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

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1951]. First edition. Nicky Folan is released from jail looking for vengeance. An early Bart Banarto title, here using the variant Barnato spelling, and with Edwin Self operating from his earlier Grays Inn Road address. Although an Edwin Self house-name, most of the Banarto titles appear to have been written by Albert Edward Garrett (1917-1968).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – lippy brunette in an improbably engineered pale yellow top; spine unevenly discoloured; some light fraying and creasing; staples heavily rusted, with resultant damage; mild spotting of edges, but a reasonable copy. No copy traced in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1952]. First edition. “Bart Banarto grew up on the sidewalks of the East side of New York. He learned the facts of life in a hard and tough school; and he writes as he has lived – brutally, truthfully and without fear of the public enemies whose evil lives he exposes” – in fact Banarto (or occasionally Barnato) was a house-name dreamed up for his stable of writers by Edwin Self when he set up independently in 1951: most of the titles appear to have been written by the very much London-born Albert Edward Garrett (1917-1968).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – startled brunette drops her glass; some wear at head; a couple of nicks and slight chips; small repair to upper wrapper; rear wrapper lightly discoloured; staples slightly rusted; a good copy of a scarce and fragile title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1953]. First edition. Gail Dreiser tires of her hoodlum – “he wasn’t even a good hoodlum; he owned a yellow streak wider than Broadway. He owned the push of a corpse”. Although an Edwin Self house-name, most of the Bart Banarto titles appear to have been written by Albert Edward Garrett (1917-1968).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – Gail deploying her more obvious assets; slight wear at head; mild rubbing and creasing; a few minor marks, but overall a very good copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1951]. First edition. “I felt like something had gone wrong with my breath. No dame had ever got me that way before ...”. An early Pete Costello title, with Edwin Self operating from his earlier Grays Inn Road address. The Costello house-name was used by a number of Self’s stable of writers, including George Bell and Frederick Foden.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (5)-116pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – blonde in blue casts an appraising eye; mild tanning of text and faint rusting of staples, but a very good copy of a scarce title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1952]. First edition. Sinuous mystery woman shoots flabby man: “That murder had been building up for a long time, and was never solved – officially. I could tell you something about it. I'll start at the beginning...”. An early Pete Costello title, with Edwin Self operating from his earlier Grays Inn Road address. The Costello house-name was used by a number of Self’s stable of writers, including George Bell and Frederick Foden.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – redhead quietly smoulders; some trifling wear and wrinkling; shallow fringe of light spotting to outer edge of upper wrapper; a few edge spots; traces of rust to staples; a few minor production flaws to corners, but overall a very good copy of a scarce title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Pedigree Books, (1958). First British edition. Ellson using his experiences as a social worker and recreational therapist to chart juvenile delinquency. First published in the USA in 1956.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 128pp. Original pictorial wrappers; some minor wear; faint scratch to rear wrapper; text lightly tanned, but overall a very good copy. Just two copies of this edition (Bodleian and British Library) located in major libraries.

£25

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London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1953]. First edition. Raven-haired Belle Marsden wants to leave one strong, muscular and powerful man, for another, even more brutal, who has just come out of prison.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a poor copy, worn, creased and chipped; lacks rear wrapper entirely; staples rusted; one leaf torn and defective, with the loss of a number of words; final leaves nicked and a little spotted, but a working copy of a scarce title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£25

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London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1952]. First edition. Three hoodlums bust into the apartment of naked and beautiful newspaper-woman Venetia Maynard.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – raven-haired Venetia looks apprehensive; minor wear at tips; wrappers slightly chipped and frayed; slight discolouration to outer edges, but a reasonable copy of a scarce title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£50

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1953]. First edition. Something of a hybrid from Lisle Willis, crossing between the staple gangster and faux French lines – “the proud, flaunting beauté of her superb breasts sparkled as much as the blade of the knife in the darkness”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a hint of wear at tips; some mild rubbing; interior tear to final leaf, but overall a very good copy. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Pedigree Books (Edwin Self), (1961). First edition. “Here, for the first time, is a serious book written about teenagers, by a teenager and in a language that has delighted teenagers in America and Britain. It is written mainly in the now famous Kookie-talk” – the story of Fenella the clinker from way out – “Orbit strictly unknown. Destination nowhere!” – a cult classic of the beat generation, with a seven-page glossary of Kookie-talk for “Bods from Squaresville”.
Crown 8vo (18cm). (160)pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a design by M. Atkinson; wrappers rubbed, lightly worn, slightly creased and a little split; minor discolouration in places, but a reasonable copy. Just five copies located in major libraries worldwide – only one (British Library) in the UK.

£50

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London : Pedigree Books, [ca.1958]. First British paperback edition. Tracy’s take on the legendary Edward Teach (1680?-1718), better known as Blackbeard – pirate, corsair, rapist and murderer. Originally published in New York in 1955, with a British hardback edition in 1956, and here under Edwin Self’s Pedigree imprint.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 190,[ii]pp. Original pictorial wrappers; some splitting and wear, with old tape repair to upper joint; a few marks and slight creases, but overall a reasonable copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£20

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London : Edwin Self, [ca.1955]. First edition. “Her inexperience of life coupled with her awakening sense of her own beauty and fascination lead her into dangerous paths ...”. Interesting in that although an earlier Valois title had been involved in Self’s trial on obscenity charges in 1954, the present title was openly issued from his post-prison address. The text is virtually identical to that of “Lovers of Montmartre” by “Michel Lesage”, published a few years earlier, although toned down a little in places and with an altered ending.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers (by Leonard Potts); some mild splitting and wear; tiny corner missing from upper wrapper; a few creases, but a good copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1952]. First edition. “A fascinating story of the modern Paris underworld with all the romantic and glamorous aspect of life with artist’s models and midinettes”. One of the earliest “Valois” titles and frankly hilarious in its Franglais – “The température inside the room seemed to leap hundreds of degrees! The air was électrique, so that even Danielle Javenne could feel it in the garde-robe ...”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design by Leonard Potts; a little worn, creased and slightly chipped; text lightly tanned; staples slightly rusted, but a good copy. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Edwin Self & Co., [ca.1952]. First edition. “A fascinating story of the modern Paris underworld with all the romantic and glamorous aspects of life with artist’s models and midinettes” from “one of the newest successes in modern French literature”. This and the rest of the authorial biography – poor boy from Montmartre, served with the Maquis, imprisoned by the Gestapo – is all a complete fiction. Valois was the pseudonym of Lisle Willis, ex-RAF English school-teacher, local councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate. Both he and his publisher, Edwin Self, were tried on bizarre obscenity charges in 1954 and, even more bizarrely, found guilty. Self went to prison, Willis heavily fined and barred for life from teaching (he went into television). For an excellent account of the whole affair see Steve Holland’s “The Big Panic : The Story of Edwin Self and Pedigree Books”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design by Leonard Potts; spine slightly chipped at tips; small chip to front wrapper, a larger one (approx 4 x 1.5cm) to back wrapper; price inked on to front wrapper; a little worn and creased; text lightly tanned, but a good copy of a scarce and fragile title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£40

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