BRITISH PULP FICTION AT ASH RARE BOOKS
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OTHER PUBLISHERS – BRITISH PULP FICTION | |
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W. H. ALLEN | |
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GRIBBLE, Leonard (Leonard Reginald), 1908-1985 : THE SECRET OF TANGLES : A SUPERINTENDENT SLADE STORY. London : W. H. Allen, [ca.1950]. A paperback edition of a crime classic originally published by Harrap in 1933 – translated into both French and German and one of the works included in the Odhams Press “Four Great Mystery Novels” in 1948. The action opens on a quiet street in Ealing. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45245 – or simply click on the button
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ANGLO-EASTERN | |
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WILLIS, W.N. (William Nicholas), 1858-1922 : WHY GIRLS GO WRONG : HOW THE WHITE SLAVE GANGS WORK. London : Anglo-Eastern Publishing Co., [ca.1924]. A reprint of an early Willis title, first published in 1913, but here issued from Anglo-Eastern’s 1919-1931 address in Waterloo Road, with advertisements for other titles issued in the early 1920s. Classic account, both lurid and journalistic, of young women being lured into prostitution in London’s West End. With a preface by William Sinclair, Archdeacon of London and Canon of St. Paul’s. SOLD |
ART PUBLICITY | |
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“MARKHAM, Steve” : THE MALTESE MOB. London : Art Publicity, [1950]. First edition. “Vince Lorentz was the counterfeit racket king of the New York mobsters. And he handled the two boys whose names spread terror throughout the States – the Gessina brothers, Johnny and Mike. They were the Maltese shiv boys – the artists with the knives”. The Markham pseudonym was used by both Stephen Frances (Hank Janson) and Geoffrey Pardoe. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45193 – or simply click on the button
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BARNARDO AMALGAMATED INDUSTRIES | |
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JERVIS, Don : SUGAR-DADDY’S DIAMONDS. London : Barnardo Amalgamated Industries, [ca.1948]. First edition. “Freddie Boyne, philosopher and criminologist, was at an age when reflections about good and evil automatically become reflections about Woman”. The Barnardo imprint seems to have disappeared in the wake of a passing-off action brought against the company by Dr. Barnardo’s Homes in 1949. SOLD |
BUSH PUBLICATIONS | |
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ROSA, Vicki : PALM BEACH PLAYGIRL. London : Bush Publications, 1948. First edition. “From the torrid atmosphere of Palm Beach, to the warm Atlantic seaboard, she was known as the PLAYGIRL. This strange being was the cause of many tragedies, and broken hearts”. The first novel published by the firm that went on to become Brown, Watson Ltd. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 33918 – or simply click on the button
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CHERRY TREE | |
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CLARK, Dorothy Park, 1899-1983 : THE WOMAN IN SHADOW. London & Manchester : Withy Grove Press, [1947]. First British edition. Murder mystery revolving around the horse-loving and dysfunctional Jordan family in Kentucky. The beautiful Tara Jordan fights to prove her innocence. First published as “Roll, Jordan Roll” in the USA. Cherry Tree 243. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44536 – or simply click on the button
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LLOYD COLE | |
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HERBERT, Benson, 1912-1991 : HAND OF GLORY : STRANGE ADVENTURES IN THE PENNINES. London : Lloyd Cole, [ca. 1943]. First edition. Mysterious goings-on on Cauldron Snout – the mysterious remains of Celtic monuments, rocking stones, Druid circles, Bronze Age villages, and Roman camps are joined by a more modern and invisible mystery. SOLD |
COLLINS | |
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CROFTS, Freeman Wills, 1879-1957 : THE PIT-PROP SYNDICATE. London : for The Crime Club, by W. Collins Sons & Co., [ca.1935]. First paperback edition. Seymour Merriman stops at the side of the road outside Bordeaux – his life about to change. Inspector Willis unravels one of Crofts’ most popular tales. Originally published by Collins in 1922. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30866 – or simply click on the button
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COMYNS | |
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“SHANE, Mark” – [NORWOOD, Victor (Victor George Charles), 1920-1983] : THE LADY BITES THE DUST. London : Comyns (Publishers), [1952]. First edition. “It is one dirty night, as black as the hobs of hell, and a dismal drizzle is sifting down, although the temperature is high and the air close. The streets are practically deserted, and downtown there is scarcely a sound out of doors apart from the hiss of tyres on the glistening road surfaces and the gurgling of rainwater along the streaming gutters. San Francisco on a rainy night ...”. SOLD |
JOHN CROWTHER | |
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HORLER, Sydney, 1888-1954 : THE GREAT GAME. Bognor & London : John Crowther (Thrillers), [1945]. Originally published as “McPhee : A Football Story” in 1923, then as “McPhee : Prince of Trainers” in 1930. The Downside directors receive a shock. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42506 – or simply click on the button
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MARGETSON, Stella, 1912-1992 : MISS SWINFORD REMEMBERS. Bognor Regis & London : John Crowther, (1943). First paperback edition. Her first book – a collection of fifteen very stylish stories, or “attractive cameos” – Miss Swinford of Madame Violette’s old-fashioned High Class Millinery shop at the wrong end of a seaside town recollects a lost romance in Paris before the Great War; Mr Flansham, the town councillor, conceives an unrequited and improbable passion for his young assistant, etc. Originally published in hardback in 1941. SOLD |
CURZON PUBLISHING CO. | |
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“LESTRANGE, Paul” : LOVE WAS FOLLY. Stone : Curzon Publishing Co., [ca.1947]. First edition. Danny King can’t see the man he has come to meet in the crowded West End cafe. In the Curzon Crime & Passion series, distributed by Murray & Nichols. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 32978 – or simply click on the button
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“LESTRANGE, Paul” : WILD WEEK-END! [COVER TITLE]. Stone : Curzon Publishing Co., [1948]. First edition. “A handsome young bachelor comes back to his lonely house at dusk and finds a strange and very lovely girl crooning in his bath. A guest arrives, and the bachelor and his glamorous gatecrasher have to pose as man and wife. Then the fun becomes really lively”. In the “Passion Series”, distributed by Murray & Nichols. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45224 – or simply click on the button
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D. P. [DANCELAND] PUBLICATIONS | |
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TICKNER, F.C. : MURDERERS THREE. London : D. P. [Danceland Publications] Ltd., [1946]. First edition. In a little Hampshire village a printing works is on fire, while at the other end of the village the lights are ablaze for a fashionable twenty-first birthday party. One of half dozen or so murder mysteries from Tickner published in Danceland’s “Crime Doesn’t Pay” series 1944-1946. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45246 – or simply click on the button
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EDITORIAL SERVICES | |
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“HORGAN, McCall” : THE NIGHT FEELS AWFUL LONELY. London : Editorial Services, [1957]. First edition. Horgan is hired by Motion Picture International to buy off a scandal magazine which has a sizzling story on their million-dollar actress – then the man who runs the magazine is found dead. Number 11 of a dozen or so McCall Horgan “Glamour Mysteries” published in 1957-1958. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45668 – or simply click on the button
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WALTER EDWARDS | |
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“CREED, Will” – [LONG, William, 1922- ] : DEATH WEARS A GREEN HAT. London : Walter Edwards (Publishers), 1946. First British edition. Gossip columnist dead in Manhattan. Originally published in New York earlier in 1946. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 32901 – or simply click on the button
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WILLIAM FOSTER | |
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AUDEMARS, Pierre, 1909-1989 : WHEN THE GODS LAUGHED. Hounslow : William Foster Publishers, (1946). First edition. An early Hercule Renard tale from Audemars, born in London of Swiss parents and a dealer in watches and jewelry as well as the author of a sizeable number of novels. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30907 – or simply click on the button
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CHEYNEY, Peter (Reginald Southouse), 1896-1951 : TIME FOR CAUTION. Hounslow : William Foster (Publishers), (1948). Second edition. Fourteen short stories. Originally published in 1946, but here with fresh cover design by saucy seaside postcard artist Bob Wilkin. £10 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45225 – or simply click on the button
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ROBINS, Denise (Denise Naomi), 1897-1985 : SEPARATION. Hounslow : William Foster (Publishers), (1947). A reprint of the original 1946 publication. A young mother torn between two loves – for her invalid daughter and her soldier-husband posted abroad. “A revealing, heart-searching study, written in inimitable style, of the emotional stresses, the longings, patience and faithfulness imposed by enforced separation during and after the war”. £10 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45257 – or simply click on the button
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W. FOULSHAM & CO. | |
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“LINKLATER, J. Lane” – [WATKINS, Alexander William, 1892-1971] : SHE HAD A LITTLE KNIFE : A SILAS BOOTH MYSTERY. London : W. Foulsham & Co., (1951). First British paperback edition. “She was beautiful. That in itself was a good enough reason for Silas Booth to watch her. Apart from that, he had received a mysterious telephone call asking him to keep an eye on her because – she carried a knife. It was an antique knife which many people would have paid dearly to possess, and two of them did pay – with their lives ...”. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 46063 – or simply click on the button
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GANNET PRESS | |
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“BRACK, Vektis” : THE “X” PEOPLE. London : Gannet Press, [1953]. First edition. “In Earthcapital everything seemed normal. Earthpeople, in shining, multi-coloured flexmetal clothing, walked in the straight, spacious streets flanked by towering buildings of gleaming metal ...”. Saboteurs prepare the ground for an alien invasion. SOLD |
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“MISTRAL, Bengo” – [WARD, B.] : PIRATES OF CEREBUS. London : Gannet Press, [1953]. First edition. Magoth escapes from the Penal Asteroid of Halma – he has discovered a way to speed up evolution and intends to seize control of the Four Planets. “While biographical information is sparse, one fact remains extremely plain: Ward must rate as the all-time worst-ever SF author! ... He displays a stunning lack of astronomical knowledge that makes the book compulsive reading – in the hope that it can’t get any worse! But it does ... Possibly the worst SF novel ever published” (Harbottle & Holland A306). SOLD |
MARK GOULDEN | |
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HOME-GALL, Edward R. (Edward Reginald), 1896-1974 : THE HUMAN BAT. London : Mark Goulden, [1950]. First edition. “The ‘hero’ is The Human Bat, a costumed psychotic who makes Batman appear almost normal” (Harbottle & Holland A235). The first of Home-Gall’s two Human Bat titles, the first in the “Caught in the Spider’s Web” series, and No. 1 in the Goulden Fantasy Library. The Human Bat takes on a robot spider criminal mastermind. SOLD |
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HOME-GALL, Edward R. (Edward Reginald), 1896-1974 : THE HUMAN BAT V THE ROBOT GANGSTER. London : Mark Goulden, [1950]. First edition. The second of Home-Gall’s “Human Bat” titles and No. 2. in the Goulden Fantasy Library series. The Human Bat takes on an armed robot jewel thief. SOLD |
GRAFTON PUBLICATIONS | |
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O’SULLIVAN, J.B. (James Brendan), 1919- : CHERRY IN THE WINE-GLASS : AN ABBOTT AND BISHOP THRILLER. Dublin : Grafton Publications, [1945]. First edition. Popular policeman is murdered in Tower City. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42529 – or simply click on the button
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GRAMOL PUBLICATIONS | |
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“REVILLE, Paul” : ENSLAVED. London : Gramol Publications, [ca.1930]. First edition. Athelete, aesthete and superb physical specimen of a man is told he has only months to live – enter the languorous Tamah Sing. Phoenix published a Reville novel under the same title some twenty years later, but this appears to be a completely different work. SOLD |
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WILDING, Elisabeth : [DROP-HEAD TITLE] PLAYTHINGS. London : Gramol Publications, [1933]. First edition : the 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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GRANT HUGHES | |
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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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KIRKHAM, Ronald : MADAME COURTESAN. London : Grant Hughes, 1947. First edition. Young French adventurer seeks passage to England and the court of Charles II – an unusual historical novel from Grant Hughes. SOLD |
BARRINGTON GRAY | |
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“COMMORDE, Ricky” : A DAME IS SNATCHED. Leigh-on-Sea : Barrington Gray, [1952]. First edition. Ricky is soured by his five years in prison for a crime he did not commit – but now he sees a blonde with the type of nose he went for. SOLD |
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“HOBAIN, Pierre” : SAVE ME FROM MYSELF (VOLE MON COEUR, VOLE!) Leigh-on-Sea : Barrington Gray, (1957). Second edition. Humble girl from the cottage is enlisted as a companion for the rich girl from the big house. Ostensibly a translation from the French, but no French edition is recorded. First published in 1954. £30 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45226 – or simply click on the button
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PARDOE, Geoffrey (Richard Geoffrey), 1890-1953 : TRAFFIC IN SOULS. Leigh-on-Sea : Barrington Gray, (1955). A reprint of the original 1952 edition. Case studies of “decoyed, soul-haunted women impressed into the service of the abominable White Slavers”. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41813 – or simply click on the button
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WHEATLEY, Chris : NEVER TRUST A DAME : AMERICAN GANGSTER THRILLER. Leigh-on-Sea : Barrington Gray, [1956]. First edition. Handsome New York ex-boxer private eye Cliff Hale is summoned to the Hotel Crichton – he would not have taken the job, an assignment at the Opal Club, were it not for slender golden-headed Paula. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 46066 – or simply click on the button
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WHEATLEY, Chris : RED ICE. Leigh-on-Sea : Barrington Gray, [ca. 1953]. First edition. “Louie Toreni’s thinned eyes slowly took stock of those who shared with him the lavishly equipped room behind the Green Hat Night Club. He frowned, a furrow on his sloping forehead as he lolled back in the black leather chair that matched the blue of his crinkly hair. His wide shoulders were relaxed, the pale hands limp. But within Louis Toreni was smouldering rage.” SOLD |
GRAYLING PUBLISHING | |
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WHEATLEY, Chris : DAMES, DIAMONDS AND DEATH! London : Grayling Press, [1951]. First edition. Diamond robbery goes wrong – man lies dead and somehow the lovely Delores is in the back of the getaway car. SOLD |
ROBERT HALE | |
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HORLER, Sydney, 1888-1954 : THE CAGE. London : Robert Hale, (1954). First paperback edition. Beauty queen gets desperately involved in London’s dark world of crime. Originally published in hardback the previous year. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41804 – or simply click on the button
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HAMPTON PRESS | |
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HERVEY, Michael, 1915-1979 : [DROP TITLE] WIDE GIRL. [Southend] : Hampton Press, [1945]. First edition. The title-story – Beryl’s having trouble getting rid of Harold – and nine further short stories from the prolific Michael Hervey – “If you’re nervy, Don’t read Hervey!” £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41267 – or simply click on the button
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KANER PUBLISHING CO. | |
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FEARN, John Russell, 1908-1960 : THE SLAVES OF IJAX : A COMPLETE MYSTERY ROMANCE. Llandudno : Kaner Publishing Co., [1947]. First edition. The dystopian twenty-eighth century and the peoples of earth hypnotised into servitude, the Ebon Sphere of Surrey, etc. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30844 – or simply click on the button
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KANER, H. (Hyman), 1896-1973 : AN ALIBI TOO MUCH. Llandudno : Kaner Publishing Co., [1946]. First edition. “I am quite certain,” the beautiful lady said, “that my husband did not commit suicide, no matter what the police say” – a case for the saturnine Meredith Jordan. For more on Hyman Kaner, see my Bookhunter on Safari blog-post for 7th July 2016. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43097 – or simply click on the button
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CLIFFORD LEWIS & CO. | |
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“LESTRANGE, Paul” : TAMED BY LOVE! [DROP-HEAD TITLE]. Stone : Clifford Lewis & Co., [1949]. First edition. “He just couldn’t understand why women chased him. But any woman could have told him”. In the “Passion Series” distributed by Murray & Nichols Ltd. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 32975 – or simply click on the button
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LITERARY PRESS | |
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BAILY, F.E. (Francis Evans), 1887-1962 : FLEET STREET GIRL. London : Literary Press, [ca.1938]. First paperback edition. The story of Iris Paradine by “the man who understands women”, originally published by Collins in 1934. “A witty and very imaginative story of a modern and discriminating young woman who enters journalism ... her freedom lands her in awkward situations with her lovers” (Aberdeen Press, 14th February 1934). SOLD |
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[MACDONALD, Philip, 1900-1980] – “PORLOCK, Martin” : MYSTERY IN KENSINGTON GORE. London : Literary Press, [ca.1936]. First paperback edition. Macdonald with a London mystery under his Martin Porlock pseudonym. Originally published by Collins in 1932, and soon translated into German and Spanish. “This week I urge on your attention Martin Porlock’s Mystery in Kensington Gore ... Mr. Porlock is simply surging to the front wave of mystery concocters. Speed, surprises and fine sleuthing for your money – he hands you them all!” (Daily Herald, 10th March 1932). SOLD |
M. C. PUBLICATIONS | |
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L’ARNAUD, D. : THE GILDED TRAP. Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [ca.1948]. First edition. The double life of Broadway producer – and the fate of footlight-struck Sally Marshall. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 34891 – or simply click on the button
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L’ARNAUD, D. : MARION’S DILEMMA. Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [ca.1948]. First edition. “The lights in the window of the Ralph Rolland Detective Agency had just gone out”. £30 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 46060 – or simply click on the button
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L’ARNAUD, D. : “SANDRA”. Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [ca.1948]. First edition. Music critic spellbound by tall, slender, lovely and mysterious pianist – “a creature of another world”. This obscure and probably pseudonymous writer, author of at least half a dozen titles for M. C. Publications, here has his or her name mis-spelt “L’Aurnaud” on the title-page. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 46061 – or simply click on the button
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“RAZIO, Rick” : “BLONDIE BEG YOUR BULLET”. Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [1950]. First edition. “Blondes always get under my skin. Blondes destroy my caution and abolish my grey matter. I don’t fall for them I just flop. And then the dame stamps on me, of course”. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43576 – or simply click on the button
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McKENZIE VINCENT & CO. | |
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JAGGER, Arthur : MURDER INTENDED. Glasgow : McKenzie Vincent & Co., [ca.1950]. First edition. Murder on the outskirts of St Albans – Scotland Yard is called in. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45916 – or simply click on the button
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JAMES MACMILLAN | |
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EDWARDES, Blair : THE IMPATIENT MISS BLACKET. London : James Macmillan, [1948]. First edition. A tale of murder and counterfeit at an English country house, which works well enough as a comedy of manners between tough crime reporter Mike Manstone, Inspector Clarke of the Yard (“Hack” and “Sleuth” to each other), and Manstone’s long-suffering girlfriend Jane. As a murder mystery it ranks nowhere. The cover artist was evidently not paid well enough to read the book (or perhaps paid more to ignore it) – the woman with the gun should be wearing a “concealing hood” and “a great shapeless garment” at the time. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43101 – or simply click on the button
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WHITE, J. Eric : CUPID ON THE TRAPEZE AND OTHER STORIES. London : James Macmillan, [ca.1948]. First edition. Nine stories in various settings, London, Russia, India, Constantinople, etc. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 32937 – or simply click on the button
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GORDON MARTIN | |
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GORDON, Arthur, 1912-2002 : DANGEROUS TWILIGHT AND OTHER STORIES. London : Gordon Martin Publishing Co., [1946]. First edition. Five stories, some evidently drawing on Gordon’s wartime experiences in Germany, his time at Yale, and in England as a Rhodes Scholar. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30499 – or simply click on the button
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MARTIN & REID | |
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STANLEY, George : MEN OF THE MIST. London : Martin & Reid, [1946]. First edition. Gangsters with identical frozen faces who bring their own mist with them appear in London to the consternation of Special Branch. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42948 – or simply click on the button
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WALTERS, Leonard : YELLOW STREAK. London : Martin & Reid, [1946]. First edition. There’s a puzzle about a racing driver who never wins a race. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43212 – or simply click on the button
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L. MILLER & CO. (HACKNEY) | |
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BOYD, Raymond : MURDER BY ARROW. London : L. Miller & Son, [ca.1950]. First edition. Rugged and tweedy Michael Dane, barrister turned private investigator, arrives in a quaint old Surrey town for a holiday. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45244 – or simply click on the button
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MILLER & SON LTD., L. – publishers : NO REFUGE FROM FEAR [COVER TITLE]. London : L. Miller & Son, [ca.1950]. First edition. Set in New York in wartime: vital blueprints go missing – Daisy Hamilton blames herself for being careless with the keys. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43229 – or simply click on the button
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“WARE, Wallace” – [KARP, David, 1922-1999] : THE GIRL ON CROWN STREET [CRY, FLESH]. London : L. Miller & Co. (Hackney), [ca.1957]. First British edition. “Out of the slums of a great city comes this blistering novel of fury and fear, desire and treachery”. First published by Lion Books in New York in 1953 as “Cry, Flesh” under the author’s real name of David Karp. In the Banner Books series. £30 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 32764 – or simply click on the button
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MITRE PRESS | |
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HERVEY, Michael, 1915-1979 : DEATH AT MY HEELS AND OTHER SHORT STORIES. London : Mitre Press, [1945]. First edition. Nine of Hervey’s very short stories – flashes and glimpses of a world now lost. Printed throughout on a curious khaki-coloured wartime paper shortages stock. SOLD |
MODERN PUBLISHING CO. | |
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“MAULE, Donovan” – [MAULE, Gerald Herbert (Donovan), 1899-1982 & MAULE, Mary Florence (Mollie), 1898-1984] : PHILIPPA SEES IT THROUGH. London : Modern Publishing Co., [ca.1935]. First edition. Her secret service fiancé has disappeared and her typing bureau on St. Martin’s Lane is struggling – but “There is no doubt about it, Philippa Dare certainly had pluck. Many a girl would have caved in long ago, and developed into a weepy-waily sort of female who went about with a mournful expression and a mouth that drooped at the corners – a nuisance to herself and all her friends”. A crime thriller not listed by Hubin. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30870 – or simply click on the button
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CLAUD MORRIS BOOKS | |
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WAITT, Isabel : IT’S MURDER MISS KING. London : Claud Morris Books, [1947]. First edition. The wealthy Mrs King is murdered before she can rewrite her will – featuring Erma King, the young and beautiful heiress; the long-lost Glen King, now reappeared; Nolan King – the half mad stepson; Lola Dracut, the companion (and Glen’s childhood sweetheart); Tommy Sears, the dentist, and Douglas Robie, the chemist – both suitors of Erma; a hot-tempered cook; the family doctor, lawyer, etc. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43467 – or simply click on the button
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F. M. MOWL | |
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MONTAGUE, Joseph : THE CRATER OF KALA. London : F. M. Mowl, [1934]. First British edition. A South Sea Island adventure – mystery island, fear and legend. Originally published in New York in 1925. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30840 – or simply click on the button
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MUIR-WATSON | |
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“KARTA, Nat” : THE BODY’S MINE. Glasgow : Muir-Watson, [ca.1950]. First edition. Poppy Delmore has the looks and likes luxury – but her Hollywood screen-test revealed her to be completely unphotogenic. Now a secretary in San Francisco, she is invited to supper by her married boss. “With every sinew in his rock-like prose”, Nat Karta “hammers home the story of a world where greed is the staple diet and lust the flavouring”. SOLD |
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“KARTA, Nat” – [LAZENBY, Norman Austin, 1914-2003] : A GUY NAMED JUDAS. Glasgow : Muir-Watson, [1952?]. First edition. The second in the Dana Dallas series – “This episode in his career took place before he became a private eye. Which goes to show that the first fight any guy has in this life is the one with himself”. This Nat Karta is known to have been written by Norman Lazenby (with thanks to Tom Lesser for information on that point). £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44774 – or simply click on the button
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WATSON, James & WATSON, John : WATSONS’ MODERN SHORT STORIES [COVER TITLE]. Glasgow : J. Watson, [1943]. First edition. Two stories from James Watson – “One of Our Aircraft is Missing” and “Twins”, and two from John Watson – “Workmates” and “Hogmanay”. I take the latter to be the John Watson who founded the Muir-Watson publishing house in Glasgow after wartime service in the R.A.F. – here with a first attempt at publishing. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45258 – or simply click on the button
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“ZORÉ, Hyman” : OLD NEW YORK. Glasgow : Muir-Watson, [1951]. First edition. Small-town beauty Topaz Gellhart surrenders herself to an itinerant artist and now knows she must experience little old New York. Meanwhile, Jek Arminos, New York gang boss, drives pretty Sally Armour to suicide. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45666 – or simply click on the button
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NOVA PUBLICATIONS | |
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[“WYNDHAM, John”, 1903-1969] – “BEYNON, John” : STOWAWAY TO MARS. London : Nova Publications, (1953). [Second edition]. John Wyndham’s second foray into science fiction, first published as “Planet Plane” in 1936 and here in a revised text, published under his John Beynon pseudonym as the first in the Nova Science Fiction Novels series. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30370 – or simply click on the button
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[“WYNDHAM, John”, 1903-1969] – “BEYNON, John” – : STOWAWAY TO MARS. London : Nova Publications, (1953). [Second edition]. John Wyndham’s second foray into science fiction, first published as “Planet Plane” in 1936 and here in a revised text, published under his John Beynon pseudonym as the first in the Nova Science Fiction Novels series. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41489 – or simply click on the button
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PEDIGREE BOOKS | |
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TRACY, Don (Donald Fiske), 1905-1976 : CAROLINA CORSAIR. 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. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41691 – or simply click on the button
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P. M. PUBLICATIONS | |
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BLOOM, Ursula (Ursula Harvey), 1892-1984 : THE SECRET LOVER. London & Letchworth : P. M. (Productions), [1947]. First paperback edition. The dull life of a humdrum bachelor of Gray’s Inn revealed as nothing of the sort by his secret diary – a “fascinating study of a man in love with Love”. First published by Hutchinson in 1930 and here in the Pyramid Books series. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45248 – or simply click on the button
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POCKET BOOKS (G.B.) | |
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BALDWIN, Faith, 1893-1978 : REHEARSAL FOR LOVE. London : Pocket Books (GB), (1951). Second British edition. “Powerful clash between two women for the men they love, a brilliant picture of New York’s glamorous penthouse society”. Originally published in the USA in 1940 and subsequently by Robert Hale in the UK. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 37795 – or simply click on the button
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BOUTELL, Anita (Anita Day), 1895-1972 : TELL DEATH TO WAIT. London : Pocket Books (G.B.), (1950). First paperback edition. The witty and dangerous Miss Leo Thane reluctantly drives to the Cotswolds for the weekend. The first of her novels, first published by Michael Joseph in 1938. SOLD |
POCKET EDITIONS | |
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STREET, Penny : [COVER TITLE] THE CHINESE BOTTLE. London : Pocket Editions, [1944]. First edition. Jewel theft in a rather superior boarding-house near Hyde Park, run by a woman who never removes her hat, and Lady Tebbs, with her mysterious bottle of smelling-salts. SOLD |
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WILLIAMS, Philip Claxton, 1913-1989 : HOYLAND INTERVENES. London : Pocket Editions, [1945]. First edition. The second of the three Hoyland mystery titles by Philip Claxton Williams, otherwise poet and writer of verse drama. Two stories, “Under Fire” and “The Brickfields Mystery”, the former set in the London blitz. Printed under the exigencies of paper rationing on a pink paper originally intended for some quite different use. SOLD |
POPULAR FICTION (LONDON) LTD. | |
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BRYAN, Jan : A RIVER ROMANCE. London : Popular Fiction (London), [ca.1955]. First edition. Gail Martin visits her married sister in beautiful Barcaster – is her fiancé back in London just a little bit too “steady”? No 304 in Popular Fiction’s series of “Real Life Stories”, which appears to have commenced in 1946. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 31889 – or simply click on the button
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TEMPEST, Dawn : THE DIVIDED HEART. London : Popular Fiction (London), [ca.1954]. First edition. Lotus-eating Jill Tresmand left penniless after the suicide of a crooked trustee. No. 279 in Popular Fiction’s series of “Real Life Stories”, which appears to have commenced in 1946. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 31890 – or simply click on the button
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TEMPEST, Dawn : STAIRWAY TO THE STARS. London : Popular Fiction (London), [ca.1948]. First edition. The beautiful Jean Silver nurses a broken heart as she returns to the uncertainties of post-war England after four years with the Waafs. In Popular Fiction’s series of “Real Life Stories”, which appears to have commenced in 1946. £10 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42547 – or simply click on the button
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A. A. QUIN | |
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HENRY, Jack : AFTER MIDNIGHT. London : A. A. Quin (Publishers), [ca.1952]. First edition. “In the high street of the quaint old town of Lewes, fifty miles or so from London, stands a grim and formidable building. It is one of H. M. Prisons – Lewes Jail” – an underling awaits the release of the “Prince” of the London underworld on an August morning in 1947. SOLD |
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MALIE, Frank : EVER LOVED. London : A. A. Quin (Publishers), [ca.1952]. First edition. It’s 1912 and young Jim Starling is summoned to see the dictatorial boss of the London department store he works in. He is engaged to the boss’s secretary.
£40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43783 – or simply click on the button
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WARNER, Dennis : WIDE BOY. London : A. A. Quin (Publishers), [1953?]. First edition. The tale of wide boy Curly Travers and the pouty and enigmatic Sonia, the torch-singer – “Her mouth had a sulky twist to it and she painted her lips deep and heavy ... on the way up she’d changed her name to Sonia. Then she’d changed herself to match”. A well put together story with an authentic London setting and equally authentic London dialogue from the short-lived Quin publishing firm, apparently active as publishers only in 1952-1954. SOLD |
REGENCY PRESS | |
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WARD, Blanche : HER SECRET HUSBAND. London : Regency Press, [1946]. First edition. Mousy Sally Sinclair, shorthand typist in the City with a flatlet in Chelsea, dreams of romance – and then she meets a film star. SOLD |
JOHN SPENCER & CO. | |
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“ELLISON, Earl” : DON’T MOURN FOR ME. London : John Spencer & Co., [ca.1953]. First edition. Wartime secret service operator down on his luck meets a mystery blonde, some ruthless types interested in atomic secrets, the unlucky gangster Lucky Fara, etc. Earl Ellison was a house-name used by at least half a dozen writers, including Sydney J. Bounds, Norman Lazenby, and Lisle Willis. SOLD |
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“MADISON, Rick” : LOOK OUT FOR LOUELLA. London : John Spencer & Co., [ca.1952]. First edition. “Her body is her meal ticket ... and she never goes hungry”! “Rick Madison” was a house-name used by both Sydney James Bounds (1920-2006) and Lisle Willis (1919-1988). £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45663 – or simply click on the button
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SPENCER, John & Co. – publishers : TALES OF TO-MORROW. NO. 3. London : John Spencer & Co., [1951]. The third of the eleven published issues of this rather good Science Fiction quarterly, edited by Michael Nahum and Sol Assael. Five short stories – “Expedition Eternity” by David Campbell (Leonard G. Fish); “Forgotten World” by John Ellis; “Hell Planet”, again by Fish; “The Encompassed Globe” by James Stanfield; and “Reaction” by Thomas Rochdale. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44723 – or simply click on the button
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STREAMLINE PUBLICATIONS | |
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LYTTON, Jane : [COVER TITLE] LONESOME LOVER. London : Streamline Publications [ca.1958]. Second edition. Country market gardener Bob Hexham is building his own house for the woman he loves – but she could become a famous singer. First published by Wright & Brown in 1955. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42973 – or simply click on the button
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VERRON, Robert : THE CURSE OF CRAIG’S END. London : Streamline Publications, [ca.1955]. Second edition : a variant with a cover price of 1/- and an advertisement for eleven romance stories on the lower wrapper. “Through the curse of a tortured slave, a terrible fate threatened every male Craig”, but there is nothing supernatural about the bullet which killed Roger Craig. Inspector Brummel has been looking for a clue for years. First published by Wright & Brown in 1953. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42959 – or simply click on the button
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VERRON, Robert : THE CURSE OF CRAIG’S END. London : Streamline Publications, [ca.1955]. Second edition : a variant with a cover price of 9d and an advertisement for Apal on the lower wrapper. “Through the curse of a tortured slave, a terrible fate threatened every male Craig”, but there is nothing supernatural about the bullet which killed Roger Craig. Inspector Brummel has been looking for a clue for years. First published by Wright & Brown in 1953. £15 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42960 – or simply click on the button
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GERALD G. SWAN | |
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SWAN, Gerald G. (Gerald George), 1902-1980 – publisher : AFFINITY. NO. 13. OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 1947. London : Gerald G. Swan, 1947. A content-packed issue of this post-war Swan magazine – romantic fiction, poetry, marital and household advice, cooking hints, something for fathers (how to make clothes pegs), pages for teenagers (stories by Abel Union (“we think mother will enjoy it too”) and Meredith Huntley, together with advice on spots), and much else besides. Contributors include Margaret Murray, Mildred Pugh, Iris Weigh, Elizabeth England, etc. SOLD |
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SWAN, Gerald G. (Gerald George), 1902-1980 – publisher : [COVER TITLE] DETECTIVE 1946 ALBUM. London : Gerald G. Swan, [1945]. First edition. Twenty-four short crime stories – by Ian Begbie; Leslie Berkly; Don Black (2); Douglas Blair; Leslie Bussey (2); G. M. Byrne (2); Michael Dare; Hal Drummond (Blondes Ain’t So Dumb); John Eagle; Dora Garnett; Ronald Horton; Maurice G. Hugi; Dallas Kirby; Peter Larcombe; Norman Lazenby (Red Scarf Murder); Clifford Lewis (Man Hunt); G. H. Lister (Murder at Noon); O.J.Q.; Rex Ransley; Shelley Smith (Death of an Artist), and Leopold Spero. SOLD |
THOMAS PUBLICATIONS | |
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KAY, Gordon : FORMULA FOR MURDER. Birmingham : Thomas Publications, [ca.1945]. First edition. An exploding landmine on the road from Blackpool interrupts the progress of three ex-servicemen turned private detectives. A Boys’ S.O.S. Library title. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43466 – or simply click on the button
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RAPHAEL TUCK | |
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BURFORD, Eleanor (Eleanor Alice), 1906-1993 : FOOLISH VIRGIN. London : Raphael Tuck & Sons, [ca.1944]. First edition. “Irene Dallas shivered as she slipped into her black velvet gown ...” – Eleanor Burford (later Hibbert) wrote a number of romances under her own name, but is more familiar as Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, or Philippa Carr – her three best-known pseudonyms – and a runaway best-seller under each of them. The present title, from the outset of her career, appeared in the “Tuck’s Better Little Books” series, which “had its origin in the early days of the war, and was intended to provide a suitable diversion during air-raid alerts. Handy little books like these could be easily carried in the pocket, and handed on from one reader to another in the shelters. At the same time, by their small size, the books made the most of the very limited quantities of paper then available”. Survival rates of these ephemeral publications are poor – not a single copy of the present title has been located in major libraries worldwide, and nor does it appear in any online listing of the author’s works. £250 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 31281 – or simply click on the button
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GEORGE TURTON | |
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“EAST, Desmond” – [FRANCES, Stephen Daniel, 1917-1989] : BLOOD ON THE SAND. London : George Turton Publishers, (1959). First edition. A Foreign Legion novel written by Frances (Hank Janson) for Reg Carter’s new imprint – and possibly the last novel he wrote for Carter. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 42963 – or simply click on the button
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“JANSON, Hank” – [FRANCES, Stephen Daniel, 1917-1989] : TORRID TEMPTRESS. London : George Turton (Publishers), [1959]. First edition. Journalist Hank gets beaten up investigating a spate of industrial strikes and disputes – then a union boss’s secretary comes to see him – “There can be something very revealing about the way a dame puts herself into a chair”. Printed in Paris. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44175 – or simply click on the button
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UNITED ANGLO-AMERICAN | |
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BACHMANN, Lawrence P. (Lawrence Paul), 1911-2004 : KISS OF DEATH. London : United Anglo-American Book Co., [ca.1948]. First British edition. Brilliant but clumsy and absent-minded doctor divines from some Rorschach tests that someone is about to be killed and that another guest of nurse Judy Ford will be the murderer. An interesting debut murder mystery from the American film producer and maker of Agatha Christie movies in the UK. Originally published by Knopf in New York in 1946. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45915 – or simply click on the button
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U. T. B. | |
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BURTON, Edmund : FISTS OF FORTUNE : THE STORY OF AN OBSCURE BOXER’S RISE TO FAME [DROP-HEAD TITLE]. London : U.T.B., [1944]. First edition. “‘Ha! Poachers again, b’gad!’ The Earl of Lindale paused suddenly in his springy stride and stood staring keenly at the riot of greenery just ahead ...”. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43983 – or simply click on the button
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UTOPIAN PUBLICATIONS | |
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ROBINS, Denise (Denise Naomi), 1897-1985 : KISS OF YOUTH. London : Utopian Publications, [ca.1945]. First paperback edition. First published by Nicholson & Watson in 1937. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 31841 – or simply click on the button
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WORLD FILM PUBLICATIONS | |
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CARY, Joyce (Arthur Joyce Lunel), 1888-1957 : MEN OF TWO WORLDS : THE BOOK OF THE FILM. London : World Film Publications, 1946. First edition. A “Book of the Film” adaptation by E. Fisher of an original story with dialogue by Joyce Cary, adapted via the Herbert Victor and Thorold Dickinson screenplay. Illustrated with stills and studio portraits (Phyllis Calvert, Eric Portman and some seldom seen black actors). £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 10119 – or simply click on the button
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DENNIS YATES | |
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“BLAYNE, Sebastian” – [HUCKINS, Janet, 1911-1981] : GAY GHASTLY HOLIDAY. London : Dennis Yates, [1956]. First British edition. “Every embrace of love had the shadow of death over it”. Originally published as a Gold Medal book in the USA in 1951 – with same artwork (by Barye Phillips). £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 33520 – or simply click on the button
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