Latest Finds!

[dem]

I particularly envy you the Gypsy Rose Lee novel, James, lovely cover painting, too. Here are four a mostly non-fiction grab-bag plundered from Sclater Street market and the Spitalfields Crypt Charity Shop (Watney Market branch) over past month. The only one I've read to date is the fascinating story of Aus football, including an account of the infamous 1974 'friendly' versus Uruguay.

Ramsey Campbell - Incarnate (Granada, 1984)

Peter Gudynas

Blurb:
The horror started when a 'controlled' experiment in prophetic dreaming got wildly out of control. It was aborted - but not before some dark door to a screaming shadow-world of nightmare had been opened and left ajar.
Now, as a bitter winter holds the country in its corpse-cold grip, a monstrous presence begins to invade the lives of the original participants. Creatures glimpsed fleetingly in the original group dream eleven years ago are drawing them inexorably into a dreadful vortex of hallucination, insanity - and worse.
One by one the dreamers succumb to the diabolical force that threatens much more than their mere lives. Only Molly, a young TV production assistant, decides to fight. Together with Martin, the crusading American film director she comes to love, she fights desperately to understand the nature of the horror and conquer it before they, too, are absorbed and lost forever.

Ramsey Campbell - 'surely the most sophisticated stylist in modern horror' (Washington Post) - has created in Incarnate his most terrifying novel yet of the lurking fear that waits just beyond the rim of the unknown. Incarnate will reverberate in your mind like a scream at midnight long after you have turned the last page.

Jacob Larwood & John Camden Hotten - English Inn Signs. A revised and modernized version of A History Of Signboards (Blaketon Hall, Exeter, 1985: originally 1951).

General Survey Of Signboard History
Corrupted, Perverted and 'Refined' Signs
Heraldic, Symbolic And Emblematic Signs
An Alphabetic Table Of Some Common Heraldic And Symbolic Signs
Signs Of Animals And Monsters
Signs Of Birds And Fowls
Signs Of Fishes And Insects
Signs Of Flowers, Trees, Herbs, etc.
Biblical And Religious Signs
Signs Of Saints, Martyrs, etc.
Signs Relating To Dignities, Trades And Professions
Signs Relating To The House And The Table
Signs Relating To Dress
Geographical And Topographical Signs
Humorous And Comic Signs
Signs Containing Puns And Rebuses
Changes Of Sign
Miscellaneous Signs
Some Notes On Modern Inn Signs

Appendix: A Brief Book-List Of Works On Inns And Inn Signs
Index

Blurb:
The history of inn signs is fascinating. The original signs were painted because many people could not read. The modern-day sign must attract people who have little time to read the message they contain or who are, perhaps, just passing in their cars. Yet they still need to be visually interesting and appealing to local residents. Design is all important. A sign must be well balanced and sturdy, a firmly defined and attractive arrangement of coloured shapes. A well-defined silhouette in few colours is considered ideal, but elaborate perspective drawings and excessive contrast, unless in poster form, are rarely successful. There is little room for subtlety, for intellectualism, or for irony except in their broadest forms, which is one reason why heraldry, when imaginatively treated, is successful. Today's sense of style has improved heraldic subjects, and more recent inn signs reflect this change.

But there is much more to signs than the expertise needed to paint them. They are steeped in the history and way of life of England past and present, and this progression unfolds through the pages of this classic work - probably the greatest ever written on the history of signboards.

Howard Carter - The Tomb Of Tutankhamen (Sphere, 1972)

Blurb
"It would be difficult to describe our emotions when for the first time the light of our powerful electric lamps flooded the Burial Chamber, illuminating the walls on which were painted representatives of Amentit, the catafalque drawn on a sled by the chief nobles of the land, King Ay before the Osiride Tutankhamen and lighting up the immense shrine overlaid with gold . . ."

The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in I922 is a land mark in archaeological history and certainly the most important single find in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Unlike that of more illustrious Pharaohs the tomb of the the boy-king Tutankhamen had lain unmolested by graverobbers for more than three thousand years. To its discoverers it yielded a treasure of unimagined magnificence, ranging from chariots, chairs and caskets to the great sepulchral shrine of “the Lord ofthe West."

The story of this discovery, first published by instalments between I923 and 1933, is here told by Howard Carter who led the work of excavation. Not only does he provide a brilliant portrait of the life and death of an 18th Dynasty Pharaoh, but he also communicates the feeling of awe and excitement which spurred the explorers as the tomb yielded up its extraordinary riches.

The text is complemented by Harry Burton's contemporary photographs, and a selection of more recent colour photographs which show the treasures as they may be seen today.

Trevor Thompson - One Fantastic Goal: A Complete History of Football in Australia (ABC, 2006)

Blurb:
In late 2005 83,000 football fans hugged and danced and cheered in one moment of shared ecstasy. John Aloisi's goal had secured a place for Australia in the World Cup for only the second time in history.

Since the 1960s the goal had always been the same - qualify for the World Cup. Apart from qualification in 1974 this has proved elusive with the national team dramatically falling at the final hurdle, time and time again. But there is much more to this story for it reaches way back to 1880 when a team of boys from the Kings School turned out at Parramatta Common, west of Sydney, to play a team of older men known as the Wanderers. After modest beginnings in colonial Australia the game took a roller-coaster ride finally culminating in its recent resurgence with the establishment of a top-flight national competition, a huge squad of locals starring in overseas competitions and World Cup qualification. One Fantastic Goal is the only comprehensive history that has ever been put together on football (soccer) in Australia, warts and all. It is not always a pretty story with opportunistic administrators often corrupt or incompetent, or both. But a true coming of age is at hand for Australian Football and the path to this newfound maturity is a fascinating and eventful tale of struggle, heartache and sweet success.

[jamesdoig]

Jul 24, 2016 6:03:30 GMT dem said:

Trevor Thompson - One Fantastic Goal: A Complete History of Football in Australia (ABC, 2006)

This looks good. I remember as a young kid trying to stay up until 2am to watch the socceroos live in the 1974 world cup - I think we drew the group with West Germany, East Germany and some South American country, and got nowhere. The book should have a lot on Mr Football himself, the great man Johnny Warren, who along with Les Murray kept football alive in Australia for many years. Sadly Johnny was taken from us too soon with cancer, but he was spruiking the game on SBS until the very end, which was always a hard sell when you've got about half a dozen national sports. Then all of a sudden we had a team - Viduka, Kewell and a couple of decent coke snorting keepers.

[jamesdoig]

Aug 12, 2016 23:14:38 GMT jamesdoig said:

Another small charity book fair is on at the moment. Picked up these for $2, most of which I've got but I had to walk out with something:

Bit of synchronicity here with the Birkin article in PH -



A 70s zombie novel -

[dem]

H. Rider Haggard - She (Hodder & Stoughton, 1965: originally 1887)

Blurb:

The story of three men who discovered a living legend in the heart of Africa ... The beautiful white Queen — mysterious, cruel, captivating, who ruled over a dark and savage people, and who held the secret of love, and of life itself — She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.

Sapper - Bulldog Drummond (Hodder, 2007: originally 1920)

Blurb:
Bulldog Drummond. Hero, patriot, sportsman and quintessential English gentleman. An army officer in the First World War, Drummond knows how to fight hard and play fair and there is precious little that can shake him. Finding peace unbearably tedious, he puts an ad in the newspaper offering his services to any client who can offer adventure.

An attractive young woman called Phyllis contacts him fearing her father is under the power of blackmailers. Without hesitation, Drummond accepts the commission and starts to investigate, uncovering a German plot that threatens not just Phyllis and her family but the country itself.

‘Bulldog Drummond is a splendidly exciting tale‘ - The Times
‘You will not have a dull moment while you read this book' - Daily News

A couple of beauties landed in a lightening raid on the market this A.M.

The only Haggards I've read are the Zulu novella, Black Heart And White Heart and horror short Only A Dream. Have always fancied a crack at She but - stupid, I realise, but am sure a number of fellow paperback junkies get this - it had to be the Hammer tie-in.

The 'Sapper' is particularly interesting in that ... well, look at the date. Please tell me that Hodder reissued the rest of their gorgeous yellowbacks with the original artwork at the same time.

[mcannon]

The 'Sapper' is particularly interesting in that ... well, look at the date. Please tell me that Hodder reissued the rest of their gorgeous yellowbacks with the original artwork at the same time.[/quote]

Dem - a few years ago I picked up a box set from Hodder titled "Classic Tales from the Golden Age of Adventure". It included that particular "Sapper" reissue, along with several other yellowbacks:


So there are others out there somewhere, either individually or as part of this set.

Mark

[dem]

Sept 11, 2016 22:09:12 GMT mcannon said:

Dem - a few years ago I picked up a box set from Hodder titled "Classic Tales from the Golden Age of Adventure". It included that particular "Sapper" reissue, along with several other yellowbacks:
View Attachment

So there are others out there somewhere, either individually or as part of this set.

Mark

Thanks for the heads up, Mark. I only have a few of the yellows - Sapper, Leslie Charteris, Sydney Horler - but have seen enough scans to know they would make for a great Paperback Fanatic gallery.

[pulphack]

The yellow jackets started in the 1920's and were Hodder's way of squeezing more mileage out of their sales - they already had cheap harback editions of best-selling titles and authors (the small red hardbacks that turn up, invariably without the dust jacket), but they knew there was a market who would buy those writers in magazine form for 6d but couldn't stretch to 1/6d for a full book (what, and lose the other stories in the magazine? I can see their point on wages back then)... so the yellow jackets, with their colourful illustartion and the background that stood out on the shelves and racks, were a win-win for them. Cheaper to produce and sell, and more enticing for th hard-pressed punters.

The titles in the 2007 pack are a bit arbitrary, but I suppose they represent a cross-section of best-sellers from the '20's that might be remembered (hence no E Phillips Oppenheim, who was a massive seller for them but forgotten now, or Leslie Charteris, who they fought tooth and nail to pin down but whose rights are tightly controlled - and rightly so - by the still going Mrs Charteris). I can't work out if it was an anniversary edition, though - by my reckoning it was over 80 years, not dead on, when these were released.

[jamesdoig]

Lifeline bookfair was on again over the weekend. Some decent paperbacks, though prices have gone up!

For $2:



Also for $2:



These were duplicates but I couldn't resist for $3 each:







Another duplicate for $4, but I only had the paperback. Couldn't resist the cover:



This one $4:



Someone had donated a big Sherlock Holmes collection, so I picked up a couple of Ferret Fantasy publications - At the Mountains of Murkiness and An Evening With Sherlock Holmes, Ellery Queen's Sherlock Holmes Vs Jack the Ripper, a few of those Gaslight Sherlock Holmes monographs, and even a Longmans colonial edition of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. There were also a few early crime/mystery novels in dust jacket, which was nice. Overall, a pretty good haul.

[helrunar]

I presume everybody is aware that that's an Edward Gorey drawing on the cover of Vampires.  Some fabulous finds there!

I am curious about London Mystery.  Was that a monthly publication?

H.

[dem]

Sept 20, 2016 14:41:28 GMT helrunar said:

I am curious about London Mystery.  Was that a monthly publication?

H.

Yes, London Mystery was a monthly, ran from 1949 to 1982. We've an ongoing thread of sorts for it HERE

[jamesdoig]

Forgot to mention I picked this up at the bookfair too, for $3. I finished it a few day's ago - it's hard to recall a more depressing and enigmatic book, unremittingly bleak!

[mcannon]

Sept 26, 2016 1:45:03 GMT jamesdoig said:

Forgot to mention I picked this up at the bookfair too, for $3. I finished it a few day's ago - it's hard to recall a more depressing and enigmatic book, unremittingly bleak!

It certainly is! While it's many years since I read the novel, I remember thinking something like "Okay, this isn't going to keep spiralling down, deeper and deeper into despair and darkness". But it did. While it's an impressive work, afterwards you feel like reading something comparatively joyful and light-hearted -like Cornell Woolrich.

Mark

[jamesdoig]

From Vinnies:



I hadn't heard of Kathleen Sully but Mark Valentine has written a few posts on her on Wormwoodiana here and here.

Has anyone read Skrine, or can post the Consul paperback of Skrine? It's supposed to be a pretty bleak post-apocalyptic novel.

A couple of horror paperbacks from Graeme Flanagan's collection:









Gayle Lovett, who owned and ran Gaslight Books in Canberra, passed on a load of magazines after a cull. This one looks to have been an influential mag in its day:

Bill Munster's Footsteps #6:



Letter column with some big names:





And for the back of the Vault:

[jamesdoig]

So the world has officially gone insane.

Anyway, I've been spoilt recently with retired proprietrix of Canberra's Gaslight Books, Gayle Lovett, pruning her collection and passing some magazines on to me, including some early issues of Dark Horizons, the official organ of the British Fantasy Society:

Cover by David Riley, who I didn't realise was an artist

Dark Horizons #2, ed. Rosemary Pardoe, 1972
Contents
Eddy C. Bertin, The 'Lovecraftian' Works of Colin Wilson
David A. Sutton, The Golden Age of British Horror Fanzines
David Riley, Rain (poem)
Bobbie Gray, Not Your Philosophy Horatio (part 1)
Reviews
Letters

David Riley

Dark Horizons #3, ed. Rosemary Pardoe, 1972
Contents
Brian Mooney, Kenneth Grant: A New Viewpoint of HPL
Allan Parkes, On C.S. Lewis
Bobbie Gray, Not Your Philosophy Horatio part 2
John Godrich, Wanderings in the Weird
David A. Riley, Olympiad of Ghosts (poem)
Reviews
Letters

Mike Higgs

Dark Horizons #4, ed. Rosemary Pardoe, 1972
Contents
Editorial
Adrian Cole, Fantasy and a Place for Contemporary Music
A.W. Parkes, The Magical Fire (poem)
John Godrich, Wanderings in the Weird part 2
Rosemary Pardoe, Checklist of 'Monk'Lewis
Bobbie Gray, Not Your Philosophy Horation part 3
Reviews
Letters

Quiz! Who is this collecting a British Fantasy Award in 1984 (from a British Fantasy Newsletter)

[helrunar]

Wow, James, the mag covers are utterly awesome.

Art is my only consolation today.  That, and the overwhelming contempt I feel for my nation's electorate.

Best,

H.