Books Update: More 1950s British Gangster Pulps
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Post-war faux American gangster novels (often termed pulps due to their paper quality) written and published in the UK have become something of a collector thing over the last decade or so. Written mostly by house names and featuring sleazy dame covers, the most famous of these are by the Hank Janson/Reginald Heade combo, but there are plenty of other fish in the sea too, for all the rarity of editions that have survived the decades. This week we have four more examples as detailed below.
PICTURED:
IMPATIENT VIRGIN by DONALD HENDERSON CLARKE 1st UK PB 1950s John Long VG £40
(slightly grubby with minor foxing at cover edges; more a racy sex novel than a gangster thriller)
STICK OR BUST by RICKY DRAYTON 1st UK PB 1983 Scion GD/VG £40
(cover art by Roger Davis; slightly foxed)
TOO TOUGH TO LIVE by GRIFF 1st UK PB 1950s Modern Fiction VG £45
(cover art by Oliver Brabbins)
THE HOUSE OF SIN by ANDRE LATOUR 1st UK PB 1950s Kaye GD/VG £40 SOLD
(small spine split to rear cover bottom)