John P. Quaine: Catalogue of Penny Bloods (1931)

Melbourne book dealer  John P. Quaine (1883-1957) is well known for fooling Montague Summers into adding some invented Penny Blood titles into his Gothic Bibliography (1940).  As Michael Anglo explains in his book, Penny Dreadfuls and Other Victorian Horrors (1977),

"Montague Summers.....was certainly fooled by [John. P. Quaine,] an extremely knowledgeable Melbourne bookseller with a sense of humour, who issued an important catalogue for collectors in the 1930s. Stanley Larnach, a writer and collector of ‘dreadfuls’ who lived in Sydney, New South Wales, and was a leading member of the Book Collector’s Society of Australia, said that Quayne’s catalogue included two beautiful ‘dreadful’ titles: ‘The Skeleton Clutch; or, The Goblet of Gore’, a romance by T. Prest issued in penny parts (E.Lloyd 1841); and ‘Sawney Beane, the Man-Eater of Midlothian’ by T. Prest issued in penny parts (E.Lloyd 1851). Montague listed both of these splendid titles, which were Quayne inventions, in his Gothic Bibliography."

The catalogue in question may be the one preserved in a Scrapbook of Bloods in State Library of Victoria, MS 3700/3 (though it doesn't include "The Skeleton Clutch").  Described as "late 1940s-1950s, comprising press clippings, illustrations clipped from journals, published bibliographies of penny bloods, book sales, lists of penny dreadfuls and penny bloods; also, seventy letters from the Melbourne bookseller J.P. Quaine (1951-1957) to Stanley Larnach, Walter W. Stone and J.K. Moir."

Here is the catalogue in Mr Quaine's inimitable style, replete with "fierce cuts" and rarae aves.  I've made a few comments in square brackets.  "James & Smith" is Penny Dreadfuls and Boys' Adventures : the Barry Ono Collection of Victorian Popular Literature in the British Library (1998).  "Summers" is his Gothic Bibliography.  The list clearly isn't the original catalogue, but has been typed by someone, presumably Stanley Larnach.

Copy of Sales List From J.P. Quaine, 139 Commercial Rd, South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria. 1931.

Rare Penny Dreadfuls offered from my own Private Collection.  All unobtainable anywhere else in Australia.

1.  Edwin J. Brett’s “Boys of England”.  The four first vols., a reissue dated 1876 et seq., bound in 2 large vols.  Containing dozens of the best “bloods” issued by Brett.  Only £4, less than quarter the London price.  SOLD.

2.  Brett’s “Young Men of Great Britain”.  The first 4 vols.  Original Editions, 1868 et seq.  Bound in 3 vols, with all the rare gory illustrations and coloured Xmas Number.  £5-10-0.

3.  “Young Men of Great Britain”, odd vol. 1880.  Contains “Ned Nimble amongst the Pirates” complete.  Good order.  Only 20/-

4. “Young Men of Great Britain”, thick vol containing numbers between 1884 and 1886, not quite complete.  One vol. 20/-.

5.  Brett’s “Jack Harkaway Series”.  Broken series, 13 vols, original covers. £3.  A Mint set of this rarity sells at 20 guineas in London.

6.  “Handsome Harry of the Fighting Belvedere”. Exceedingly scarce, wants 2 leaves, original cloth. 15/-.  A perfect copy worth £4.
[James & Smith, 102]

7.  “Broad Arrow Jack”, a perfect copy.  Coloured Front.  A bargain at £4. 2 others bound in.
[Edwin Harcourt Burrage, Broad-arrow Jack.  James & Smith, 89]

8.  “The Rival Apprentices” and “Rupert Dreadnought” or “The Secret of the Iron Chest”, with all gory woodcuts, 2 bound in 1 vol.  £3.
[Vane Ireton Saint John, The Rival Apprentices, a Tale of the Riots of 1780.  James & Smith, 581.  Vane Ireton Saint John, Rupert Dreadnought; or, The Secrets of the Iron Chest.  James & Smith, 582-584]

9.  “The London Apprentice” by Pierce Egan, Large vol, of over 90 numbers, each with a quaint cut.  Well bound copy in Mint Order.  Sold for £5-10-0.

10.  “Black Bess or The Knight of the Road”.  A tale of Dick Turpin, is the longest Penny Blood in history.  Just recently an article in the Herald from a London Paper referred to it as being in the possession of a man who refuses to sell at any price.  2 vols, which contain two thirds of the original 254 numbers, gory cuts. £2.
[James & Smith, 674; Summers, 247]

11.  Aldine “Tip Top Tales” 40 Blood-thirsty little penny books with coloured covers issued in the Nineties.  One coloured wrapper missing.  Bound in 5 dumpy vols. £2-5-0. (300 others, loose, for £20.)

12.  “Tom Wildrake’s Schooldays”.  A cloth copy of this rara avis midst old boy’s books.  London value at least £5, my price £2.
[James & Smith, 189-191]

13.  Hogarth House “Shot and Shell Series”.  The six vol set by George Emmett.  2 thick vols, with Brett’s “Comic History of London” bound in. 2 vols. £4

14.  Mint bound copy of that famous old boy’s book “Tom Tartar”. £1.
[E. Harcourt Burrage, Tom Tarter at School; or, True Friend and Noble Foe.  James & Smith, 118]

15.  “Will Watch, the Bold Smuggler”. 1852. 47 Penny Numbers each with a quaint cut.  Well bound. 30/-.
[Summers, 558]

16.  “The Parricide”, by G.W.M. Reynolds.  The rarest of his works.  Never knew of another in Australia and heard of few in England.  Original issue 1847. £2.  Even the cheap Dick’s reprint is rare now.
[G.W.M. Reynolds. The Parricide; or, A Youth’s Career of Crime.  Summers, 457]

17.  The ORIGINAL Penny Weekly issue of Hugo’s “Esmerelda, or the Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Small vol, well bound, dozens of cuts.  35/-.

18.  Hugo’s “Hans of Iceland”.  The first English Edition.  Cruikshank’s fine fierce plates.  £3-10-0.  London price – Ten guineas.

19.  Brett’s “Barons of Old; or the Robbers of the Rhine”. Each number has several cuts, also 3 coloured plates are bound in the vol.  35/-.
[James & Smith, 13]

20.  “Dark Deeds of Old London” and another Brett “Blood”. 25/-.
[James & Smith, 340]

21.  “Bravos of Alsatia” and one other Brett “Blood” in one vol. 30/-.  SOLD.
[James & Smith, 337]

22. “Massacre of Glencoe” by Reynolds, in one vol: original numbers. 20/-. SOLD.
[Summers, 404]

23. “Kenneth” by Reynolds, original issue in one vol. 15/-, Gilberts illustrations.
[Summers, 152-3]

24. “Gentleman George, the King of the Road”, with sequel “King of Diamonds”, with all the cuts, and 2 others in one vol. £2-10-0.

[James & Smith, 68-69]

25.  “Dashing Duke; or the Mystery of the Red Mask”. 20/-.

[James & Smith, 683]

26.  “The Outlaws of Epping Forest”, a real gory old ‘un, fierce cuts. £2.

[James & Smith, 440-441]

27.  “Manfrone the One-Handed Monk”.  Mrs Radcliffe, early edition.  Well Bound leather back, gilt title.  Dated 1839.  10/6.

[Summers, 398]

28.  Pirated American edition of “Oliver Twist”.  Very rare. 20/-.  SOLD.

29.  Dickens imitation, “Dombey and Daughter”, Penny numbers, each with crude cut, neatly bound.  Sells at Five pounds in London.  My price £2-2-0.  SOLD.

[Summers, 298]

30.  Autobiography of the Author of the above item (self-styled “Chief Baron Renton Nicholson”.) with his autograph.  This is a unique volume, and of immense interest to Dickensians. £1.  SOLD.

31. “Tales of Chivalry; or Adventures by Flood and Field”. Original cloth, each Penny number has a curious cut, issued in 1839, but the condition is as if it was just off the press. £3-10-0.

[Tales of Chivalry, Perils by Flood and Field.  Summers, 523]

32.  “Jack Harkaway at School in America”, “Among the Pirates” and “At the Tales of Palms; the Last Stronghold of the Black Flag”.  These three tales selected by E.J. Brett and issued as the “American Series”.  One vol. 20/-.

33.  The Brett “Tom Floremall Series”, the three original series in one vol. 20/-.

34.  Brett’s “Boyhood Days of Jack Straw” and “Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes”, the two in one neat vol.  20/-.

[James & Smith, 335-336]

35.  “The Corsican Brothers; or the Fatal Duel”. Really a piracy of Dumas’ play and book of the same title.  39 numbers, each with a lurid cut.  Magnificently bound.  A perfect Collector’s Copy!  1852.  Published by Purkess, who ranked high among the “Blood” producers. 30/-.

36.  A rare Lloyd “Blood”: “Adeline, or the Grave of the Forsaken”.  52 most fearsomely illustrated number.  First page was typed in by previous owner from a complete copy.  25/-

[James & Smith, 542; Summers, 222]

37. “The Cottage Girl; or Betrayed on Her Marriage Day”.  Neatly bound, each number with crude cut.  12/6.

[Elizabeth Bennett, The Cottage Girl; or, The Marriage Day.  Summers, 285]

38.  “Ada the Betrayed; or, the Murder in the Old Smithy”.  This tale is quite unprocurable now.  This is the original issue in Lloyds Miscellany. 2 large vols with dozens of other loathsomely gory stories.  This journal was issued without illustrations.  2 vols. Dated 1842.  45/-

[James Malcolm Rymer, Ada the Betrayed; or, the Murder at the Old Smithy.  James & Smith, 541; Summers, 221]

39.  “The Ship-wrecked Stranger”, in 49 crudely illustrated numbers. 1850.  7/6. SOLD.

[Hannah Maria Jones, The Shipwrecked Stranger.  Summers, 502]

40.  “Rough and Ready Jack”, and 2 other Bretts bound in one gorgeous volume.  Mint order. 20/-.  SOLD.

[James & Smith, 538]

41.  The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God Among Books [in red ink].

“The Pixy” by G.M.W. Reynolds.  An Xmas story done in imitation of Dickens Xmas books.  The Great Auks Egg of Rarities! [again in red ink]  2 illustrations. Small pocket size.  Original edition. 15/-.  Sheer chucked away at that price.

[G.W.M. Reynolds, The Pixy; or, The Unbaptized Child. James & Smith, 528; Summers, 464-465]

42.  3 vols Fox’s “Boys Leisure Hour” First page was typed in by previous owner from a complete copy.  25/- £5.

43. 2 large vols “Boys Standard”. 3 smaller ones. £5.

44.  “Boys Halfpenny Standard”.  One vol. £1-10-0.

45.  “Young Men of Great Britain”, from 1868 to finish as “Boys of Empire & Young Men of Great Britain”.  Approx 60 vols. £25.

46.  Run of “Boys of England” from Vol 1 (1866) to last vol (No 66) in 1899.  Wanting a few between vols 20 and 40. £30.

Supplementary List of “Penny Number Bloods” at outrageously reduced prices.

47.  “The Wild Witch of the Heath; or the Demon of the Glen”.  1841.  Lacks the last number, but contains some of the most luridly gory cuts in the history of fierce literature.  25/-.

48.  “The Secret Oath; or the Bloodstained Dagger”. 1812. 7/6.  SOLD.

[Summers, 499]

49.  “The She-Tiger; or Felina the Female Fiend”. 1853.  Merely part of the tale, but an interesting example of ferocity.  7/6.

[Melchior Frédéric Soulié, The She Tiger of Paris: Containing a History of the Life and Adventures of a Celebrated French Lady of Fashion, Under the Name of Felina de Cambure.  James & Smith, 607; Summers, 501]

50.  “The Horror of Zindorf Castle”. A rare Lloyd “Blood”. 52 very alluring cuts sublime in their crude ghastliness.  25/-.

[Vileroy; or, the Horrors of Zindorf Castle. A Romance of Chivalry.  James & Smith, 246; Summers, 547]

51.  “The Cavern of Horrors; or the Miseries of Miranda”.  1833. 10/-. SOLD.

[Summers, 270]

52.  “The Black Monk; or the Secret of the Grey Turret”.  Lloyd. 1842.  Wildly illustrated with blood-curdling cuts. £5.

[James & Smith, 544; Summers, 248]

53.  “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.  The rare Chas. Fox edition.  Practically a reprint of the original Lloyd issue, with the addition of further gruesome details.  Bound with “The Brigand of the Sea; or the Sailor Highwayman”, and another old-timer.  Coloured wrappers and cuts. £12.  Worth five times as much in London.

[James & Smith, 626; Summers, 519-521]

54.  “The Revenge of the Blighted Man”.  Lloyd. With all the fierce cuts.  1844.  This is one right out of the box.  35/-. 

[Possibly Alice Home: or, the Revenge of the Blighted One. A Romance of Deep Interest]

55.  “Melina the Murderess; or the Crime at the Old Milestone”.  Cuts. 20/-.  SOLD.

56.  “Three Times Dead; or the Trail of the Serpent”.  (Miss Braddon’s first story.)  Original issue in Half-penny Miscellany.  1864.  Crude cuts.  20/-.

[Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Three Times Dead; or, The Secret of the Heath.  Revised as The Trail of the Serpent; or, The Secret of the Heath.  Summers, 15]

57.  “The Wife’s Tragedy; or the Secret of the London Sewers”.  1850.  The 104 numbers of this choice old “Blood” backs all the rest off the board.  The quality of the cuts is indescribable! £2.

[Helen Porter; or, A Wife’s Tragedy and a Sister’s Trials.  Drop-head title is “The Wife’s Tragedy: A Secret of the Sewers of London.”  James & Smith, 289]

58.  “The Female Bluebeard”.  Many quaint cuts.  (By Eugene Sue.)  10/-.  SOLD.

59.  “The Cannibal Courtezan”.  Six humdinging cuts.  1866. 12/6.  SOLD. [May be an invented title]

60.  “The Parricide Priest; or the Murder in the Monastery”.  Cuts.  15/-.  SOLD.  [May be an invented title]

61.  “Mabel the Marble-hearted; or the Outcast’s Revenge”. Cuts. 1842. 20/-.  SOLD. [May be an invented title]

62.  “The Outcasts of London; or the perils of Pauline, the Victim of Crime.”  The first seven instalments of this famous story in an illustrated publication called The London Pioneer.  1844.  10/-.

63.  “Mabel; or the Child [JPQ has “Ghouls”] of the Battlefield”.  55 numbers, each with a gory cut.  Lloyd. 1846. 20/-.  SOLD. 

[James & Smith, 382]

64.  “The Blue Dwarf; or Love, Mystery and Crime”.  With coloured folding plates and innumerable fierce cuts.  Coloured wrappers. 3 vols in one. £3-10-0.

[James & Smith, 573; Summers, 250]

65.  “Wagner the Wehr-Wolf” by Reynolds, and several other “Bloods” by the same author, in one thick vol.  15/-.

[Summers, 550]

66.  “The Loves and Crimes of Paris”.  On its own as a thriller of the past.  29 numbers.  Vickers.  London. 1846.  Damaged badly.  3/6.

[Paul Feval, The Loves of Paris.  Summers, 393]

67.  “Walter the Archer; or the Robber Lords of the Mountains”.  Coloured wrapper.  Scarce.  Brett. 3/6.  SOLD.

[James & Smith, 684]

68.  “Florence Graham; or, the Pirate’s Daughter” [Quaine has “Penelope the Pirate’s Daughter].  Lloyd.  1847.  Crude cuts.  20/-.

[James & Smith, 515]

69.  “The Death Grasp; or the Father’s Curse”.  Weird cuts.  20/-.  SOLD.

[James & Smith, 476]

70.  “Rook the Robber”.  32 numbers.  Cuts.  Dicks.  London.  1868.  35/-.

[James & Smith, 160-161]

71.  “Under the Blood-Red Flag; or at War with the World”.  Cuts.  10/-.

72.  “The Murder of Maria Marten in the Red Barn at Polstead”, with all the strange engravings.  Original edition.  1828.  Polished calf.  Very rare.  £4.  SOLD.

[Maria Marten; or, The Murder in the Red Barn.  Summers, 400-401]

73.  “Burke and Hare, the Body snatchers”, with appropriate cuts.  Neat little vol. Well bound.  30/-

[Summers, 256]

74.  “The Bravo of Venice”, by ‘Monk’ Lewis.  Early edition, with fine frontispiece.  Only 7/6.

[Summers, 252-253]

75.  “The Robber Foundling”, a rare Lloyd “Blood”.  Weird cuts.  25/-.

[Possibly The Robber Chief; or, The Foundling of the Forest, though not a Lloyd title]

76.  “William Tell, the Patriot of the Mountains”.  Cuts.  Scarce. 10/-.

[Possibly William Tell, the Hero of Switzerland.  James & Smith, 431; Summers, 559]

77.  “The Mysterious Avengers; or the Voice of Blood”.  Cuts.  (Mentioned by George Saintsbury in one of his essays.)  Rare. 15/-.  [May be an invented title]

78.  “Ela the Outcast; or the Gypsy of Rosemary Dell”, by Prest, the author of Sweeny Todd.  (This work has been mentioned by Sala, as the before-mentioned Author’s best seller.)  Many fierce cuts.  35/-.  SOLD.

[James & Smith, 478; Summers, 305]

79.  “The Wreck of a Heart; or the Trials of Agnes Primrose”.  Really a travesty of Mrs Inchbalds “Nature and Art”, but a better tale because it has a more reasonable conclusion, melodramatic and gory.  Cuts.  20/-.

80. “The Lady in Black; or the Wanderer of the Tombs”, by Prest.  Lloyd. London.  1844.  Gory cuts.  40/-.  [May be an invented title]

[Possibly The Lady in Black; or, The Widow and the Wife.  James & Smith, 558]

81.  “The Doom of the Dancing Master”.  Original periodical issue, with all the crude illustrations.  10/6.  In book form also 10/-.

82.  “The Gypsy Chief; or the Haunted Oak, a Tale of the Other Days”.  This most sensational story is now rare in the weekly form.  Many plates.  10/-.  SOLD. 

83.  “Fatherless Fanny; or the Misfortunes of a Little Mendicant”.  Plates.  A morally immoral old story.  Now scarce.  5/-.  SOLD.

[Fatherless fanny; or, A Young Lady’s First Entrance into Life, Being the Memoirs of a Little Mendicant and Her Benefactors.  Summers, 320-321]

84.  “Doctor or Demon; or the Doom of the Deloraines”.  Original periodical issue.  1882.  10/6.  SOLD. 

85.  “The Dance of Death; or the Hangman’s Plot.”  Cuts.  1874.  10/6.  SOLD.

[James & Smith, 80]

86.  “Edith the Captive; or the Robbers of Epping Forest”.  104 cuts.  Fine copy. 40/-.

[James & Smith, 549]

87.  “Ruth the Betrayer”.  Fine copy. Many cuts.  15/-.  SOLD.

[James & Smith, 162]

88.  “Barnfylde Moore Carew, the Gypsy Gentleman”.  12 cuts.  Rare.  10/-.  SOLD.

89.  Emalinda, the Orphan of the Castle”.  Cuts. 10/-.  SOLD.

90. “Jessie the Morgue-keepers Daughter”.  Gruesome cuts.  1845.  20/-.  SOLD.

[Jessie the Mormon’s Daughter. James and Smith, 293; Summers, 375]

91.  “The Mysteries of the Dissecting Room”.  Horrific cuts.  1846.  20/-.  SOLD.

[Possibly Secrets of the Dissecting Room]

92.  “The Maniac Mother; or the Victim of Vice”.  Damaged.  10/6.  SOLD.  [May be an invented title]

93.  “The Monk”, by ‘Monk’ Lewis.  The Penny number Lloyd issues, with most fearsome cuts.  1848. £2.  SOLD.

[Summers, 419-426]

94.  “The Profligate Pope; or the Mysteries of the Vatican”.  Cuts in keeping with the Title and text.  1866.  20/-.  SOLD.  [May be an invented title]

95.  “The Mysteries of the Inquisition”, by Reynolds.  1846.  Contained in the rare first volume of the London Journal.  Terrific cuts.  20/-.

[James & Smith, 213; Summers, 434]

96.  “The Mysteries of Bedlam; or the Annals of a madhouse”.  Cuts.  25/-.  SOLD.

97.  “Vipont the Vulture”, an imitation of that rara avis midst “Bloods” – Varney the Vampire; or The Feast of Blood.)  The cuts are glorious in their repellancy.  £2.  SOLD.  [May be an invented title]

98.  “Tyburn Dick, the Boy King of the Highwayman; or Take Me Who Dare”.  The prosecuted issue of this rather ‘over the fence’ story, Mint order. Neatly bound with two other similar tales.  £4.  SOLD.

[Tyborn Dick, the Prince of Highwaymen.  Cover has the title Tyborn Dick; or, Take Me Who Dare.  James & Smith, 669]

99.  “Turnpike Dick, the Star of the Road”.  The desirable Chas.  Fox edition, with all the coloured wrappers.  3 vols. (60 numbers) in one.  £3.

[James & Smith, 348]

100.  “The Headless Horseman”.  Original edition.  1866.  Half calf. £10. 

101.  “Robin Hood; or the Merry Men of Sherwood”.  Pierce Egan’s original Penny number edition.  1841.  40/-.

[Possibly Pierce Egan the Younger, Robin Hood and Little John; or, the Merry men of Sherwood Forest.  Summers, 481]

102.  The same tale, re-issued in 1865, different cuts.  Three coloured plates. 10/-.

103.  “Robin Hood”.  Hogarth House edition, by George Emmet.  Mint copy.  Crude cuts.  Three copies.  15/- each.

[James & Smith, 185]

104.  “Jack Cade, the Rebel of London”.  1851.  Cuts. Last number out.  SOLD.

[Jack Cade, the Insurrectionist; A Tale of the olden Times.  Summers, 372]

105.  “Wat Tyler”, by Pierce Egan. Original edition 1844.  With fierce cuts. Damaged.  7/6.

[Summers, 553]

106.  Same tale, reprint with different cuts.  1864.  10/-.

107.  “The Black Bandits of the Rhine”, with four other tales.  Cuts.  20/-.

108.  “The Ned Nimble Series”, in 2 large vols, with all the coloured wrappers of the 11 vols.  £4-4-0.

109.  The World Famous Deadwood Dick Series.  5 vols containing the original ALDINE run from No. 1 “The Outlaw of the Black Hills” to No. 58.  Absolutely unobtainable anywhere else in the Universe.  Actually dumped at £25.

110.  The original Harkaway Series running through the Boys of England, 1871-1878.  £20.

111.  The original Penny Number and Shilling volume edition, sumptuously bound in 4 gilt-backed vols.  With all the coloured wrappers.  An exhibition set, lettered “Jack Harkaway” and decorated with crossed swords, an anchor and a sailing ship in gold ornament. £20.

112.  The Hogarth House Series of the American “Jack Harkaway”.  The set of seven with all the gory coloured wrappers and fierce crude cuts in one thick volume.  £6-10-0.

113.  “The Wild Riders of the Staked Plains; or Jack the Hero of Texas”, and 12 other equally choice “O’er Land and Sea” series, on one vol.  30/-.

114.  “Sawney Bean, the Man-eater of Midlothian”.  Fierce frontispiece.  20/-.  SOLD.  [invented title]

115.  “The Nameless Crimes of the Quaker City; or Devilbug the One-eyed Ghoul”.  A rare American Dime-a-number Dreadful.  Large thick vol. 15/-.  SOLD.  
[George Lippard's The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall]

116.  “The Headsman of Old London Bridge”, and another Brett “Blood”. 1 vol. 15/-.

[James & Smith, 255]

117. “The Hunchback of Old St Pauls”, and 2 others in one vol.  20/-.

118.  “Alone in the Pirate’s Lair”, “The Brigand Muleteer; or the Scourge of the Pyrenees”, and “Alone Among the Brigands”.  2 vols.  35/-.

[James & Smith, 616-617, 77]

119. “Boys of England”, the last 26 vols. 1884 to 1899. £20.  A gift.

120.  Reynolds “Mysteries of London”. Original Penny numbers in 4 vols. 20/-.

121.  Reynolds “Mysteries of the Court of London”.  Original issue. 8 vols. 30/-. SOLD.

122.  “Catalina; or the Spaniard’s Revenge”.  9 numbers.  Cuts. 1847.  20/-.

[James & Smith, 287]

123.  “Jane Shore the Goldsmith’s Wife”.  Original numbers, bound.  7/6.

[Summers, 374]

124.  “The Jester’s Revenge, or the Seven Masks”, and three others in the one vol.  20/-.  SOLD.

[Summers, 375]

125.  “Under the Black Flag”, and 2 others in 1 vol. 25/-.  SOLD.

[Possibly Under the Pirate’s Flag.  James & Smith, 671]

126.  “The Maniac’s Secret”, and 6 others in one vol.  No cuts.  7/6.

127.  “The Rival Hangman”.  3 numbers only, all that were issued.  3 cuts. 1870.  5/-.  SOLD.

128.  “The Ruin of the Rector’s Daughter”.  Weird cuts.  London.  1848.  20/-.

[Possibly Emma Mayfield; or, the Rector’s Daughter.  Summers, 309]

129.  “The Black Band; or the Mysteries at Midnight”.  (Miss Braddon’s early blood)  Cuts by Dore. 20/-.

[James & Smith, 66]

130.  “The Secrets of the Old House at West St.”  (Jonathon Wild’s House).  One of the most blood-freezing of the old Bloods.  In 2 vols.  104 cuts.  SOLD for £10.

[The Old House of West Street; or, London in the last Century.  James & Smith, 503; Summer, 541]

131.  “The Hebrew Maiden; or the Lost Diamond”.  (A piracy of Scott’s Ivanhoe).  A rare 1841 Lloyd.  Crude cuts.  Damaged badly.  15/-.

[James & Smith, 488; Summers, 349]

132.  “Black Plume, the Demon of the Ocean”, and ten other small bloods, with coloured wrappers.  Now rare.  15/-.  SOLD.

133.  “The Ghost of Inchvally castle, a Tale, alas, too true”.  Old cuts.  1821.  7/6.

134.  “The Smuggler King; or the Wolf of the Wave”.  Second half only.  Cuts. 10/-.

[Possibly The Smuggler King; or, The Foundling of the Wreck. James & Smith, 509]

135.  “Powerful Dramatic Tales”.  6 large vols of Romantic Dramas, each with coloured cover and cuts.  £5.

136.  The Demon of Brickarhein; or the Enchanted Ring”.  Bound with “Wolfgang; or the Wreckers Beacon”.  Both extracted and bound from the Australian Journal of 1876 and 1877.  rare. 1 vol.  7/6.
[Should be "The Demon of Brockenheim"]

137.  “Black-Eyed Susan”, “The Pirate’s Isle”, and 2 others.  Coloured wrappers.  Cuts.  In one vol.  30/-.

[James & Smith, 165-166, 182]

138.  “Manualla, the Executioner’s Daughter”. 2 vols (should be 3).  Frontispiece. 5/-

Contents of both lists cheap at £200.

ADDENDA 1945

139.  Vols 1 and 2 of the “Boys Comic Journal” in one thick vol.  45/-.

140.  Number of vols of “Young Men of Great Britain”, several vols.  Cloth or paper covers.  25/- each.

141.  “Boys of the Empire and Young Men of Great Britain”, several vols.  Cloth or paper covers.  25/- each.

142.  Rehash of the Brett’s Journals issued in the early 1900s under the title of “Up-to-date Boys” and later “Boys of Empire”, slightly broken run to finish in 1906.  27 vols. £15.

143.  Miscellaneous vols, such as “Boys Champion Journal” 1891, “Our Boys Paper”, “Boys Weekly Reader”, “Our Boys Journal”, etc. 30/- each.

144.  About 600 of the Aldine Library, Penny, Twopenny and Threepenny Tales.  All in Mint order, with coloured wrappers.  £30 the lot.  SOLD SOME.

145.  “Robert Macaire the French Bandit in England”.  Gorgeous vol.  Cloth Gilt.  1847. £3-10-0.

[Summers, 480]

146.  “Ada the Betrayed; or the Murder in the Old Smithy”.  Original Penny Numbers.  Bound in one vol, with all the fierce cuts.  1847. £3-10-0.

[James & Smith, 541]

147.  “Sweeny Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.  Original Chas. Fox edition.  (First time the ‘Demon’ was used in the Title).  With Coloured wrapper, bound with “For Honour” by Burrage, and “The Brigands of the Sea; or the sailor Highwayman”, also with a fierce cover.  “Sweeny” by itself is almost priceless in England.  Costs, when found, up to £20.  (The 1851 edition went to £30).  This vol is cheap at a tenner.

[James & Smith, 626; Summers, 519-521]

148.  “Cartouche, the French Jack Sheppard”.  Very rare Fox item published 1897. £1.

[James & Smith, 682; Summers, 262]

149.  Brett, Fox and Hogarth House Shilling vols, some in paper, others cased, with coloured wrappers preserved; also 15 in limp cloth, without coloured wrappers.  Worth marked prices, ranging from 15/- to 30/- each.

150.  “The Handsome Harry Series”.  Original “Best for Boys” edition, in one thick vol.  Finishes at “Young Ching Ching”.  £5-10-0.

151.  Another vol. Hogarth House: “Handsome Harry and Cheerful Ching Ching”.  Cloth £2.  SOLD.

152.  The same, bound with Willie Grey” and “Young Tom Wildrake”.  Coloured frontispiece.  £5.

153.  “Slapcrash Boys” and “Black Bandits of the Rhine”, in one vol. £1.

154.  10 vols “Australian News” and “Melbourne Post”, between 1860 and 1881.  Worth at least £50.

155.  Volume of “Melbourne Herald” 1865.  (Bushranging year, Morgan, Hall, Gilbert, etc).  £2.

156.  “Golden Hours”, rehash issued in the nineties, of various American Boys papers and Burrage’s Ching Ching own”.  3 large vols.  £3.

157.  “Spring-heeled Jack, the Terror of London”. Vols 2,3,4, bound with two fierce coloured frontispieces. £2.

[James & Smith, 347; Summers, 513]

158.  “Shot and Shell” Series.  Hogarth House.  Five of the original six.  With coloured wrappers intact, and duplicate “Captain Jack”.  £2.

John P Quaine's copy of The Lady in Black

John P. Quaine - Bookhunting in Bendigo in the 1890s

Here is a nice reminiscence by John P. Quaine (1883-1957) about bookhunting in the Victorian mining town of Bendigo in the 1890s, published in The Advocate in December 1950.

My Bookhunting in Bendigo Sixty Years Ago

BY J. P. QUAINE

Bendigo will celebrate during the coming year the centenary of the first gold rush. But there was other treasure besides gold to be fossicked out in old Bendigo in the years that followed, as is here described by an old Bendigonian, J. P. Quaine, now one of Melbourne's best-known "bookworms," authority on old-time "Deadwood Dicks," author himself of something in that line, and proprietor of one of those second-hand bookshops dear to his heart.

Rare old city of Bendigo! Or, to quote from the title of a bygone booklet which proclaimed the allure the auriferous region held for tourists, "Healthy, Golden, Glorious Bendigo." Modesty was always the distinguishing attribute of Bendigonians. During the coming year there will be much rejoicing of spirit midst the good folk of Bendigo and its environs, for then they will unite with other Victorians in celebrating the Centenary of our first gold rush. Doubtless the old creek which gave its name to the district will come into its own and enjoy for at least a brief spell some of the veneration now paid to "Ol’ Man Riber," the Rio Grande, Swanee and other foreign streams so energetically crooned about over the air and belauded in popular literature.

I for one would have it so, for I hold this (at times) gently rippling rivulet, once so pungently smellful, in the highest esteem. For I was born on its bonny banks, and spent the first fifteen years of my life thereon. My natal place was Nolan-street, just on the border of Irishtown. I'd like to mention that this term was not bestowed on the hallowed region in any derisive spirit. Irishtown was a proper- postal address, as can be seen by consulting newspaper files of the 'fifties. My home was about a mile from the post office, and so situated that it formed the focal point, so to speak, for a peculiar mingling of odours, whichever way the wind blew. The creek itself, until about fifty years ago, was simply an open sewer running right through the city, sludge from the mines, liquid refuse from an hospital, a benevolent asylum, several breweries, and most of the residences along its edges, with an occasional dead cat or dog, or even a larger animal lying half-buried in mud, all helped to create an odoriferousness without parallel!

INCIPIENT DISORDER

The happiest hours of my boyhood were those I spent amongst books. I was surrounded by them from babyhood, and as soon as I was able to forage for myself, though I had barrowloads of books on all sides, I went searching for more. The premature development of the aquisitive instinct; the book collector in embryo. So from now on I shall talk about books, and the men who sold them in those good old days. There were several well equipped first hand book shops in Bendigo back in the '90's, all of which shared my patronage. Souter, in Hargreaves-street; Robshaw, in Mitchell-street; Barker and Hampton, in View-street; names which should recall happy memories to some old-timers.

There were other less important emporia. I got "my light weekly pennorths from Karl Van Damm's tobacconist's shop in the Shamrock Hotel buildings, Pall Mall. Here one could obtain Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, Scraps, Snap Shots, Texas Siftings, and all the English weeklies and monthlies, as well as current Australian periodicals. They were in pleasing array on the top of the long glass cases which served as counters, and even now, after nearly sixty years, I can sniff the mingled aromas of snuff, cigars, and printer's ink which used to envelope me as I walked manfully up to the tall, vandyke-bearded proprietor and planked down my pennies for Pick-Me-Up and other ephemera of that era.

STALL IN BULL STREET

Bendigo has never had a real secondhand bookshop. There were, in my early days, sundry general dealers who included old books in their miscellaneous impedimenta, but most buyers of secondhand books sent to the metropolis for their wants. However, there was a jovial old Jew named Morris Phillips, who ran a small place, little more than a stall, in Bull-street. This was stocked entirely with secondhand books, Phillips wore a pointed beard and a cork hat, and looked like Napoleon III in his pith helmet. He also reminded me of Blandois, in Little Dorrit, whose nose came down as his moustache went up, except that Phillips went one better than that mysterious foreigner and buried his beak in his beard whenever he smiled. Back numbers of periodicals and paper-covered novels, usually comprised his stock. He had a hinged shutter which closed die shop front at night, and when let down during the day and propped underneath acted as a bargain table. This bench carried cargoes of the Aldine publications so popular then; weird, wild tales of Buffalo Bill, Deadwood Dick, and other heroes of that age, selling at two a penny, but unprocurable now at any price!

LITERARY MAUSOLEUM

The real Golconda of my boyhood was in Howard-place, which any that know Bendigo will remember is situated at the northern end of Rosalind Park, just where Pall Mall splits into McCrae-street and Bridge-street. Old-timers will recall this old building. It had at one time been a cooper's shop, and is at present reconditioned into a wine and spirit store. This shop was of the type known as "Johnny All Sorts," and the rambling structure really looked as if it had been erected by the expedient of roofing the intervening space between the flanking buildings. There was no shop front. After business hours, the establishment was closed by a series of ricketty shutters. In the daytime a couple of these were set on trestles along the footpath, and untidy heaps of tattered volumes were displayed thereon, being protected from the assault of the wind by lengths of gas pipe laid upon them. Whenever I had a chance I poked about amongst these maimed old veterans, buying what appealed to me, but in my boyish ignorance, probably leaving behind me many a "plum." Inside were heaps of all sorts of discarded furniture. Iron bedsteads seemed to predominate, but there was a generous leavening of ancient mining machinery, venerable chairs, sofas and frowsy-looking paliasses, broken kitchen ware, and tables in their last stage of transition to kindling wood. There seemed to be no attempt at order, but a couple of pathways had been cleared through the maze to accommodate prospective patrons. Along the left wall were some makeshift shelves on which were stacked in unsightly heaps scores of old books. No effort had been made to sort them, and, as they were effectually barred from close inspection by layers of bedsteads, they always seemed undisturbed. These books were richly endowed with the dust of ages, which, in some spots, had turned to mud by the rain running down the wall.

BED IRON-BARRICADE

I used to crawl through the bed-iron barricade and delve into this debris. I think I was the first to disturb those sleeping beauties, for on my initial invasion I had to crack the dried mud that encrusted them, and even prise some of the volumes apart! There must have been many a rare and radiant old edition buried in this ignoble tomb. This mausoleum was run by two brothers, Sammy and Harry Hunter, men in their, thirties, both garbed in beaufort coats, boxer hats, and sporting moustachios. They seemed to disagree a lot, and finally dissolved partnership, opening rival and smaller shops in different parts of the town. What eventually happened to their old books I do not know.

In my boyhood days the only way to dispose of rubbish was to deposit it in one of the hundreds of gullies which peppered Bendigo, or throw it down some deserted claim. There were two of these old gullies almost at my very door. One just across the road from our house, at the rear of "Lampy Tom's Hut," and another on the opposite side of the Bendigo Creek, which flowed past our fence, close to its junction, with its tributary stream before-mentioned. To these dumps at irregular intervals loads of litter were carted and scattered among the scars and holes that made up the gullies. I prospected these tips for old books, and often dug out some tattered oddment which seemed to my simple soul to be a treasure.

SALVAGED FROM SLUDGE

One day, after a flood had finished roaring down the creek, I ploughed through the sludge to retrieve a ponderous tome, which, caught on a snag, laid half-buried in mud. It turned out to be a bound volume of The New York Herald for the year 1844, soaking wet, but quite complete. I was days drying it out, and then had an intellectual banquet. For the first time I learned something of Mormon history, for this was the year that Joe Smith, the founder of that cult, had been murdered. Smith, so 'tis said, was slain because of his plurality of wives. If this was so, then his killers must have been all bachelors, otherwise they would have decorated him for his heroism instead of murdering him! There were many crude woodcuts in this volume depicting the "Mormon War," as it was called, including a couple portraying the deaths of Joe and his brother, Hiram. Only a few worn pages of this priceless tome remain with me today; a succession of vandals down through the years appropriated such parts as appealed to them, leaving me the bare skeleton!

On another occasion I descended a "20-foot hole" to examine a bundle of books which I had noticed a neighbour toss into its depths. I salvaged a few to my liking, uncovering at the same time an assortment of decaying cats. The matrons round about used to shake their heads mournfully as they watched me raking over these dumps. It did seem a pity that such a nice little boy, who seemed otherwise all right, should be getting that way.

Where any of them commiserated with my mother, she only smiled, for she understood. To be sure, she exercised a severe censorship over all I brought home after an afternoon's sport, for people of Irish blood then, as now, were singularly clean-minded, and particular about the literary fare of their offspring. Several times she pitched some of my hard-won jewels over the fence into the creek. I remember scrambling down the bank one night to retrieve a much-frayed volume of Zola thus disposed of. Fortunately, when I tried to read it, I found it so dull that I threw it into the creek myself. However, in spite of all the pitting stares, I proceded on my grubby way unperturbed. 

TRACTS AND THRILLERS

There was a little shop near my home which stocked all sorts of things—fruit, vegetables, battalions of cockroaches, soft drinks, and a few cheap books. Once the lady in charge got in a job lot of temperance tracts. I expended odd pennies on a number of these, and jolly good little pennorths they proved to be. I read all about How Paul's' Pound Became a Penny, and How Peter's Penny Became a Pound, and one which I never forgot—Buy Your Own Cherries. This narrative detailed how a British workman, while waiting for the landlady to fill his pot of ale, helped himself to a cherry from a plate on the counter. The lady sharply told him, "Buy your own cherries." He was so incensed, that he pushed back the pewter pot, left the premises forever, bought his own cherries, and eventually a fine house and wonderful furniture! This workman was something of a miracle worker, in a way, or else the cost of living in the far back fifties must have been remarkably cheap, for he did it all on the saving of one shilling a week! But I never forgot the tale, improbable though it may be, and when, a few years ago, I ran across a volume of Kirton's tracts, I found much delight in renewing old palship.

These tracts were not, of course, as full of meat as Alone in the Pirates Lair or The Wild Witch of the Heath, but I relished them. As a fact, I always had the happy gift of enjoying everything I read, and, when you come to think of it, this is really the ideal way to be. It matters not what your in-born prejudices may be, you must always lose yourself in the personality of your hero, be he what he may. Afterwards, in your lucid (or, perhaps, not so lucid) moments, you may revert to your former preconceived notions. So, it booted naught to me what read; whether it was The Life of Saint Patrick, Turnpike Dick or Jack the Ripper made no difference. I dipped into everything from Butler's Lives of the Saints to The Malefactors' Register, with the result, probably, that I have transformed my grey matter to a seething mass of over-ripe haggis. In the process, I learned a little about a lot of things, but a lot about very, little!

There were two small bookshops in McRae-street, which, though they did not deal in secondhand items, and were mainly Catholic repositories, found favour in my eyes, because they stocked what are nowadays known as "dreadfuls." Miss Fairlie ran one of these; Miss Conway the other. The latter was almost opposite St. Kilian's Church. Her shop was, through space reasons, a bit jumbled, and her stock, though primarily devotional, was mingled most delightfully with more mundane publications. I can visualize now, after nearly sixty years, a copy of Three Fingered Jack; or, The Terror of the Antilles, balanced between a couple of religious statues! But she was a kindly lady, and I am sure she must be in Heaven, for did she not, as far back as 1890, sell me my copy of Happy Jack the Rover?

"The Little Boy Laughed" and Censorship in Australia

I couldn't resist picking up this little gem from Any Amount of Books.  It's a 48 page stapled digest published by Whitman Press in Sydney, and is a reprint of a US crime pulp by John Dow published by Mystery House in 1945.

Celebrated Melbourne book seller and collector of penny bloods and all things macabre, John P. Quaine, mentions it in his letters to Stanley Larnach, now housed in the State Library of Victoria.

In February 1951 he wrote to fellow Bloods collector Larnach: "If you see a sixpenny thriller, pub in Sydney, called Curse of the Mummy, grab a copy as a curio. It has a ferocious illus heading to chap one, worthy of an oldtime blood.  A skull, a dagger, a wild dark shape in the background, a gory axe in the air, a hideous ape, a hanging corpse, and a rat about to dine off a human arm poking out of a dustbin!  Lumme!  I’ve got one as a treasure.  It is just a recent publication.  Another, which I have not got, and I’d like, if you see a spare one, after landing one for yourself, is The Little Boy Laughed.  This is another sixpenny thriller.  The cover was reproduced in the Argus a few weeks ago as an example of the degraded literature now being printed!"

In April 1951 Quaine has managed to acquire the book: "I have two copies of The Little Boy Laughed, and I will send you one later.  One turned up just before I went to Bendigo with the wife for Easter, the other I found in a junk shop up there!  It was published by The Whitman Press, 21 Macquarie Place, Sydney."  

As Quaine mentions, the pamphlet was the subject of media attention at the time.  The following appeared in the Argus on 6 December 1950 under the headline:

Do your children read this trash?

Trashy literature, advertisements and films which polluted children's minds were condemned yesterday by the Federation of Victorian Mothers' Clubs' quarterly conference.

Holding up copies of cheap paper covered books now on sale in Melbourne, Mrs. Howells said that such literature should be banned.

"The time has come," she said, "when parents must rise and say we will not have our children's minds polluted with this trash."

Books condemned by the federation included "The Phantom Ranger-A Rescue from the Gallows," and "The Little Boy Laughed," a horror story, full of bashings, violent language and sadistic threats.The second book, which is printed in Sydney includes such passages as: "When the jugular vein is cut, see, the blood gushes out all over this side of hell. Like a geyser."

"There she was. Jeeze! What a sight. I wouldn't have missed that for a 100 ice- cream sodas. I never seen a murder before." (A little boy speaking).

Delegates decided to send copies of this and similar books to the Premier, asking him to ban their sale in this State.

The following two articles appeared in the Brisbane Sunday Mail on 10 December 1950:

Laughter for the Boy in “Bucket of Blood”

Yesterday I picked out from a Brisbane bookstall a 'sixpenny dreadful' that should make lovely light reading for the kiddies.

Horror, bashings, murder, sex, illicit love, and bad language fill this book. It is entitled "The Little Boy Laughed," is pocket-size, and printed on cheap paper. Children can buy the book for sixpence. On almost any page they can read this sort of thing:—

"When the jugular vein is cut, see, the blood gushes out all over this side of hell. Like a geyser."

"There she was. Jeeze! What a sight. I wouldn't have missed that for 100 ice cream sodas. I never seen a murder before."

That was the 'Little Boy' talking— the lad on the cover with the bloodstained razor.

Little Eddie again: "There's another corpse. I just found it. Jeeze! There's an old woman. . .and she's as dead as a doornail!"

A police spokesman said last night that the police had authority to examine any books offered for sale. They could make a report recommending that any book be banned.

He added that the Australian books, 'Love Me, Sailor' and 'We Were the Rats’ were banned in Queensland as obscene publications.

Customs officers also have a 'banned' book list. On it are 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and several Thorne Smith books, including 'The Bishop's Jaegers.' Customs men may also seize any in coming books they consider may be morally unsuitable for Australians.

A leading' Queen Street bookseller, Mr. J. Thomson, said: "No reputable Brisbane bookshop, I am sure, would sell a book like 'The Little Boy Laughed.'" Mr. Thomson said James Joyce's 'Ulysses' could be imported into Australia. But it must be sold only to "members of the medical or legal professions, or to students." Gore Vidal's book 'The City in the Pillar' was in the same category.

Sold Like Hot Cakes

The owner of a street paper stall said to-day that "'The little Boy laughed' sold like hot cakes."

"The cover was terrific," he said.

'The Little Boy Laughed' was the focal point of a fierce attack this week by the president of the Federation of Victorian Mothers' Clubs (Mrs. E. B. Howells). 

Following protests by the federation, the Premier (Mr. McDonald) said on Wednesday that the Government would probably legislate next year to ban 'horror books and horror literature' being printed in Australia for school children. He said: "I feel strongly on this matter. I object to children having their minds polluted and warped by trash and sensationalism produced for profit".

Mrs. Howells introduced 'The Little Boy Laughed' to a federation conference during the week. She described the book as "a horror from beginning to end— leaving nothing to the imagination."

Some Western novels, including 'Rescue from the. Gallows,' in the 'Phantom Ranger' series, were also criticised by Mrs. Howells. Mrs. Russell Scott, a delegate from Benalla East, defended 'The Phantom' as "one of the goodies."

"There's nothing wrong with him," she said; "we're all dying to know when he's going to be married."