Arthur Bruce Allen - Pyromaniac - James Blackwood, n.d. [1938], First Edition.

London, James Blackwood, n.d. [1938]. First edition, first impression. Hardback. A near fine copy in a very good jacket. An uncommon work of science fiction. Commonly thought to be one of the first uses of a heat ray gun, though this is demonstrably not the case. Wells's War of the Worlds (1898) utilises heat rays, as does Campbell's Black Star Passes (1930). Ray guns specifically are found in the December 1931 issue of Amazing Stories (Prucher, p88 and p162). Plenty of other examples are available in Clute and Nicholls [p1320]. That said, it's still a rare work of science fiction that doesn't appear too often. A little chipping to the upper jacket at the spine. Some tanning to the spine. A little bumping to the tips and some dustiness. [10043, Hyraxia Books].