CURTIS WARREN – BRITISH PULP FICTION AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1950]. First edition. “There was something wrong with the old box of tricks that was stooging around way up in the blue there” – a title in the Curtis Warren “Aero Fiction” series.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design by Ray Theobald; a little worn at extremities; some light marking and creasing; staples rusted; some spotting of edges and prelims, but a good and serviceable copy. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1950]. First edition. “The young dame didn’t look like she ever ought a been in a place like Morelli’s. She was sitting on one of the high stools in front of the bar, twiddling the stem of the glass of stuff she had, trying not to look goggle eyed at the things she saw”. “Nick Baroni” was a Curtis Warren house-name, first used by Frederick Tom Foden (1907-1982) and subsequently by various other writers, but although over twenty “Baroni” titles are known, just one has been located in major libraries worldwide.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; chipped at head and tail; wrappers a little worn, frayed and creased; staples rusted; text a little marked, spotted and tanned; a serviceable copy of a scarce book. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1950]. First edition. “Gilda’s voice sounded as stonecold dead as Johnny Morgan was. She had just entered the room, The Midge hot on her tail. None of the boys screening the bloody mess on the couch moved. None of them met her grey eyes. Except Chummy Ricketts, and he didn’t like what he read there”. “Nick Baroni” was a Curtis Warren house-name, first used by Frederick Tom Foden (1907-1982) and subsequently by various other writers, but although over twenty “Baroni” titles are known, perhaps eight by Foden, just one has been located in major libraries worldwide.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – “Read how the girls of the underworld take the lid off Manhattan”; some nicks creases and slight marks; front cover slighly defective at foot; rear cover more seriously defective, lacking about 20% towards the fore-edge (a complete back cover is supplied in facsimile); staples a little rusted; text very slightly tanned, with some mild discolouration in places; one leaf creased; a passable copy of an uncommon title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£40

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London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1951]. First edition. “I got a funny kind of a nose. I can smell dough a mile away. I can smell trouble, too. When I see the guy walk into my office in Chicago, I smell both ...” – “Nick Baroni” was a Curtis Warren house-name, first used by Frederick Tom Foden (1907-1982) and subsequently by various other writers.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (1),[ii],4-111,[i]pp – including horticultural advertisements for both Flexible Earth and British Bamboo Groves. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a soulful design by the always elegant H. W. Perl; some very minor wrinkling and creasing, with a single short nick; staples slightly rusted, with tiny spots of discolouration, but overall a very good copy. No copy located in any major UK library.

SOLD

London : Curtis Warren, [1952]. First edition. Robert Varden almost dies when his plane hits an electrical storm. When he awakes in hospital he has an invisible double. “An extraordinary and chilling fantasy” (Harbottle & Holland A244).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Ray Theobald; spine worn and chipped at head and tail; wrappers a little rubbed and creased; price sticker on upper wrapper; some internal spotting and tanning, but a serviceable copy. Just a single copy (Liverpool) located in the major UK libraries.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, (1952). First edition. “A unique example of post-war British SF mediocrity ... the main action and dialogue is obviously based on the author’s then recent wartime experiences in the R.A.F.” (Harbottle & Holland A47). Earth’s space armada is tricked into departing for planet Alpha, while the devious Martians plan to invade Earth.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 127,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design by Gordon C. Davies; a little rubbed and creased; small repair to front wrapper; staples rusting; a good copy. Faint stamp of a Sheffield bookshop on rear wrapper. Just a single copy (Liverpool) located in major UK libraries.

£20

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London : Curtis Warren, [1952]. First edition. Runaway planet that has slipped its orbit heads towards Earth – the peace-loving Titanians having taken science to a disastrous new level.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a typical Ray Theobald design; chipped at head and tail; a little nicked, chipped and creased; two repairs and a large (3cm) chip, without loss of text, to rear wrapper; staples rusted; a serviceable copy. Just a single copy (Liverpool) located in major UK libraries. Harbottle & Holland A81.

£20

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London : Curtis Warren, (1953). First edition. Carelessness sends the rocket-ship Ventura on its way to Tha a day too early – short-crewed and with three civilians on board, one a woman. Tha turns out to be inhabited by “a vastly superior race of corporate beings” – creatures planning to evacuate their world and invade another.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 159,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design variously attributed to both Gerald Facey and Ray Theobald; some light wear and slight creasing; staples rusted; a few minor signs of age and use, but overall a very good copy. No copy located in any major UK library.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, (1952). First edition. Naked, mysterious and well-educated young woman fished out of the Mediterranean – the presentation of a golden clasp leads to another time.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – Prega in full dress (almost); some light wear, slight scuffing and minor creasing; staples rusting, with slight discolouration, but overall still a very good copy. No copy located in any of the major UK libraries.

SOLD

London : Curtis Warren, (1953). First edition : the wrappers issue. The long-established Earth colony on the planet Reni has to be evacuated when its sun fails, abandoning the gentle and trusting Renians to their fate – but some Earth mortals decline to leave.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 159,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – an unsigned but typical design by Gordon C. Davies; a little rubbed and creased; staples a little rusted; text a little tanned, but a good copy. Only a single copy (Liverpool) located in any major UK library.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, [1951]. First edition. A vast force of spaceships is spotted in the outer galaxy, aliens from Gamma 7 have taken a base on the moon – “a ghastly space opera mish-mash” (Harbottle & Holland A239).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Ray Theobald; minor wear at foot; staples rusted, but otherwise a very good copy. Exchange stamp of “Goodwins Librarie” of Lincoln on title-page.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, [1951]. First edition. Newly opened space-route between Earth and Tanus, ships disappearing, convoy lands on alien planet – “Another of the atrociously-written space operas by Hughes, essentially a transplanted western” (Harbottle & Holland).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Ray Theobald; small chip at head; slight split at foot; minor wear at foot; some slight creasing; a few spots, but a very good copy. Just five copies located in major libraries worldwide – just one (British Library) in the United Kingdom.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, [1951]. First edition. The “Leinster Principles” are adopted after the conclusion of the Earth/Mars wars, but one of Leinster’s assistants steals the secret of the gyrator control and offers it to the Martian warlords. The Curtis Warren “King Lang” house-name here in the capable hands of one of their readers, David Arthur Griffiths.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Ray Theobald; light nick at head; some light rubbing and creasing; staples a touch rusted, but overall a very good copy. Eight copies located in major libraries worldwide, but just two in the UK (British Library & Liverpool). Bookseller’s stamp of Goodwins Librarie’s [sic] Exchange of Lincoln on title-page. Harbottle & Holland A216.

£30

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London : Curtis Warren, (1952). First edition. “A story by the modern French master of Science Fiction” runs the strapline, although the eight or so “Rand le Page” titles produced by Curtis Warren all appear to have been written by British authors, in this instance by William Bird. The planet Argos has been under the Earth’s control for centuries, but now there is an uprising fuelled by telepathy.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 127,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – an unsigned design attributed to Gordon C. Davies; wrappers slightly chipped at head; a little worn and creased; staples rusted, but a good and serviceable copy. Just a single copy (Liverpool) located in the major UK libraries.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, [1950]. First edition. “A scientific detective story. Ray Ellis is asked to find why a number of top scientists have dissapeared ... plot to take over the world ... superior to anything else that Hughes wrote during this period” (Harbottle & Holland A266).
Crown 8vo (19cm). (128p). Original pictorial wrappers in a design by Ray Theobald; some nicks and creases; rear wrapper chipped at corners, without loss of text; test tanned and a little brittle, with nicks and corner chips to final leaves, again without loss of text; a serviceable copy of an uncommon title. Just two copies (Liverpool and Paley) located in major libraries worldwide.

£20

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London : Curtis Warren, (1952). First edition : the wrappers issue. “When creation which is contrary to all the accepted laws of Nature springs directly from Genius in the grip of Evil the results may well take a form so terrible as to be beyond human understanding ...”. Mad scientist, laboratory horror, allegorical fantasy – “charmingly bizarre” (Harbottle & Holland A268).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a perplexed design attributed to Gordon C. Davies; chipped at head (2cm), with minor chip at foot; some rubbing and light creasing; staples badly rusted; a serviceable copy. No copy located in any major UK library.

£20

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London : Curtis Warren, (1953). First edition. Telepathy developed, but a time-space gap opens up and an evil half-brain, half-robot, life form is listening in.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 159,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design attributed to Gordon C. Davies; short split at head; some rubbing and creasing; staples rusted, but a reasonable copy. Bookseller stamp of McGills, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, on title-page. No copy located in any major UK library.

£25

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London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1950]. First edition. Set in Los Angeles – Dulcie Friede, “a well-bred girl with a background of dough ... a girl in a million – like Cleopatra, Juliet and Betty Grable”, falls in with a man just out of jail and looking for recompense. “Brett Vane” was a Curtis Warren house-name, first used by Frederick Tom Foden (1907-1982) and subsequently by various other writers, including Norman Lazenby (1914-2003). Although fifty or so Brett Vane titles are known, over half by Foden, only six are to be found in major libraries worldwide.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – unsigned but looking uncommonly like Betty Grable as envisioned by H. W. Perl; some nicks, creases and slight marks; small chip to spine; a chip and two holes to back wrapper – one minor, but the other about 5cm x 2.5cm (1-3/4” x 1”); staples rusted; a reasonable copy of an uncommon title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£50

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London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1951]. First edition. A fake message and a fake cab lead to the kidnap of the beautiful Sylvia Karlton right outside the Silver Bowl nightclub in Chicago. “Brett Vane” was a Curtis Warren house-name, first used by Frederick Tom Foden (1907-1982) and subsequently by various other writers.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 126,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a reworking of a design by “Brab” – Oliver Gilmore Brabbins (1912-1973) – originally used on the earlier “Wandering Girl”; some very minor wear; some creasing; staples rusted; a few spots, but otherwise a very good copy of a difficult title. Although fifty or so Brett Vane titles are known, over half by Foden, only a handful of them have been located in major libraries. No copy of the present title has been located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Curtis Warren, [ca.1951]. First edition. “I couldn’t tie that dame up with Lisell anyhow. She’s just a chorine. He’s a crook, a big time crook, and me, I’m Bat Scrimms, burlesque agent, I been a lot of other things as well, but I’m aiming to forget them now” – “Brett Vane” was a Curtis Warren house-name, first used by Frederick Tom Foden (1907-1982) and subsequently by various other writers.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; lightly worn; small chip, slight creasing, and faint inked price to upper wrapper; lower wrapper and least leaf a little soiled and spotted; staples lightly rusted; light spotting of edges, but a good copy of a difficult title. Although fifty or so Brett Vane titles are known, over half by Foden, only a handful of them have been located in the major UK libraries. No copy of the present title has been located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD