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

London : Verlock Press, [ca.1962]. A new edition of a popular Paul Rénin which had already been issued by the Federation Press, Gerald G. Swan, and Raymond and Lilian Locker in their Phoenix and Archer manifestations – here reissued by the Lockers in their Verlock Trident Books series.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 128pp. Original pictorial wrappers; lightly rubbed; a few faint marks; text very lightly tanned, but overall a very good copy. No copy of this edition traced in any major library worldwide.

£20

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London : Phoenix Press, [1949]. [Second edition]. Richard Ballard – tall, handsome, charming – a much-admired young author – returns to the Front in 1918 leaving behind his bride of two days. Originally published by Fiction Features in about 1930.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – blonde sleeps peacefully, anguished man in chair – some light wear; minor splitting and creasing; text a little tanned, with a circular light brown mark to final leaves, but a good copy of a scarce and fragile production. No copy of any edition located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

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.
Crown 8vo (19cm). [96]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by H. W. Perl; a little worn, soiled, nicked, chipped and creased; a few internal marks and spots, but a good and serviceable copy. No copy of any edition located in any major library worldwide.

£40

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Hanley : R. & L. Locker, (1947). [Third edition]. The elite of European society are dancing at Government House in Bombay – the Governor dances with a world-famed beauty. Originally published by Gerald G. Swan some years earlier.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a multicultural misunderstanding; lightly rubbed and a little tanned, but overall a very good copy. No copy of this edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£25

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London : Harborough Publishing Co., [1951]. Second edition. Violinist the Great Danieli is adored by women – jealousy, hate, love, and revenge. Originally published by Swan in 1941.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – an unambivalent design by Reginald Heade; some minor wear and a couple of minuscule chips; slightly larger chip to rear wrapper; some discolouration to head of spine and top of rear wrapper; some rusting to staples; an American price stamped on upper wrapper and a “Printed in England” stamp on title-page, but a good and firm copy. No copy of this edition traced in any major library worldwide.

£40

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London : Harborough Publishing, [ca.1950]. A married man holidays alone at the expensively luxurious Moorland Hotel on Dartmoor. Originally published by Fiction Features in or about 1929, with various subsequent editions.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – brunette surprised among the rocks – the earlier state of the design by Reginald Heade, before the young woman’s covering was made more generous; small chip at foot; lower wrapper nicked and creased; a handful of spots, but otherwise a very good copy. American price overstamped on upper wrapper and “Printed in England” stamp on half-title. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£40

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[Leicester] : Beacon Publishing Co., [ca.1948]. First edition. Renin with “the most modern of seductive vampires, who brings mingled glamour, tawdry splendour, and shameful disillusion wherever she goes”.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; wrappers creased, with some splits and short tears; staples rusted, but a reasonable copy of a scarce title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£25

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Stoke-on-Trent : R. & L. Locker, (1947). Second edition. “Out of the shadows and grime of a provincial town comes a beautiful girl – a Woman of Shame”. Originally published by Swan in 1940, but here with sparkling artwork by Reginald Heade.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 126,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers by Heade; chipped at head and tail; wrappers nicked and creased; text a little marked and tanned, but a reasonable copy of an uncommon title. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1950]. A fresh edition of a Rénin title which appears to have been first published in 1943. Playwright Bruce Austin hurtles across a London street to prevent a young prostitute from throwing herself under the Charing Cross bus. Published from Phoenix’s post-1949 Kennington Lane address.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; chipped at extremities; a little spotted and creased; mild discolouration at head of opening leaves; text a little tanned in places; a reasonable copy of an uncommon title. Just two copies of any edition and just a single copy (British Library) of this edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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London : Harborough Publishing Co., [1949]. [Third edition]. “John Mannering latest idol of the London stage, stood alone before the sweeping scarlet curtains and smiled upon the wildly applauding multitude”. Originally published by Fiction Features some twenty years earlier.
Crown 8vo (18cm). (3)-130pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a stylish design from Reginald Heade; some light wear; a minor crease; text lightly tanned, but overall a very good copy. American price overstamped on upper wrapper and “Printed in England” stamp on title-page. Only a single copy of this edition (Trinity College, Dublin) located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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London : Archer Press, [1952]. [Fourth edition]. Rich American woman starts to fascinate a rising young barrister – his wife is aghast. Originally published in 1928.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – an unsigned design by David Wright (1912-1967); a few nicks; some creasing; faint bookshop stamp to upper wrapper; a few spots, but still a better than average copy. Just three copies of this edition (Bodleian, British Library, and Trinity College, Dublin) traced in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

[Leicester] : Beacon Publishing Co., [ca.1949]. First edition. “Diana Wilton looked extremely attractive that afternoon sitting on the lounge in the smart sitting-room of her Chelsea flat and smiling across at me through the drifting smoke of her cigarette”. According to his publishers, Paul Rénin “knows women better than they know themselves” – suspicious wife, glamorous widow, famous actress, etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some wear to spine; some internal creasing; a reasonable copy of an uncommon title. Exchange stamp of the “Modern Book Stall’s” [sic] of Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville Market, on upper wrapper and final leaf. No copy traced in any major library worldwide.

£40

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London : Harborough Publishing, [ca.1950]. Originally published by Fiction Features in 1929, with subsequent editions from Gerald G. Swan, and the Archer Press. Journalist meets a slim, immaculate and handsome man at Paddington Station.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Reginald Heade; a hint of rubbing, mild tanning of text, but a very good copy indeed. American price overstamped on upper wrapper, and “Printed in England” stamp on half-title. Just a single copy of this Harborough edition (Bowling Green State) located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1946]. An edition published by Fiction Features in or about 1930 is rumoured, and an edition published by Phoenix from their pre-1942 Elephant Road address is known. The present edition was published from 47 Deacon Street. The night-boat from Southampton to Jersey is about to depart when the handsome Roderick Latour watches a slim, fur-clad, young woman anxiously get aboard at the last moment.
Crown 8vo (19cm). [96]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; light wear; spine and two edges a little smoke-blackened; staples rusting; a few slight marks, but a reasonable copy. No copy of any edition located in any major library worldwide.

£30

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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.
Crown 8vo (19cm). [96]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – blonde unimpressed by a man’s attentions in a design by H. W. Perl; an indifferent copy – worn, creased and chipped; lacking over an inch (3.5cm) at foot of spine; upper staple rusted; pencilled ownership inscriptions of a Mrs Pike; text subject to intermittent pale yellow staining and creased in places, but a serviceable copy of an extremely rare book. No copy of any edition located in any major library worldwide.

SOLD

Hanley : R. & L. Locker, (1946). First edition. “The cave man secured his woman by knocking her down with a club and carting her off to his subterranean lair. David Thurston knocked her down in Fleet Street with an eight-cylinder sports car, and got her that way. Which amounted to much the same thing – except that comedy ended there, and drama began”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – blonde in pyjamas, man more formally dressed – a design by Philip Simmonds; some wear to spine; minor creasing; a touch dusty, but overall a very good copy. Only a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

London : Verlock Press, [ca.1955]. Third edition. Emily French the pretty maid, Ralph Thornton her employer, and Mrs Thornton is breakfasting in bed with yet another of her headaches. “Emily nodded, her dark eyes approving her master’s strong, bearded face. She was thinking how much more attractive a man of forty could be to a girl of her type than so many of the coarse and immature boys one met on the Promenade on Saturday nights”. Originally published by Swan in the late 1930s, with a post-war Locker edition, with this Verlock edition not recorded by Holland & Williams.
Crown 8vo (18cm). (128)pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some minor wear and slight creasing; some spotting to edges and prelims; a touch of rust to staples; small date-stamp on half-title, but overall a very good copy. Only a single copy (Swan, British Library) of any edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£20

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London : Federation Press, (1927). First edition. A great white yacht beneath a tropical moon – young Madeline is shocked by her beast of her husband, Lord Farlingham.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 158,[ii]pp. Original pictorial wrappers in a design by George Peace Micklewright (1893-1951); a wreck of a copy – upper wrapper damaged and detached; spine crudely repaired with brown paper; lower wrapper chipped and dampstained; text tanned and brittle, with tears to several preliminary leaves; edges spotted. A copy without merit save that of being unrecorded – an edition unknown to Holland & Williams in their 1990 Rénin checklist and untraced in any major library worldwide.

£25

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Cleveland : Kaywin Publishers, (1951). First American edition. “At sixteen she was sweet, innocent and unawakened ...”. Originally published in the UK by Swan 1942 and by Locker in 1948.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 127,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; just a hint of wear to tips; small sticker on upper cover partially obscuring price, but otherwise a very good, clean and fresh copy. Just a single copy of this American edition (Bowling Green State) located in major libraries worldwide.

£25

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Hanley : R. & L. Locker, (1947). [Second edition]. Two darlings of society – brilliant young surgeon and only daughter of a dying millionaire – are to be married on the morrow. Originally published by Gerald G. Swan some years earlier.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 95,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – blonde in undress, man in the mirror; light wear at tips; some creasing and a few nicks to wrappers; staples rusted, causing some discolouration which someone has attempted to mask with Tippex; some partially erased pencil scribble to title-page; some spotting to edges, but overall a good copy. No copy of any edition traced in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1950]. First edition. “The girl in the thin kimono panted the words of fury and defiance as she tore her lips away from the man in whose arms she lay writhing ...”. Published from Phoenix’s post-1949 Kennington Lane address.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some minor wear and faint creasing; text lightly tanned; American price over-printed on upper wrapper, but overall a very good copy. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

£50

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London : Federation Press, [1924]. First edition : with a copyright date of 1924 and issued from the publishers’ pre-1925 Fetter Lane 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. With a 3pp authorial preface quoting from Omar Khayyam omitted in later editions.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 152,[viii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some very minor wear; lower wrapper a little dusty; text a little tanned; a touch of rust to staples, but overall a very good copy of a scarce and fragile production. No copy of this edition and only a single copy (British Library) of any later edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£100

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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.
Crown 8vo (19cm). [96]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by H. W. Perl; some light wear and mild creasing; some mild spotting, but overall a very good copy. Just a single copy (British Library) of this edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£25

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London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1952]. [Third? edition]. “She came to Paris when she was twelve, but how, where from, with what intent – not even the wisest know, not even the most selective memories can recall. Susanne just came, and perhaps it was more suitable thus, for to think of this wild, untamed, altogether lovely little devil – as she certainly was – having a conventional home, a mother to grieve over her misdoings, a father to reprimand, brothers and sisters to scorn and quarrel – why, it was sheer nonsense”. Published from Phoenix’s post-1949 Kennington Lane address. Holland & Williams (1990) make no mention of this edition, but suggest the existence of both a Gramol edition from the late 1920s and a Popular Fiction edition of 1951: no copy of either has been traced, but a variant of this Phoenix edition, with a different and possibly earlier cover is now known.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers in a design by Vibart; some light wear; wrappers a little creased and slightly nicked; staples rusted; a few minor marks and creases, but overall a very good copy of a scarce and fragile production. No copy of this or any other edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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Stoke-on-Trent : R. & L. Locker, [1949]. [Second edition]. The Reverend Silas Hoskin gives the Sunday sermon to his restive Cornish parishioners. Although the related Harborough imprint is given on the spine, only the Locker imprint appears within the book.
Crown 8vo (18cm). (3)-130pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a sultry redhead from Reginald Heade; just a hint of wear, but a very good copy indeed. American price overstamped on upper wrapper, “Printed in England” stamp on title-page, and copyright label on verso. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£40

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Hanley : R. & L. Locker, (1948). First edition. A group of young Americans look for excitement in London.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 95,[i]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – man and woman engage at the bar – a design by Philip Simmonds; light wear at tips; wrappers very faintly spotted; staples lightly rusted, but a very good copy. Just three copies (Bodleian, British Library, and Trinity College, Dublin) located in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

[Leicester] : Beacon Publishing Co., [1950]. First edition. “The story of a young woman whose lover went into the army ... and what she forgave before normal life went on again”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Dixon; light wear and tiny splits at tips; some occasional internal spotting and tanning, but overall a very good copy. Just a single copy (Trinity College, Dublin) traced in major libraries worldwide.

SOLD

London : Phoenix Press, [ca.1950]. [Second edition]. Young Mayfair socialite left penniless. Reported to have originally been published by Modern Fiction in 1948, although no copy of this edition has been traced. Published from Phoenix’s post-1949 Kennington Lane address.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; slight wear and splitting to spine; small bruise to fore-edge; American price faintly overprinted on upper wrapper, but a very good copy. Only a single copy (British Library) of any edition located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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