little creased, corners v. sl. chipped. Wraparound band; a little spotted. A seamless blend of philosophy and thriller, Wilson's first novel concerns a twentieth-century 'Jack the Ripper' copycat roving around a London of impressive geographic (and atmospheric) accuracy. Wilson's notes for the book were famously so lurid that his future father-in-law (after a bout of snooping in what he thought was a diary) feared for his daughter's life and threatened the author with a horse-whip, causing Victor Gollancz to advise the young couple to skip town. Ritual in the Dark is Wilson at his best: full of pulpy energy, but lacking the dyspeptic hackishness that mars his later work.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
Wilson (Colin). Ritual in the Dark.. Victor Gollancz, 1960.
Price: US$570.99 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION, pp. 416, crown 8vo, original red boards, backstrip lettered in black and a little faded, gently knocked at corners, textblock edges toned, dustjacket with some minor handling and slightly rubbed at extremities, some erased pencil writing to rear panel faintly visible, very good. Inscribed by the author on the flyleaf, at the time of publication: 'For Caroline, warm regards, Colin, Gorran Haven Feb 1960'. A pencil note beneath suggest the recipient to be Caroline Montagu Douglas Scott, Baroness Gilmour of Craigmillar, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch. His debut novel, documenting a modern-day Jack the Ripper.
Seller: Blackwell's Rare Books ABA ILAB BA, Oxford, United Kingdom
Wilson, Colin. RITUAL IN THE DARK. Signed. Victor Gollancz, London, 1960.
Price: US$3850.00 + shipping
Description: 1st Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. The Victor Gollancz Copy Inscribed By John Braine. 8vo., 416pp. Original cloth, black lettering. Dustwrapper. First edition. Very top of spine slightly faded. Fore-edges slightly browned. Wrapper lightly browned, creased, chipped at head & heel & with short tears. A very good plus copy in a very good dustwrapper. Inscribed on the fixed front endpaper, both sides of the free endpaper & on the half title by the author John Braine to Victor Gollancz: 'Miss Hewitt - Dear V. G., After this, please don't send me any more books for at least a year; I'm not working for you. Ritual in the Dark has, despite all the advice I gave to Colin, at least 1000 ineptitudes; and, despite all these ineptitudes, is still supremely readable. It renews my youth , and makes me remember the London I once knew - the La Vie Boheme London, the (illegible word) alive London of both 1945 and 1951. It's a very bad novel; but I could read it. And if you don't think this high praise then you know nothing at all abou t me - which indeed you don't, - sentimental old bourgeois that you are - or about any kind of mature writing! John Braine.' An important presentation inscription, John Braine being one of the people Colin Wilson acknowledges along with Victor Gollancz himself on the dedication leaf.
Seller: TBCL The Book Collector's Library, Montreal, QC, Canada