What do you think?
Rate this book
Octavo en Azul
"Peñas Grises" era un libro sobre montañismo editado hacía muchos años, de tamaño octavo y encuadernado en tela azul, que no tenía valor alguno. Sin embargo un viejo librero paga por él, en una subasta, un precio desorbitado. ¡Qué tenía aquel viejo libro por el que se pagaba tanto dinero? ¿Cuál era el secreto que se escondía dentro de sus hojas? ¿Será el libro la causa de los asesinatos que se suceden en esta magistral novela?
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
2 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
John Blackburn
35 books33 followersJohn Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. Blackburn attended Haileybury College near London beginning in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 1, 2025
John Blackburn was a fine writer, working primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. Until fairly recently almost all of his books were out of print. But Valancourt Books has released 16 of his 26 novels over the last several years and they are almost all well worth reading. His works are a strange blend of thriller, mystery, horror and sci-fi and as you start one of his novels you can’t be too sure where it will eventually take you. There are a great many of his books that in some part deal with Nazis continuing to fight their war although more than twenty years had passed. That and the social mores of the time can have the effect of making the volumes seem to be a bit quaint to the modern reader. But it would be a mistake to pass by the author because of this. He has the ability to entertain with his sci-fi and bring a real mood and tenseness to his many horror books.
This novel, The Blue Octavo is a straight thriller/mystery with the story bringing us the tale of a book, limited to only 100 copies, that brings death to their owners. Someone wants all the copies that exist. A real book hoarder? Or something even more outre? As a book collector i found this novel to be very interesting and entertaining. I’m a bit of a book hoarder myself and found it easy to thrust myself into the story. This is a fairly short novel, packed with incident and excitement. It truly deserves to be remembered and we can thank Valancourt for making it available again.
This novel, The Blue Octavo is a straight thriller/mystery with the story bringing us the tale of a book, limited to only 100 copies, that brings death to their owners. Someone wants all the copies that exist. A real book hoarder? Or something even more outre? As a book collector i found this novel to be very interesting and entertaining. I’m a bit of a book hoarder myself and found it easy to thrust myself into the story. This is a fairly short novel, packed with incident and excitement. It truly deserves to be remembered and we can thank Valancourt for making it available again.
October 23, 2017
Quite good! Along the lines of Agatha Christie! Review shortly.
March 3, 2025
2,5
Siento que la idea de la trama me entretuvo mucho pero cada vez que pasaba a otro capítulo me perdía y había mucho relleno que realmente no tenía nada que ver. No es una mal libro pero recomendaría otros títulos así de misterio.
Siento que la idea de la trama me entretuvo mucho pero cada vez que pasaba a otro capítulo me perdía y había mucho relleno que realmente no tenía nada que ver. No es una mal libro pero recomendaría otros títulos así de misterio.
October 12, 2021
Bookseller James Roach had always been a bit eccentric, but after the latest auction his fellow bookmen think he's gone even further round the bend. Roach pays 43 pounds for an obscure but thoroughly unexceptional book on mountaineering which has never fetched more than 12 pounds on the open market. He can't possibly have a buyer who will pay him enough to make a profit. But Roach confides to his young friend, John Cain, that he does indeed have a buyer. He's positive that he has found an obsessive collector who--for reasons unfathomable--will pay extraordinary prices in order to be the only person in the world who owns copies of this limited-run memoir about the last climb of two brothers in 1909. Cain leaves him in his office that night with the book on the desk in front of him.
The next day Cain has reason to drop by Roach's office again and finds him hanging in his office. After hearing about the bookseller's odd behavior at the auction, the police write the death off as a suicide (thinking that he realized what a stupid mistake he'd made). When Cain tries to protest their findings, he's reminded that IF it is murder as he seems to imply then he would be topping off their suspect list. Because guess who is Roach's beneficiary under his will...you guessed it--John Cain. So maybe he should just accept their professional findings and go play with his new stock of books.
But as soon as he goes to Roach's office he knows he's right. The eccentric bookman did not commit suicide. How does he know? The book is gone. He goes through everything of Roach's--even the parts of the building where Roach lived and The Grey Boulders is nowhere to be found. Not only had Roach found someone willing to pay exorbitant prices for the book, that someone has now become desperate enough to kill for it. As he begins to investigate his friend's death on his own, he joins forces with Julia Lent and (more reluctantly) author Molden Mott. Julia's uncle and Mott have both had their copies of The Grey Boulders stolen and the three are soon hot on the trail. Are they dealing with just a book collector gone made or is there a more sinister reason why the book must suppressed at all costs?
This short little mystery (about as long as the elusive Grey Boulders, I think) was quite fun. It gives a nice look at the inner world of booksellers and an interesting insight into the lengths we book collectors can go to get our hands on particular books. The mystery plot is solid with a motive that fits in with the extreme behaviors represented. A nice bit of action and adventure and the hero gets the girl in the end. What more could you want in a day's read? ★★★ and 1/2.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
The next day Cain has reason to drop by Roach's office again and finds him hanging in his office. After hearing about the bookseller's odd behavior at the auction, the police write the death off as a suicide (thinking that he realized what a stupid mistake he'd made). When Cain tries to protest their findings, he's reminded that IF it is murder as he seems to imply then he would be topping off their suspect list. Because guess who is Roach's beneficiary under his will...you guessed it--John Cain. So maybe he should just accept their professional findings and go play with his new stock of books.
But as soon as he goes to Roach's office he knows he's right. The eccentric bookman did not commit suicide. How does he know? The book is gone. He goes through everything of Roach's--even the parts of the building where Roach lived and The Grey Boulders is nowhere to be found. Not only had Roach found someone willing to pay exorbitant prices for the book, that someone has now become desperate enough to kill for it. As he begins to investigate his friend's death on his own, he joins forces with Julia Lent and (more reluctantly) author Molden Mott. Julia's uncle and Mott have both had their copies of The Grey Boulders stolen and the three are soon hot on the trail. Are they dealing with just a book collector gone made or is there a more sinister reason why the book must suppressed at all costs?
This short little mystery (about as long as the elusive Grey Boulders, I think) was quite fun. It gives a nice look at the inner world of booksellers and an interesting insight into the lengths we book collectors can go to get our hands on particular books. The mystery plot is solid with a motive that fits in with the extreme behaviors represented. A nice bit of action and adventure and the hero gets the girl in the end. What more could you want in a day's read? ★★★ and 1/2.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
August 27, 2018
My trek through John Blackburn's novels continues, and as a couple of my previous reviews have attested, Blackburn's novels are often a crazy mish-mash of ideas combining myth, history, science-fiction, horror, Nazis, cults, and cigarette-smoking young women just waiting for a plucky hero type to come along and get all plucky on them. However, it is actually kind of fun to say that this novel, Blue Octavo, is the rare case of a "playing it straight" Blackburn. There are no Nazis. No weird alien threats. No mad scientists. Not Christian icon as seen through a hazy 1960s semiotic lens that really shows it to be an ancient genetic experiment. Just a bookseller. And a pompous ass world adventure. And a few deaths (one of which involves torture and being burned alive, and one of which involves smashing to bits during a fall, so a bit gruesome). And a semi-old conspiracy. And a cigarette-smoking dame just ripe for the plucking. Wa-hey!
A part of me considers this my favorite of the handful of Blackburns I've read in the past 6 months or so. The story doesn't take any crazy turns. John Cain, a generally honest bookseller (which means less honest than he could be, at times, but mostly above board), is probably the most genuinely likeable Blackburn protagonist I've seen. Julie Lent, the millionaire heiress, is...ok. She participates much less than some of Blackburn's other heroines, but has some pluck of her own. J. Moldon Mott, the overblown, self-important adventurer and writer (and surprise genius, despite himself) continues to be an excuse for Blackburn to spout out...colonial...humor, though even more than in The Children of the Night you feel that Blackburn is mocking a certain type of British ideal...while also basking in it. With apologies to The Drive-by Truckers, let's just call it "The Duality of the British Thing". But, anyhow, Cain. I liked Cain. And the slightly seedy but not really world of rare-and-not-so-rare book trading makes an always fascinating backdrop to any mystery. Nothing like discussions of rare plates and misprints and marginalia and foxing along the endpapers to get my heart palpitating.
Outside of the Blackburn standard "seem like they were written for a Pulp RPG campaign" characters, you have a fairly decent mystery. A nothing of a book, mostly rare because a) no one cared to buy it outside of a few subscribers and b) about a third of the copies were destroyed in a fire, becomes the focus of multiple deaths and inexplicable happenings. A bookseller who was a bit greedy and occasionally slimy is found hanged after he spent several months buying up (and selling on) dozens of copies. A man who worked at the publishing house behind the book is dead, with the official story being a suicide by drowning. Copies have gone missing or have been destroyed. A skeezy ex-priest is found dead by a house fire. All of it seems to be related to this one book, an early-20th-century book about mountain climbers that is about as substantial as a Time-Life book on 1980s sports teams. Even when copies of this exceedingly rare volume are found, there is nothing of note in them. Just some pictures. A few captions. Some middling paragraphs. Yet, something is behind this book's allure. Is it a collector gone bad? Is there some hidden code? Does one of the photos hold some secret? Did one of the volumes have a particular "something" stitched into it and the culprits are trying to track down that one?
Had this been a standard Blackburn story, it would probably have involved the Spear of Longinus being actually some Athenian relic that grants the powers of vampirism and this is the secret truth of the legend of Persephone's descent into the Underworld. Instead, we get a fairly plausible twist or two and some nice human-interest elements. Along the way, we get some insight into the world of rare book trading and collecting. It's kind of pleasant in its simplicity.
A part of me considers this my favorite of the handful of Blackburns I've read in the past 6 months or so. The story doesn't take any crazy turns. John Cain, a generally honest bookseller (which means less honest than he could be, at times, but mostly above board), is probably the most genuinely likeable Blackburn protagonist I've seen. Julie Lent, the millionaire heiress, is...ok. She participates much less than some of Blackburn's other heroines, but has some pluck of her own. J. Moldon Mott, the overblown, self-important adventurer and writer (and surprise genius, despite himself) continues to be an excuse for Blackburn to spout out...colonial...humor, though even more than in The Children of the Night you feel that Blackburn is mocking a certain type of British ideal...while also basking in it. With apologies to The Drive-by Truckers, let's just call it "The Duality of the British Thing". But, anyhow, Cain. I liked Cain. And the slightly seedy but not really world of rare-and-not-so-rare book trading makes an always fascinating backdrop to any mystery. Nothing like discussions of rare plates and misprints and marginalia and foxing along the endpapers to get my heart palpitating.
Outside of the Blackburn standard "seem like they were written for a Pulp RPG campaign" characters, you have a fairly decent mystery. A nothing of a book, mostly rare because a) no one cared to buy it outside of a few subscribers and b) about a third of the copies were destroyed in a fire, becomes the focus of multiple deaths and inexplicable happenings. A bookseller who was a bit greedy and occasionally slimy is found hanged after he spent several months buying up (and selling on) dozens of copies. A man who worked at the publishing house behind the book is dead, with the official story being a suicide by drowning. Copies have gone missing or have been destroyed. A skeezy ex-priest is found dead by a house fire. All of it seems to be related to this one book, an early-20th-century book about mountain climbers that is about as substantial as a Time-Life book on 1980s sports teams. Even when copies of this exceedingly rare volume are found, there is nothing of note in them. Just some pictures. A few captions. Some middling paragraphs. Yet, something is behind this book's allure. Is it a collector gone bad? Is there some hidden code? Does one of the photos hold some secret? Did one of the volumes have a particular "something" stitched into it and the culprits are trying to track down that one?
Had this been a standard Blackburn story, it would probably have involved the Spear of Longinus being actually some Athenian relic that grants the powers of vampirism and this is the secret truth of the legend of Persephone's descent into the Underworld. Instead, we get a fairly plausible twist or two and some nice human-interest elements. Along the way, we get some insight into the world of rare book trading and collecting. It's kind of pleasant in its simplicity.
November 21, 2020
Jolly old mystery about a murderous campaign to suppress all the copies of some dull old tome about mountaineering. It's bloody obvious who the baddie is by halfway, but the fun is in trying to guess why he's bothering. There's no supernaturalism this time, but one of these characters turns up a few years later in "Children Of The Night", so this is all part of the same fictiverse as mad telepathic feral children and all the other Blackburniana.
October 25, 2020
This is a delightful mystery/thriller, which is short enough to read in one or two sittings, if you have the stamina.
I have read two other Blackburn books, and while they probably will never be regarded as classics, they have a special quality that I can't adequately characterize other than to say that, even though they deal with serious themes, they are playful and pulpy.
I have read two other Blackburn books, and while they probably will never be regarded as classics, they have a special quality that I can't adequately characterize other than to say that, even though they deal with serious themes, they are playful and pulpy.
November 24, 2022
A good mid-20th-century mystery about books. Set in the world of secondhand book dealers this was a unique mystery. After buying at auction a book worth much less than what he paid for it one dealer tells his friend, John, another dealer, the book has a funny story. The next day he is found hanging. Not believing it was suicide John sets on figuring out who killed him. Along the way, he picks up two [people who help him, a wealthy, powerful, young heiress and a quirky character, Moldon Mott, author and explorer extraordinaire. Of course, romance enters the picture and we have a fairly wholesome mystery with one grisly scene. I haven't read an old mystery like this in a long time. It was well-written and fun.
November 4, 2020
This one about a series of murders in the world of antique book dealing is right up my alley. Fast paced, unpredictable at parts (except for the killer, Blackburn telegraphed that hard), and lean this was a quick read! It read like a race against the clock thriller, except the end goal was a book about mountaineering, and not diffusing a nuclear bomb or something. The one downside, was the killer's motivation was so...mundane. I wish it had been more outlandish! That would have made it a classic. Still, this book is a fun way to spend a couple hours...
July 8, 2023
First published in 1963 but 'Blue Octavo' reads more like a classic British mid 1930s mystery thriller with likeable hero and heroine and a plot full of twists and murders. It has the pace and complexity of earlier Blackburn novels but without the gore, the Nazis or the biological weapons. It also offers some useful insights into the dodgy world of antiquarian bookdealers, written by a book trade insider.
January 23, 2025
Es una novela del año 63 que ahora mismo podría definir como simplona pero efectista.
Su lectura es muy amena y, si eres un ávido lector, podrías fumiln��rtelo es solamente un día.
Todo empieza en una subasta de libros donde un lote de libros de poco valor consiguen sacar una de las remuneraciones más altas.¿Por qué?
Al partir de aquí se destripan misterios, muertes y algún que otro romance.
Su lectura es muy amena y, si eres un ávido lector, podrías fumiln��rtelo es solamente un día.
Todo empieza en una subasta de libros donde un lote de libros de poco valor consiguen sacar una de las remuneraciones más altas.¿Por qué?
Al partir de aquí se destripan misterios, muertes y algún que otro romance.
November 3, 2020
Good, quick read of a short mystery regarding bibliophiles.
Missing some of the scifi/horror genre mashing from earlier John Blackbun books.
Missing some of the scifi/horror genre mashing from earlier John Blackbun books.
December 15, 2020
An ominous trek through the world of book collection and rock climbing. Popcorn story--a fun, quick read. Marvellous dust cover illustration by Bob Eggleton.
May 19, 2022
A first-rate no-horror, no-gore thriller/crime story. If you enjoy UK cozy biblio-mysteries with mountaineering digressions, this is a pleasure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 16, 2025
Short but interesting enough crime thriller. Very obviously from the sixties.
June 28, 2019
Bookshops, books and murder, and enticing combination.
April 21, 2014
A good murder mystery set around second -hand book dealers. Fast moving and exciting.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews