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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.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 176pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers, presumably by John Pollack; a little wear and some minor creasing; short split at foot; a few internal spots and some mild tanning, but a very good copy of a scarce production. No copy of this edition found in any major library worldwide.

£50

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London : Scion, (1951). First edition. “Right then Marcelle was doing a good job of intoxicating me, sitting there in a Bikini that wouldn’t have made a moth’s hors d’oeuvre, singing a smoochy ditty in a voice that would have been a swell contralto if there hadn’t been so much gin in it”. Murder and mayhem in New Orleans.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 112pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by John Pollack; some wear; wrappers a little creased and fingered; some internal marks, creases and spots, but a reasonable copy. Just a single copy (Bodleian) located in major libraries worldwide.

£50

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London : Milestone Publications, (1954). First edition. “Frank Marlowe, high-ranking Government executive engaged on top-secret work in Washington’s Pentagon building, made his one false move when he met copper-haired Fran Waring – a move that landed him in a web of blackmail, espionage – and murder”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (128)pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – redhead, allure, menace; some minor wear and slight creasing; internally a few spots and some light tanning, but overall still a very good copy of a scarce title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£60

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London : Alexander Moring, [ca.1956]. First edition. An army veteran on the brink of madness and despair cleans his rifle – and then he loads it.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 131,(v)pp. Original pictorial wrappers; short tear, some wear, and slight splitting to spine; some creasing; a few slight marks; price stamps on front wrapper and half-title; a little shaken, but a serviceable copy. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£50

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Robin Hood Press, [1950]. Second edition. “Fiendish drug-orgies shock America”. Originally published By Wells Gardner in 1941, but almost certainly withdrawn from sale in the wake of the Old Bailey obscenity trial in May 1942. Although undated, the present copy has a small and neat date-stamp of October 6th 1950 on the title-page, presumably representing a date of acquisition.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some very mild rubbing and wear at tips; slight crease; a few faint marks just a hint of rusting to staples, but still overall a very good copy of a seldom-seen title. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£100

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Glasgow : McKenzie Vincent & Co., [ca.1950]. First edition. Murder on the outskirts of St Albans – Scotland Yard is called in.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 96pp. Plan. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a few slight creases; staples much rusted with attendant discolouration; small sticker removed from rear wrapper; a good copy of an uncommon production. Just a single copy (National Library of Scotland) located in major libraries worldwide.

£20

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Glasgow : M. C. Publications, [ca.1948]. First edition. “The lights in the window of the Ralph Rolland Detective Agency had just gone out”.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 126,[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; a little worn, creased and with some light repaired splitting; rear wrapper a little soiled at foot; text edges unevenly discoloured; but a sound and serviceable copy of an uncommon title. Just two copies (British Library and National Library of Scotland) located in major libraries worldwide.

£30

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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.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some wear and faint spotting to spine; rear wrapper a little nicked and creased; staples slightly rusted; text very lightly tanned and lightly bruised in places, but a good and serviceable copy of an uncommon Scottish title. Just a single copy (National Library of Scotland) located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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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 ...”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 192pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Tony Castle; little worn and creased, slightly chipped and split; slight marking to rear panel; text spotted and a little tanned, with a few small chips and slight creases; a serviceable copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£20

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London : Scion, [1950]. First edition. An early “Duke Linton”, attributed to Stephen Frances (a.k.a. Hank Janson), almost certainly with the involvement of Geoffrey Pardoe, by Steve Holland – the hotel heist plot owing much to W. R. Burnett’s “High Sierra”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – green-eyed and extremely cross redhead tied up in her undies in a design by “Ferrari” (Philip Montague Mendoza); some wear, slight scuffing and mild discolouration to spine; front wrapper a little worn, nicked and slightly creased, with a small chip at foot, and some damp-staining to verso; rear wrapper creased and a little soiled; staples a little rusted; upper cover chip extending some way into the text, with further chipping to one leaf; text a little tanned; a serviceable copy.

£50

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London : Alexander Moring, [ca.1956]. [Second edition]. “It’s close to sundown, and way ahead lights are winking up along the sprawling sucker-trap that is the Hellfire Strip, wide open merry-go-round of the good-time dolls and the sugar-daddies ...” – a pacy tale set in Las Vegas. Originally published under Reginald Carter’s earlier Comyns imprint in 1953.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 141,[iii]pp. Original pictorial wrappers – a cheery brunette from Leonard Potts; some very minor wear; two diagonal creases to front wrapper, but otherwise a very good copy. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£40

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

£40

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Cleveland : Kaywin Publishers, (1951). First American edition. “Love, luxury, and lust in Latin America” – the white slave trade exposed. Originally published by Archer in the UK in 1950.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a saucy trio of chorus girls from Reginald Heade; small chip at head; repairs to spine splits; some light wear; small corner chip to front wrapper; larger chip to back wrapper, but overall still a good copy. No copy of this edition traced in any major library worldwide.

£40

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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.
Crown 8vo (18cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; lightly chipped and somewhat worn; rear wrapper scuffed and a little discoloured; text tanned, with a darker rim of discolouration to the foot of the early leaves; a serviceable copy of an uncommon title. Just a single copy (British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

£40

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