JAMES HADLEY CHASE FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Jarrolds (Publishers) London, [ca.1941]. First published in 1939 and here in a very early paperback edition advertising that the book had already reached its 164th thousand copies. George Orwell’s famous “Raffles and Miss Blandish” essay appeared in “Horizon” in 1944 and propelled the book to an even greater level of notoriety, while the 1948 film, although only passed for screening after extensive cuts, caused national outcry, subsequently leading to an apology from the head of the British Board of Film Classification for having failed to protect the public. “Once or twice in a generation someone writes a book that establishes a new standard in literature; a book that starts a new trend of fashion; a book that everyone knows and talks about and which several million people read. And one which certainly must be included in that class is the world-famous ‘No Orchids for Miss Blandish’” (Sunday Dispatch).
Crown 8vo (18cm). 192pp. Original pictorial wrappers over thin card – a design by Merlin; chipped at foot of spine, with the loss of a few letters; lacks inner front flap of the wrappers; some minor marks, nicks and creases, with a short tear to the upper wrapper, but a good and sound copy. There would not appear to be any copy of this edition in any major library worldwide.

£40

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London : Jarrolds (Publishers) London, [ca.1954]. A fresh edition of the notorious title first published by Jarrolds in 1939. Although both Chase and his publishers had been heavily fined at the Old Bailey for publishing obscene books in 1942, the stage-play of ‘No Orchids’ successfully opened in that same year. The present edition offers a revised text based on the play. George Orwell’s famous ‘Raffles and Miss Blandish’ essay appeared in ‘Horizon’ in 1944 and propelled the book to an even greater level of notoriety, while the 1948 film, although only passed for screening after extensive cuts, caused national outcry, subsequently leading to an apology from the head of the British Board of Film Classification for having failed to protect the public. “Once or twice in a generation someone writes a book that establishes a new standard in literature; a book that starts a new trend of fashion; a book that everyone knows and talks about and which several million people read. And one which certainly must be included in that class is the world-famous ‘No Orchids for Miss Blandish’” (Sunday Dispatch).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 192pp. Original pictorial wrappers; all edges red; a little rubbed and lightly worn; a few spots, but overall a very good copy. No copy of this edition traced in the major UK libraries.

£25

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London : Jarrolds (Publishers) London, [ca.1944]. His second book, first published in 1939 and here in an early paperback edition advertising that the book had already reached 190 thousand copies. “A nightmare tale of the life and death of Dillon, American gangster ... This book is all it should be: fast, tough, sexy and exciting. I give him full marks” said the publisher’s reader. Not everyone agreed: “Too rough a story to hold any pleasure except perhaps for one of Hitler’s S.S. troopers”, reported the “Birmingham Daily Post” (16 January 1940).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 160pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Dolan; spine nicked and chipped; wrappers chipped, slightly split, and a little creased, with repaired tears to corners; text a little tanned; a reasonable copy. There would not appear to be any copy of this edition in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Jarrolds Publishers (London), [ca.1943]. First paperback edition (83rd thousand). Reporter witnesses an execution – a clue precipitates him into a network of crime and murder – meets and marries the beautiful Mardi – “the end comes like the crack of a whip”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 192pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a design by Campbell; slight bruise and short tear at head; a few marks and nicks, but overall a good copy. No copy of this paperback edition traced in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Robert Hale, (1953). First paperback edition. Casino on the Florida coast – “a whirlpool of suspense, intrigue, murder, and ruthless ambush”. First published by the same publisher in 1951.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 159,[i]pp. Original pictorial wrappers; a little worn and soiled; some creasing; text a little tanned. No copy of this edition located in the major UK libraries.

£20

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London : Robert Hale, (1954). First paperback edition. Only the jewel-thief knows where the loot is – how to spring him from jail. First published in 1952.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 160pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a stylish design by “Brab” – Oliver Gilmore Brabbins (1912-1973); slight nick and flaw at foot; corner crease to lower wrapper, but overall a very good copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library.

£10

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London : Robert Hale, (1953). First edition. “Crammed into the space if six hair-raising, breathless days and nights. It is the story of organised blackmail, punctuated by sudden and gruesome murder. It is peopled by ruthless killers, shady cops and Mr. Chase’s own particular brand of young ladies”.
Crown 8vo (20cm). 256pp. Original red boards, blocked and lettered in black; a few slight marks; edges lightly tanned, but a good and sound copy in the Taylor dust-jacket – the jacket lightly worn, with some creases, a few tiny chips and short tears, with one longer tear to front panel, slightly discoloured from an old tape repair.

£30

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London : Robert Hale, (1953). First edition. Famous movie actress June Arnot brutally murdered by racket boss – but no witness has ever lived to give evidence against him. Can out-of-work movie extra Frances Coleman be persuaded to testify?
Crown 8vo (20cm). 255,[i]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; one corner slightly bruised; a few pale edge-spots; endpapers faintly tanned, but still overall a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn, torn, nicked and creased, with some old repairs – but complete and not unattractive.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1953). First edition. Famous movie actress June Arnot brutally murdered by racket boss – but no witness has ever lived to give evidence against him. Can out-of-work movie extra Frances Coleman be persuaded to testify?
Crown 8vo (20cm). 255,[i]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; a touch bruised; a few slight marks; endpapers faintly tanned, but still overall a good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn and creased, with some repaired nicks and chips, with one larger repaired chip just affecting the lettering at head of spine.

£20

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London : Robert Hale, (1955). First paperback edition. Famous movie actress brutally murdered by racket boss – but no witness has ever lived to give evidence against him. First published in 1953.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 160pp. Original pictorial wrappers; redhead in green, champagne, cigarette, etc.; light wear; splits at head and tail of spine; slight crease to lower wrapper, but a good copy. Just a single copy (Monash) of this edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£10

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London : Robert Hale, (1954). First edition. Respectable, married bank official has a night of midsummer madness while his wife is away – soon “up to his ears in a vortex of political intrigue and murder”.
Crown 8vo (20cm). 254,[ii]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; edges a little tanned, but otherwise a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn, creased and chipped, with a larger chip to rear panel and some old tape-repairs.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1954). First edition. Staff writers for a monthly crime magazine investigate the strange disappearance of an unknown showgirl in small town America.
Crown 8vo (20cm). Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; some spotting of endpapers and edges; text a little tanned, but a very good and sound copy in the original dust-jacket by John Pollack (1918-1985) – the jacket with light wear, a few marks and short nicks, with some spotting and creasing to flaps, but also very good. Small bookseller’s label of a Cape Town bookshop and contemporary ownership inscription of A. D. Webb.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1956). First paperback edition. Staff writers for a monthly crime magazine investigate the strange disappearance of an unknown showgirl in small town America. Originally published in 1954.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 160pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a typical blonde by John Pollack (1918-1985); slight rubbing, creasing and wear; text a little tanned, but a good copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library.

£15

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London : Robert Hale, (1955). First edition. “The world is made up of smart guys who get rich and suckers who stay poor” – Harry Griffin decides to hijack an aircraft and steal a collection of industrial diamonds.
Crown 8vo (20cm). 250,[ii]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; front endpaper tanned, but otherwise a very good copy in the John Pollack dust-jacket – the jacket with a small mark and a short tear at head, and a few slight marks to the rear panel, but with only minimal wear and also very good.

£40

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London : Robert Hale, (1956). First edition. Murder made to look like suicide – a common enough theme – but a suicide made to look like murder to claim the insurance? Chase in fine form with a tale set in Hollywood.
Crown 8vo (20cm). 254,[ii]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; endpapers and outer leaves very slightly spotted; text lightly tanned, but a very good copy in the pictorial dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn, marked, slightly chipped, and a little creased, with some spotting to verso – but complete and attractive still. Contemporary (1956) ownership inscription and small bookseller’s label of Fogarty’s of Port Elizabeth.

£30

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London : Robert Hale, (1959). First paperback edition. American journalist in Rome is asked to look after his boss’s daughter – she ends up dead in Sorrento and he has no alibi. First published under the “Raymond Marshall” pseudonym in 1956.
Foolscap 8vo (17cm). 192pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a John Pollack blonde; chip at foot of spine; some mild wear; text a little tanned, but a good copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£10

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London : Robert Hale, (1957). First edition. “A sound-barrier crasher of a novel about a lone, and often very lonely, investigator hunting the murderer of his partner. The colourful background of a playground city for rich men on the Pacific Coast forms the ideal setting for an action-packed non-stop chase of hoodlums, swim-suited sirens and ‘bought’ cops ... a rare feast for the crime story connoisseur” (Brechin Advertiser, 24th September 1957).
Crown 8vo (20cm). 255,[i]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; a few faint marks, but a very good copy in the Fox dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn, chipped, nicked and creased, but substantially complete and attractive still.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1958). First edition. Four desperate men and a girl plan to rob an armoured truck.
Crown 8vo (20cm). 191,[i]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; a few faint spots to top edge, but a very good copy indeed, bright and sharp in the original Holt dust-jacket – just faintly sunned, but also very good indeed.

£40

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London : Robert Hale, (1958). First edition. Starlet strangled to death in a hotel lift at the Cannes Film Festival.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 204,[iv]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; a few slight marks; edges faintly tanned, but a very good and sound copy in the Val Biro dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn, with some nicks and short tears, but complete and attractive still.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1959). First paperback edition. Starlet strangled to death in a hotel lift at the Cannes Film Festival. Originally published in 1958.
Foolscap 8vo (17cm). 192pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a typical blonde by John Pollack (1918-1985); lightly worn and slightly split; diagonal crease to upper cover; text a little tanned but a serviceable copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library.

£10

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London : Robert Hale, (1959). First paperback edition. We don’t know why the lovely Lucille wants so badly to learn to drive; why the blood-stains on the Cadillac are on the wrong side; or why the patrol officer was run over on a lonely beach road. Originally published the previous year under the “Raymond Marshall” pseudonym.
Foolscap 8vo (17cm). 190,[ii]pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a blonde and a candle by John Pollack (1918-1985); some very minor rubbing and wrinkling; tiny hole in lower wrapper, but overall a very good copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library.

£10

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London : Robert Hale, (1961). First edition. “The woman was in a Rolls Royce and she had that expensive look that wives of millionaires usually have” – ex-con made a highly profitable offer. Filmed as “Palmetto” in 1998, with Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Shue, Gina Gershon, etc.
Crown 8vo (20cm). 190,[ii]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red; top edge a touch dusty, but a very good copy in the Val Biro dust-jacket – the jacket a little marked and sunned, but complete and with only minor wear.

£30

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London : Robert Hale, (1962). First edition. “Sitting, facing me in the clients’ chair was a lovely-looking Chinese girl, her hands folded rather primly in her lap ... she looked peaceful and not even surprised. From the small bloodstain over her left breast, I guessed she had been shot quickly and expertly ... she had been dead for some hours”. Cracking Hadley Chase novel, filmed in German in 1964 by Manfred R. Köhler as “Ein Sarg aus Hongkong”, with Heinz Drache, Elga Andersen, Greta Chi, etc.
Post 8vo (21cm). 186,[vi]pp. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in red and silver; faint residue marks to boards; a few faint spots to front free endpaper, but a very good copy in the Val Biro dust-jacket – the jacket lightly worn and a little sunned, with a couple of nicks, a short tear, and a crease to the front flap, but complete and attractive still.

£40

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London : Robert Hale, (1965). First edition. “Ira Marsh, a provocative blond teenager, arrives at Paradise City, Florida’s crime-free, millionaires’ playground. Her arrival sparks off a cunningly devised plan to rob the Florida Safe Deposit bank, an impregnable fortress, acclaimed as the safest bank in the world”.
Post 8vo (21cm). 192pp. Original black boards, lettered in silver; a very good copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket – the jacket with some mild wear at extremities and a few slight marks, but also very good. Ownership inscription of S. Hill.

£30

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London : Robert Hale, (1965). First edition. “Robert Henry Carey was a spy who had defected to Russia and when the news leaked out that he had changed sides again an intensive and ruthless manhunt was on. From the glamour and nerve-shattering noise of Paris the hunt switches to the violent and scorched wastelands of Senegal”.
Post 8vo (21cm). (192)pp. Original black boards, blocked in red and lettered in silver; some spotting to edges, but otherwise a very good copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket – the jacket with some creasing and slight damage to rear panel and rear flap, but otherwise also very good.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1966). First edition. “On a dark, lonely quai of Paris’s 4th arrondissement, a woman is found suffering from amnesia, with the initials of the top Chinese atomic scientist tattooed on her buttock” – the second Mark Girland spy thriller. “Hadley Chase once again proves himself master of the thriller” (Bristol Evening Post, 29th September 1966).
Post 8vo (21cm). (190),[ii]pp. Original black boards, lettered in gilt; just a hint of bruising, but a very good and sound copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket – the jacket with some very minor wear and a few marks to rear panel, but also very good.

£40

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London : Robert Hale, (1966). First edition. “On a dark, lonely quai of Paris’s 4th arrondissement, a woman is found suffering from amnesia, with the initials of the top Chinese atomic scientist tattooed on her buttock” – the second Mark Girland spy thriller. “Hadley Chase once again proves himself master of the thriller” (Bristol Evening Post, 29th September 1966).
Post 8vo (21cm). (190),[ii]pp. Original black boards, lettered in gilt; slightly bruised at foot; a few edge-spots; one leaf creased, but otherwise a very good copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket – the jacket with some very minor wear, a small chip, and a short tear to rear flap, but still very good. Contemporary (1966) gift inscription.

£30

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London : Robert Hale, (1967). First edition. Set in Prague – “the third episode of the chequered career of Mark Girland, layabout Secret Agent whose weaknesses are money and women”.
Post 8vo (21cm). (192)pp. Original black boards, lettered in silver; a few faint marks and edge-spots, but otherwise a very good copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket – the jacket with a few marks, a nick and some minor discolouration to the rear panel, and some mild discolouration to corners of flaps, but complete and with only minor rubbing.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1969). First edition. The fourth Mark Girland thriller – a search for three porn films featuring the daughter of the future president of the United States – “beautiful women ... edge-of-the-chair suspense and unput-downable reading with the master Soviet Agent, Malik, and the killer Lu Silk hovering in the shadows”.
Post 8vo (21cm). 192pp. Original black boards, lettered in silver; tiny bruise at foot, but a very good copy in the Barbara Walton dust-jacket – the jacket also very good with only minimal signs of age and wear.

£40

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London : Robert Hale, (1976). First edition. “Keith Deverey, burdened with a criminal record, arrives in Wicksteed, a prosperous little town on the Pacific coast ... It is when he meets Beth Marshall whose husband is to inherit a million dollars that his thoughts turn to murder”.
Post 8vo (21cm). (190),[ii]pp. Original black boards, lettered in silver; a touch bruised; slight production flaw to lower board; small patches of faint damp-staining to endpapers, but otherwise a very good and sound copy – the jacket with minor wear and similar patches of damp-staining to verso, but complete and attractive still.

£25

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London : Robert Hale, (1977). First edition. President of the National Californian bank builds a new bank with all the latest technology – the safest bank in the world. He has forgotten an implacable enemy from forty years earlier.
Post 8vo (21cm). 190,[ii]pp. Original black boards, lettered in silver; tiny bruise at foot; a few faint edge-spots; slight mark to front endpaper; tape mark to rear endpaper, but still a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket also very good.

£40

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