ROBIN HOOD PRESS – BRITISH PULP FICTION AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Robin Hood Press, (1950). First paperback edition. Born in Indianapolis, Flynn led an itinerant life as sailor, salesman, cab-driver and railroad worker. Better known for his westerns (he wrote “The Man from Laramie”), the present tale of racketeer Ruby Reeves and his Broadway actress mistress Ruane Royce appears only to have been published in the UK. It also appeared in hardback in the same year under the associated Hector Kelly imprint.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (190),[ii]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a stylish design by Molo; spine, edges and parts of wrappers smoke-blackened; text a little tanned, but a reasonable copy.

£25

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London : Robin Hood Press, 1947. First edition. “Searchlight beams from the famous revenue cutters stabbing out of the blackness. The chase! The grim stutter of machine guns! The pile-up! The blaze!”. Greek gangster rules the Atlantic waterfront – “Carrie’s father challenged him. But the Greek won. Donovan went to the ‘chair’. Yet that was only part of the revenge ... Carrie was to become his mistress ... But Carrie was different. She would and did fight him on his own terms”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 140,[iv]pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Hofbauer; some wear and mild discolouration; staples rusted; text faintly tanned, with faint fringes of damp-staining in places, but a reasonable copy of a scarce title. Just two copies (Bodleian and British Library) located in major libraries worldwide.

£75

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London : Robin Hood Press, [ca.1949]. [Second edition]. “His work was sabotage; his recreation women”. Gangsters, Nazi spies, and mistresses in East Coast America. Originally published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. in 1941, the book was voluntarily withdrawn from sale by the publishers when both they and the author pleaded guilty to obscenity charges relating to two other Glinto titles at the Old Bailey in May 1942. Although retaining the original 1941 date, the present edition from the Robin Hood Press (established in 1946) is manifestly somewhat later and roughly datable from the lower wrapper advertisement for a Bryn Logan western published in 1949.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 160pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; slight snag to head; some minor wear; some creasing; a few marks, nicks and spots; a good copy of a key title. No copy of this edition located in any major library worldwide.

£75

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London : Robin Hood Press, 1952. A reissue of the original 1950 edition. “To the mortuary janitor it was just one more nice white body. To Tim Bray it was the body of the girl he had loved ...”. Bray investigates Dr Gruner and his rather special maternity clinic – “an old racket, but a new angle”.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (160)pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers; some wear and discolouration, mainly from the rusting of the staples; a few creases; text a little tanned, but a serviceable copy of an uncommon title. Only a single copy (the British Library copy of the 1950 edition) located in the major UK libraries.

SOLD

London : Robin Hood Press, 1953. [First? edition]. Lugs Cortesi, slum-rat with an underwear fetish, junkies, brothels, etc. An earlier edition published by Wells Gardner has been inferred, but the evidence is sketchy and the publishers’ edition statement (first published 1953) is quite explicit. It may be possible that a Wells Gardner edition was announced but pulled from publication in the wake of the 1942 trial.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (160)pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design probably by Leonard Potts; somewhat worn, creased and chipped; lacks lower wrapper; text lightly tanned, but a serviceable copy of a very uncommon title. No copy located in any major library worldwide.

£50

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London : Robin Hood Press, (1941) [but 1952]. [Second edition] : a variant state, with a 2/6 rather than 2/- cover price, and the cover tag-line reading “a sincere and gripping story”, rather than “the book that was nearly banned”. The other alternative state announced, “Like the public, Darcy Glinto himself and the present publishers, believe that ‘You Took Me, Keep Me’ is the best Darcy Glinto of them all”. First published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. in 1941, the book was voluntarily withdrawn from sale by the publishers when both they and the author pleaded guilty to obscenity charges relating to two other Glinto titles at the Old Bailey in May 1942.
Crown 8vo (19cm). 128pp. Original pictorial stapled wrappers – a design by Terry; a few faint marks; staples a little rusted; text lightly tanned, but still overall a very good and much better than average copy. Just a single copy (Trinity College, Dublin) of this 1950s edition located in major libraries, although the continuing presence in this edition of the original 1941 date may perhaps have confused cataloguers – but, in any event, only four major libraries worldwide have a copy of any edition.

£100

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