SCION LTD. – BRITISH PULP FICTION AT ASH RARE BOOKS
![]() | SCION LTD. – BRITISH PULP FICTION AT
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SCION LTD. – BRITISH PULP FICTION | |
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“ANGEL, Ross” – [CRESSWELL, Donald] : I’LL FRY YET. London : Scion, (1951). First edition. “You know what a small town is like, everybody knows everybody else’s business, and the routine for the transportation of dough from the bank to the railroad was so ordinary that nobody bothered even to think about it” – until someone does. Although the author of some forty “Ross Angel” titles, Cresswell has so far evaded further identification, but he was presumably the Donald Cresswell living with Leila Cresswell at 5 New Row in Covent Garden in 1948 and later in Hampstead. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44635 – or simply click on the button
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“ANGEL, Ross” – [CRESSWELL, Donald] : MISGUIDED ANGEL. London : Scion, (1954). First edition. “When you watch watch a racketeer drive by in his de luxe Packard, a hotsy blonde by his side; watch him light his five-dollar cigar with a gold-plated lighter; watch, in the biblical phrase, the wicked flourish like the green bay tree and turn back to your own sleazy duplex in the Bronx, it is enough to make any guy think” – “One of the fastest moving gangster thrillers ever to hit the bookshops”. SOLD |
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“BOCCA, Al” – [WINTER, Bevis, 1918-1985] : “DEAD ON DELIVERY”. London : Scion, (1950). First edition. “From the rich, colourful, hazardous records of a tough sanguinary career, Bocca has word-sculpted a series of engrossing, punch-laden novels in which the element of raw-life reality throbs with violent insistence”. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 45489 – or simply click on the button
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“GRIDBAN, Volsted” – [FEARN, John Russell, 1908-1960] : I CAME – I SAW – I WONDERED. London : Scion Distributors, [1954]. First edition. The half-title has been excised by the publishers and the Scion Distributors imprint pasted over the earlier Scion Ltd. on both title-page and final leaf – presumably a reflection of Scion’s internal wrangles and legal difficulties at that time. Strangely dressed stranger comes calling on a cold and wet February night on the outskirts of London – and sits down with a dictionary. Although the first two Volsted Gridban novels had been written by E. C. Tubb, subsequent Scion titles under this name all seem to have been written by the indefatigable John Russell Fearn. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 30128 – or simply click on the button
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“HAMPTON, Mark” : RAW DEAL FOR DAMES. London : Scion, (1952). First edition. “It was a woman’s body. She lay face down in the gutter ...” – the first of the handful of Scion titles produced under the “Mark Hampton” name. The introductory note presents him as a recently arrived American – so the name probably covers one of the regulars from the Scion stable. SOLD |
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“HANSEN, Frank” – [BARNES, Michael Lethbridge Gorell, 1926-1982] : LADY BE BAD! London : Scion, (1953). First edition. “Hey, sailor!” he repeated. “How'ja like to buy the biggest damn diamond in the world?” SOLD |
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“LINTON, Duke” – [HANSON, Victor Joseph, 1920-2001] : KILLER BAIT. London : Scion, (1953). First edition. “Another violent and passionate chapter in the life of Al O’Toole, the famous private eye”. Although the “Duke Linton” house-name was used by a number of different Scion writers, a contemporary American copyright registration records the author as Victor Hanson. SOLD |
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“LINTON, Duke” – [HANSON, Victor Joseph, 1920-2001 & LOWE, Herbert Victor, 1916-1991] : WAS SHE POISON? London : Scion, (1953). First edition. Duke is swimming with a blonde and a redhead in the Gulf – and then their friend (the brunette) gets shot. Duke Linton was a Scion house-name, but American copyright records give the authors of the present title as Victor John Hanson and Herbert Victor Lowe – the first presumably Victor Joseph Hanson. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43052 – or simply click on the button
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“LUGAR, Hans” – [MAX, George & LOWE, Herbert Victor, 1916-1991] : MIDNIGHT SISTER. London : Scion, (1953). First edition. “Adrienne Allan – wealthy deb and top-entry in the Social Register – believed it was her own life that was being threatened, believed that her own personal maid had been killed in error, believed that she was really the intended victim of that peculiarly vicious hit-and-run murder. But these hot-buttered members of the old aristocracy disliked publicity ...” – “Hans Lugar” was a Scion house-name used by a variety of writers between 1950 and 1954, but an American copyright registration gives the authors of the present work as George Max and Herbert Victor Lowes (i.e. Lowe). SOLD |
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“LUGAR, Hans” : YOU DON'T SAY! London : Scion, (1951). First edition. “I rented the place, paid a quarter in advance, watched the guy paint my name on the door, and then waited. I waited all right. Waited until I'd run out of cash, run out of friends, and near run out of patience ...”. The “Hans Lugar” Scion house-name was used for twenty or so titles by a variety of authors between 1950 and 1954 – principally by a writer only identified as Quinn. SOLD |
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NORWOOD, Victor (Victor George Charles), 1920-1983 : CAVES OF DEATH (A JUNGLE STORY FEATURING JACARE THE UNTAMED). London : Scion, (1951). First edition. The second of Norwood’s “Jacaré the Untamed” jungle novels. Two disgusting and depraved baddies escape from a prison camp in Peru and make off with the lovely Helen (Jane to Jacaré’s Tarzan) – “All a bit much – but the Turner cover is superb” (Harbottle & Holland A309). SOLD |
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NORWOOD, Victor (Victor George Charles), 1920-1983 : THE TEMPLE OF THE DEAD. London : Scion, (1951). First edition. The third of Norwood’s “Jacaré the Untamed” jungle novels set in South America, where he himself had tried his hand at prospecting for diamonds. The Tarzan-like Jacaré battles with a native priestly sect. SOLD |
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“PERRELLI, Nick” – [DAWSON, George Herbert, 1916-1980] : WHO TOLD THE BELLE. London : Scion, (1953). First edition. “Sometimes you can open a window and still feel normal; sometimes you are not so sure”. The startling clatter of a machine-gun outside disturbs the peace of a newspaper office. SOLD |
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“STATTEN, Vargo” – [FEARN, John Russell, 1908-1960] : PETRIFIED PLANET. London : Scion, (1951). First edition. Married couple return from a maiden voyage to Venus to find the Earth stopped in time – “A well-written and fascinating exploration of the ‘frozen time’ theme, usually confined to short stories” (Harbottle & Holland). £30 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43093 – or simply click on the button
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“STATTEN, Vargo” – [FEARN, John Russell, 1908-1960] : SCIENCE METROPOLIS. London : Scion, (1952). First edition. “Set in a future when time travelling is commonplace ... the story of a population in deadly peril from a Jovian super scientist who has vowed vengeance on Humanity for the destruction of his home world” (Harbottle & Holland A163). £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44324 – or simply click on the button
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TUBB, E.C. (Edwin Charles), 1919-2010 : CITY OF NO RETURN. London : Scion, (1954). First edition. Klaglan – the ancient, mysterious and forbidden city of Mars – Halmar the Guide, Lorna the dancer from Venus, and the man called Smith try to penetrate its crystal walls. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41552 – or simply click on the button
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TUBB, E.C. (Edwin Charles), 1919-2010 : JOURNEY TO MARS. London : Scion, [1954]. First edition. Verrill needs to get to Mars where a spaceship is making ready for the Big Jump to the stars, but he is stranded on Venus without money, papers or weapons. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 41537 – or simply click on the button
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“VOGEL, Hans” – [AMBLER, Dail, 1919-1974 & LOWE, Herbert Victor, 1916-1991] : JITTERY DAME. London : Scion, (1953). First edition. Chicago gangland boss has a stunning new girlfriend – but his colleagues haven’t been told. Although earlier “Hans Vogel” titles had mainly been written for the Glasgow publisher John Watson by Norman Lazenby, after Watson sold the rights in the name to Scion in 1952 authorship becomes less clear. In this instance, a contemporary American copyright registration attributes the work to Dail Ambler and Herbert Victor Lowes (i.e. Lowe) – Dail Ambler was the regular pseudonym of Betty Williams, also known by her married name of Betty Uelmen, who under her “Dail Ambler” and “Danny Spade” personas, became one of the most successful of all of the British pulp-writers. £75 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43050 – or simply click on the button
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“ZORÉ, Hyman” – [HANSON, Victor Joseph, 1920-2001 & LOWE, Herbert Victor, 1916-1991] : COVER THAT CORPSE. London : Scion, (1952). First edition. “The dame must’ve have let herself in with a key she’d swiped from the receptionist downstairs. I could have told her to get the hell out of it, but I didn’t” – action, suspense, dames, liquor and more. Scion took over the “Hyman Zoré” name from Muir-Watson of Glasgow in 1952 and it was subsequently used by a number of Scion regulars. American copyright records give the authors of the present title as Victor John Hansen and Herbert Victor Lowe – the first presumably Victor Joseph Hanson. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43209 – or simply click on the button
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