H. W. PERL – BRITISH PULP FICTION AT ASH RARE BOOKS
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H. W. PERL – BRITISH PULP FICTION | |
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“BARONI, Nick” : RED DOLL. 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. SOLD |
For more on the artist H. W. Perl, see my Bookhunter on Safari blog-post for 13th May 2016. | |
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BUXTON, Raymond : MIDSUMMER MADNESS. London : Modern Fiction, [1946]. First edition. Simple but handsome farmworker led astray by forward hussies – well written and in places almost erotic, which is more than can be said for most of the Modern Fiction output. Buxton was the author of “Broken Liebestraum” (1944), “No Gentle Lady” (1949), etc. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 34599 – or simply click on the button
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CASTELLO, Inez : MAN-EATER. London : Arthur Gray (Books), [1934]. First edition. “Who is she? Oh, come! You surely can’t tell me that you don’t know she’s the great Lulu Le Sainte?” – the lovely, famous and scandalous man-eater meets a confirmed woman-hater on a terrace in Monte Carlo. Inez Castello, author of half a dozen similar novels of the Bright-Young-Things period, was perhaps the London-born “actress” who took ship from Havana to New York under that name in 1920, but has otherwise eluded identification. SOLD |
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“CAYWOOD, Mark” – [GIDDY, Maud Evelyn, 1899-1986] : VIRGINIA’S QUEST. London : Arthur Gray (Books), [1934]. First edition under this title. “When I first saw the yacht she was lying at anchor in Rushcutter’s Bay, Sydney Harbour” – a sharebroker yearns to return to the South Seas. Shanghaied on the yacht of the beautiful Virginia Mortimer, he is offered a thousand pounds to pilot the yacht on a secret mission. Originally published as “Paradise Island” in 1927, giving rise to a legal case concerning a contemporary book of the same title. SOLD |
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CUNNINGHAM, Paul : [DROP TITLE] TOAST TO SATAN. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [ca.1946]. First edition. Nick and Joan come under rifle fire as they investigate a powerful speed launch on the Channel coast.. SOLD |
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : BROADWAY DOLL [COVER TITLE]. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1946]. First edition. Sixteen-year-old girl who knows boys can be bad, but not quite how bad, is acquitted of murder. Twenty years on, she writes down “what really went on that night in the luxurious room above the Bexton Burlesque Theatre”. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45945 – or simply click on the button
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : “CONCERTO FOR FEAR!” (FEATURING RED BENTON). London : Bear Hudson, 1945. First edition. Each time a certain point in the concert was reached, someone died. Red Benton and his whisky-loving accomplice Happy Harringay investigate. Bear Hudson No. 530. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42511 – or simply click on the button
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : [DROP-TITLE] A COWARD AT HARCOURT. London : Mitre Press, [1944]. First edition. “What the dickens is it, you chaps?” – it’s Eustace Green turning up for his first day at Harcourt College in tight velvet and a frilly silk collar. Firth very much in Frank Richards mode. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41243 – or simply click on the button
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : FUTURISTIC STORIES [COVER TITLE]. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1946]. First edition. One of just two known issues of this short-lived science fiction magazine – three stories – Firth’s “The Lords of Zorm” and “Laughter of the Gods”, the latter written under his “Earl Ellison” pseudonym, and “The Timeless Dimension” by “Rice Ackman”, almost certainly another Firth pseudonym. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45698 – or simply click on the button
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[FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949] – “HALWARD, Leslie” : DAMES IN DISTRESS. London : Grant Hughes, [ca.1948]. First edition. “He first noticed her in Sylvester’s Restaurant in the Strand, where he had gone for dinner. She was not young and not old – she might have been anywhere between the ages of twenty-five and thirty – and she was beautiful” – but Lance Knight (The Knight) is more interested in her companion, a criminal beyond the reach of the law, because his hobby is meting out justice to the untouchable. SOLD |
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : “OUT FOR THE COUNT”. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), 1947. First edition. Newly found wealth, young love, deceiving men, arrest in Piccadilly Circus, and an act of questionable morality at the Chelsea Arts Ball. Firth in fine and rollicking form. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42259 – or simply click on the button
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : STUDIO REVELS. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1946]. First edition. Girl from a sweat shop responds to a modelling advertisement – the “inside story” of Greenwich Village – “queer, crazy characters, torn from a page of life, the riotous studio parties, the life of a professional model, and the excitement of the hunt for a crazed strangler”. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45235 – or simply click on the button
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FIRTH, N. Wesley (Norman Wesley), 1920-1949 : STUDIO REVELS. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1946]. First edition. Girl from a sweat shop responds to a modelling advertisement – the “inside story” of Greenwich Village – “queer, crazy characters, torn from a page of life, the riotous studio parties, the life of a professional model, and the excitement of the hunt for a crazed strangler”. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45236 – or simply click on the button
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“GRIFF” – [McKEAG, Ernest Lionel, 1896-1974] : RACKETS INCORPORATED. London : Modern Fiction (London), [1949]. First edition. “Here, in a tale of romance in the underworld of New York, famous American ace crime reporter ‘Griff’ makes his début to British readers and tears aside the veil that cloaks the activities of the callous racketeers who batten on human frailties”. McKeag launches the highly successful “Griff” pseudonym, later used by a variety of other authors beside himself. Reporter Bill Truscott knows at once that the sight of high-stepper Susette Delaine sitting alone at the Regency Bar of the Ritz-Deauville can only mean trouble. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45675 – or simply click on the button
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HERVEY, Michael, 1915-1979 : STRANGE HUNGER. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1946]. First edition. Wealthy young inventor summons together the best brains in the world to propose a new World Union – a pertinent and interesting science fiction title not listed by Harbottle & Holland. SOLD |
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HUTTON, W.R. (William Richard), 1913-1998 : BROADWAY RACKET. London : Hamilton & Co. (Stafford), [1946]. First edition. Tim Regan’s wife abandons him on the same day that the police are tipped off about his planned bank robbery – five years on he emerges from prison. A rather more literate text than the usual Hamilton fare. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45221 – or simply click on the button
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KANER, H. (Hyman), 1896-1973 : THE SUN QUEEN. Llandudno : Kaner Publishing Co., 1946. First edition. “In a flash the Instantaneous Flight Machine was gone ...” – Roger Marshall and his girlfriend Joan Lorimer teleport themselves into a sunspot and find the Sun Queen engaged in a terrible war against the Black Knights and the evil superstition of the Rock God. “Many novel theories and ideas”. For more on Hyman Kaner, see my Bookhunter on Safari blog-post for 7th July 2016. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42277 – or simply click on the button
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“LACROIX, Ramon” : EROS LOOKS DOWN. London : Modern Fiction (London), [1952]. First edition. “Waiting in Piccadilly Circus; waiting for what cynical Eros on his pedestal might send her, stands Jenny Stewart, cast by cruel turns of Fortune’s wheel into the company of fallen women ...”. The London night-club scene exposed as respectable Jenny falls prey to the procurers. Ramon Lacroix was a house name used, inter alia, by Ernest McKeag, Norman Lazenby, etc. SOLD |
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LE QUEUX, William (William Tufnell), 1864-1927 : MYSTERIES OF A GREAT CITY. London : Mellifont Press, [1934]. Second edition. Five Parisian mysteries – The Affair of the Blue Scarabs; The Clue of the Newspaper Paragraph; The Secret of the Gieboff Emerald; The Affair of the Avenue Malakoff, and The Holes in the Wall. Originally published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1920. Mellifont 252. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42944 – or simply click on the button
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MARLOWE, Francis, 1870-1944 : THE HATTON GARDEN MYSTERY. London : Arthur Gray (Books), [1934]. First edition. “At the end of an evening spent in the West End of London this man found his mind a complete blank as to the events of an hour of it, and he discovered in his possession, inexplicably, a parcel of diamonds that represented a fortune. How, where, and with whom, had he spent the mystery hour?” – Philip Granger is soon mixed up with Doc Summers, bland and ambassadorial king of crime (drawn from the life), but the beautiful Olive is intent on saving him. Currently on display at Bryars & Bryars in central London, please enquire about availability – books@ashrare.com |
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NASH, Irene : FOLLOWING A STAR. London : Arthur Gray (Books), [1934]. First edition. “Someone once said that the parties in Hollywood sounded like school treats compared to those given by Maisie Bellamy” – film critic Peter Day knows everyone in the Elstree set – young Lucinda Carey does not. Conflicts between love and career, “the glamour of the film world; written with first-hand knowledge”. £125 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42255 – or simply click on the button
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POPULAR FICTION (LONDON) LTD. – publishers : THE GYPSY DREAM BOOK : 1001 DREAMS EXPLAINED. London : Popular Fiction (London), [ca.1946]. First edition under this precise title, but presumably related to similar works under similar titles popular in both England and the United States since the middle of the nineteenth century, and in particular “The Gypsy’s Dream Book” published by London pulp publisher F. M. Mowl in 1933. Dream themes explained in a dictionary of topics from “abroad” to “youth” – “to dream that you are doing accounts is not a lucky dream”, “it is more fortunate to dream of hens than other chickens”, etc. Published from Popular Fiction’s 1942-1949 address at 47 Deacon Street. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45237 – or simply click on the button
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“RÉNIN, Paul” – [GOYNE, Richard, 1902-1957] : DESIRE. London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1940]. [Second edition]. Handsome libertine and remittance man John Galway falls for a South Seas beauty. Originally published by Gramol in about 1930 and here published by Phoenix from their pre-1942 Elephant Road address. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41307 – or simply click on the button
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“RÉNIN, Paul” – [GOYNE, Richard, 1902-1957] : PASSION. London : Modern Fiction, [ca.1942]. [Second edition]. Ian Desbro heads off to America to make his fortune – he can’t see it, but sophisticated Maud Lefroy doesn’t love him, while simple Nora Lorrimer does. A title originally published by the Federation Press in the mid-1920s, and later in about 1946 by the Lockers, but here with a distinctly passionless H. W. Perl cover in an unrecorded wartime edition from Edwin and Irene Turvey at their 1941-1943 North View Parade address in North London. SOLD |
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“RÉNIN, Paul” – [GOYNE, Richard, 1902-1957] : THE STREET OF MANY SHADOWS. London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1946]. [Third edition] : issued from Phoenix’s post 1941 Deacon Street address. “A story of love that came too late to a woman of sin” – a tale also commencing with two contrasting impoverished writers on Fleet Street. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30493 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [FAWCETT, Frank Dubrez, 1891-1968] : CHICAGO DAMES. London : Modern Fiction, [ca.1943]. First edition : the variant with the plain lower wrapper. The United Ladies’ Club of Chicago – Dynamite Doll, Slappy Sal (not to mention her husband Jelly the Fish), Velvet Vi, Reno Doreena – but Anna Toplitski craves the “sharp, puncturing kiss” of the hypodermic syringe. It has become apparent from the details of the May 1949 “passing off” High Court hearing before Mr Justice Romer, in which Fawcett and his publisher, Edwin Turvey, sued each other over the rights in the “Ben Sarto” name, that many of the Sarto titles were first published considerably earlier than has previously been supposed. Evidence produced at the trial over the surrender of rights in reprints suggests that the present title must have been in print prior at some time prior to the summer of 1944. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30322 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [FAWCETT, Frank Dubrez, 1891-1968] : CHICAGO DAMES. London : Modern Fiction, [ca.1943]. First edition : the variant with the plain lower wrapper. The United Ladies’ Club of Chicago – Dynamite Doll, Slappy Sal (not to mention her husband Jelly the Fish), Velvet Vi, Reno Doreena – but Anna Toplitski craves the “sharp, puncturing kiss” of the hypodermic syringe. It has become apparent from the details of the May 1949 “passing off” High Court hearing before Mr Justice Romer, in which Fawcett and his publisher, Edwin Turvey, sued each other over the rights in the “Ben Sarto” name, that many of the Sarto titles were first published considerably earlier than has previously been supposed. Evidence produced at the trial over the surrender of rights in reprints suggests that the present title must have been in print prior at some time prior to the summer of 1944. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 31554 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [FAWCETT, Frank Dubrez, 1891-1968] : MISS OTIS GOES UP. London : Modern Fiction, [1947]. First edition. A murder in the Otis Restaurant – a revenge killing by a strange young man. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41962 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [FAWCETT, Frank Dubrez, 1891-1968] : MISS OTIS GOES UP. London : Modern Fiction, [1947]. First edition. A murder in the Otis Restaurant – a revenge killing by a strange young man. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42585 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [FAWCETT, Frank Dubrez, 1891-1968] : MISS OTIS HAS A DAUGHTER. London : Modern Fiction, [1948]. First edition. Playing with his own name, Fawcett gives us cheapstore dressmaker Frank Driffield Tawfitt, who has taken a shine to the mysterious and alluring new partner in Manhattan’s Paradise Restaurant – Miss Otis has gone incognito. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41963 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [FAWCETT, Frank Dubrez, 1891-1968] : SOHO SPIVS. London : Modern Fiction, [1948]. First edition. “These ‘spivs’, as they are named, have no identity cards, no ration books, no clothing or other coupons of legal acquisition. They are, in a civic sense, outlaws”. Post-war London memorably evoked as swell-looking “Yorkshire Alice”, popular with thieves and con-men, is knifed to death in a Soho alley. Correspondence from 1947 between Fawcett and his publisher, Edwin Turvey, reveals that the original manuscript was mislaid for a time, but that Fawcett was paid £33 for this “very good Sarto indeed” and Perl probably £5 for the cover. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45699 – or simply click on the button
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“SARTO, Ben” – [NEWTON, William (William Simpson), 1923-2009] : THERE’S ALWAYS A DAME. London : Modern Fiction, [1949]. First edition. Prisoner nearing the end of his five-year sentence encounters a new prisoner – the man who killed his girlfriend. Revenge has to be exacted. SOLD |
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SHARP, L.G. : LILAC LADY : A ROMANCE. London : Mellifont Press, [1935]. First edition. Historical romance set at the time of the Civil War – Anthony St. Cloude aspires to the hand of the lovely Enid Derrer, the “Lilac Lady” of Essex. Mellifont 3129. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43210 – or simply click on the button
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“VANE, Roland” – [McKEAG, Ernest Lionel, 1896-1974] : THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND. London : Modern Fiction, [1949]. First edition. Pretty secretary Claire Norton, orphaned in the war, sexually harassed from her last job, lands a new position with celebrated author “John Mallory” – who turns out to be a Joan Mallory, with a handsome artist nephew. Passport required for a new world of Biarritz, Cauterets, Pau and the Pyrenees. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45704 – or simply click on the button
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“VANE, Roland” – [McKEAG, Ernest Lionel, 1896-1974] : THE SERPENT. London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1950]. First edition. “Doris Devereaux tossed her shingled, blonde head defiantly and there was a look of obstinacy in her deep blue eyes. Doris was a remarkably pretty girl” – and she wanted to go on the stage. Her bachelor uncle and guardian, himself not averse to the company of actresses and chorus girls, raises objections. Published from Phoenix’s post-1949 Kennington Lane address. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45848 – or simply click on the button
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“VANE, Roland” – [McKEAG, Ernest Lionel, 1896-1974] : SILKEN DIVANS. London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1946]. First edition. As they arrive in Paris, Madge Bradley rather regrets having become travelling companion to the fat, ugly, flashily-dressed, and intolerably rich widow, Mrs Brent. Published by Phoenix from their mid-1940s Deacon Street address. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44730 – or simply click on the button
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WILDING, Elisabeth : [DROP-HEAD TITLE] PLAYTHINGS. London : Gramol Publications, [1933]. First edition : a variant with the Gypsy Dream Book advertisement (a design by H. W. Perl) on the lower wrapper. Maurice Lancaster returns from Saigon on the inheritance of his uncle’s estate – a beautiful young Canadian woman is in residence. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 36658 – or simply click on the button
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