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

Edward Lloyd's Penny Bloods

It's sometimes said that the popularity of cheap penny literature in Victorian England was very much a London phenomenon, however is clear that Penny Bloods were popular much further afield.  For example, Edward Lloyd's Penny Bloods were advertised in the Hull Packet and East Riding Times in the 1840s.

This advertisement appeared in January 1847 and mentions James Malcolm Rymer's Ada the Betrayed and Varney the Vampire; or The Feast of Blood ("By the author of Ada the Betrayed"):

The following advertisement appared in the 21 April, 1848 issue.  It is interesting for showing the close connection at this time between Edward Loyd and George Purkess.  Although titled "Lloyd's Works" (with Lloyd's London address at the end), according to Marie Leger-St-Clair's excellent Penny Bloods database many of the titles listed in the advertsement were actually published by Purkess or by Purkess & Strange.  The Ringdove, The Pledge, Ethelinde, The Miser's Fate and The Doom of the Drinker were published by George Purkess; The Rosebud, The Corsair, A Lady in Search of a Husband, The Double Courtship, The Unhappy Bride, and The Golden Marriage were published by Purkess and Strange.  The Mysteries of the Quaker City and The Virgin Bride were published by Lloyd & Purkess, while ten of the titles were published by Edward Lloyd.  The publisher of Lucille; or The Young Indian appears to be unknown.

Stanley Larnach and J.P. Quaine: Forgotten Australian Collectors of “Penny Bloods”

Book dealers and book collectors are often the unheralded historians and bibliographers of literary genres and movements.  In science fiction, fantasy and supernatural fiction, none can doubt the importance of the work of book dealers and collectors like George Locke and Lloyd Currey in bringing to light forgotten authors and books.  Over the years Australia has produced important collectors whose bibliographies have become standard works in the field.  Most notable are Don Tuck and Graham Stone, both of whom are internationally regarded for their work.  Graham Stone is particularly important for his focus on Australian science fiction and fantasy, and his Australian Science Fiction Bibliography (2004) is a landmark volume.  In Fact, Australia has quite a long history of book dealers and collectors with an interest in fantasy and horror literature.  Michael Anglo’s Penny Dreadfuls and other Victorian Horrors (1977) mentions two Australian collectors of “penny dreadfuls,” the short gothic chapbooks that were so popular with the reading public in Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century:

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.

Stanley Lorin Larnach (1900-1978) is known for his Materials Towards a Checklist of Australian Fantasy (to 1937), a short chapbook that was published by Vol Molesworth’s Futurian Press in 1950, which was the first attempt to provide a bibliography of Australian science fiction, fantasy and supernatural fiction, and which was modeled on Everett Bleiler’s celebrated Checklist of Fantastic Literature (1948).  He was one of the small hard core members of the Sydney Book Collectors’Society, and it was there that Graham Stone met him.  According to Stone, “[Larnach] became interested in SF and first met the Sydney group in 1947 through his interest in Arkham House and writers like Lovecraft and Hodgson.  In fact, Larnach wrote an early two-part article on Lovecraft for Biblionews, the journal of Australian book collectors.

Larnach was born on l Jan 1900 in country New South Wales.  He worked on the land after he finished school and did military service during World War I, ending up in England at the end of the war.  He returned to Sydney where, according to Stone, “he made himself a practical field zoologist”, and spent three years in New Zealand where he worked as a bookseller.

He began a long career in Sydney University's Anatomy Department in 1922, at first as a freelance worker.  Eventually he became one of the world experts on human skull, specialising in the craniology the Australian Aborigine.  He was also a great collector of Australian fauna, starting with the littoral fauna of the coastal areas to rare marsupials of the outback, “searching over vast tracts of outback country, cameling over the deserts and taking part in pioneering research on the then untouched stone-age natives.”  At the time of his death on 22 August 1978, his magnum opus, Australian Aboriginal Craniology, was with the printers.  He never had a degree, but was awarded the second ever honorary M.Sc. by the University of Sydney after he retired.

Another great passion was book collecting, especially gothic novels and “penny dreadfuls”, which, given their age and ephemeral nature, are extremely rare.  For Biblionews he wrote on bibliographic subjects as diverse as the care and conservation of books, Rabelais, a bibliography of the Penny “Bloods” published by Edward Lloyd, a Jack Bradshaw checklist, and Ned Kelly, amongst others.

Graham Stone summary of Larnach’s interest in books and book collecting is worth quoting at length:

Stan was a mainstay of the Book Collectors Society of Australia, and a wide-ranging, critical collector. He loved books and delighted in exploring fine points, but he vas more concerned with the endless adventure of understanding that books are made to carry on. He knew what scholarship was all about, and many of his friends learned something of it from him. He was profoundly interested in history and all it implies and in many branches of creative writing, with something to contribute to any discussion. He enjoyed writers as diverse as Rabelais and Robert E. Howard, was an early follower of Mad, and a connoisseur of the limerick. Truly we will miss him.

Interestingly, the State Library of Victoria holds Larnach’s papers.  The summary catalogue entry describes the collection as follows:

Scrapbook of “bloods”, 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 [sic]) to Stanley Larnach, Walter W. Stone and J.K. Moir; two photographs of J.P. Quaine; original artwork by the English book collector Henry Steele, a photograph of him and two letters from him to Stanley Larnach.

Clearly, there as much of interest here for the student of “penny dreadfuls” and of early Australian bookselling.

Stanley Larnach’s writings are virtually the only record we have of the early Melbourne book seller John P. Quaine (1883-1957), from whom Larnach acquired most of his collection of penny dreadfuls. 

What follows are two articles Larnach wrote for Biblionews about Quaine.  They make fascinating reading, and the second article, a review of Montague Summers’ A Gothic Bibliography (1941), is obviously the source of the story from Anglo’s Penny Dreadfuls and other Victorian Horrors quoted above.

Veteran Melbourne Bookseller – The Late J.P. Quaine (Biblionews, Vol. 10, no. 9, September 1957).

A clipping from a Melbourne newspaper brought me the sad news that Mr J.P. Quaine has died.  He was described in the clipping as “the last of the antiquarian booksellers” and was certainly one of the most knowledgeable booksellers in Australia.  His knowledge of nineteenth century books and periodicals was amazing, and his memory rarely required confirmation from references.  Whether the subject was “bloods” or “penny dreadfuls,” bushrangers and Australian crimes or the songs the diggers sang on the goldfields, he was an inexhaustible mine of information.  His knowledge of books was not confined to the sort of information given him in the bibliographies and booksellers’ catalogues, for he was much more interested in the contents of the books themselves.

The newspaper clipping says that Mr Quaine died at the age of 70.  In a letter to me dated early 1953 he wrote that he had attained his 70^th birthday, and in conversation he told me that he was born in 1883.  His age was thus 74.

He was born in Bendigo during the first week of January 1883.  In an article published about 7 years ago called “My Bookhunting in Bendigo Sixty Years Ago” he describes his boyhood.  “My natal place” he wrote, “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 a focal point, so to speak, for a peculiar mingling of odours.  The creek itself, until about 50 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 the mud all helped to create an odiferousness without parallel.”

This brief quotation gives some indication of his style.  In his writings and conversation he was forthright and unambiguous, and running through both was that strong sense of humour so characteristic of his personality.

In conversation Mr Qauine has often told me of the happy years he spent in Bendigo.  In the article just quoted he wrote: “The happiest hours of my boyhood were those spent amongst books.  I was surrounded by them from my 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 article then describes his book-hunting adventures.  Books were bought from bookshops, from second-hand shops selling miscellaneous goods, or retrieved from rubbish dumps deposited in old deserted claims, in one of the many gullies, and along the Bendigo Creek.  “I prospected these tips for old books,” he wrote, “and often dug out some tattered oddment which seemed to my simple soul to be a treasure.”  It was in those days he laid the foundations of his collection of “bloods”, which later grew to be one of the best in the world.  It was then too, that he developed those tastes which led him to enter the second-hand book trade.

Before this happened he had moved to Melbourne, married, and earned his living as a wood-working machinist.  But his book-hunting and reading were not abandoned.  The field was wider and more profitable in Melbourne.  In 1916 he opened his first bookstall in the Prahan Markets and before the year ended he was in business in his bookshop in Commercial Road which he carried on for over 40 years.

His occupation now being congenial, it was not long before he commenced writing articles on the books he loved and on crimes and life last century.  These were mainly published in Melbourne newspapers, although quite a number of his articles on crime appeared in the Sydney Famous Detective Stories.  He also contributed to English amateur journals which specialized in the field of “bloods” and old boys’ books and journals.  With the advent of radio he broadcast many talks on these and other subjects.  Many of his articles and stories would repay collection and republication in book form.

Through all his bookselling and writing activities he yet found time to carry on a voluminous correspondence with many people, and was ever prepared to help with advice and information all who sought his help.  On this I can speak from personal experience.  He was always ready to share his knowledge.  I once wrote to ask him Ned Kelly could read and write.  The answer was prompt:  “Yes.  He could.  That scrap of autobiography which Turnbull built into classic English (alleging after that Kelly had literary genius) was written by Ned.  The headquarters of the Methodists in Melbourne has his signature in their records.  He was the only witness who did not sign with a mark at his mother’s wedding when she married King, her second husband.  The wedding took place at the Benalla Methodist personage.”

It is a great pity that he never wrote his memoirs, or at least a book on the old booksellers of Melbourne.  The yarns he told me were too good to be lost, but I am afraid that is what will become of them.  Some day a bibliography of his writings may be made.  I have a few of them, and have seen a few others, but there are many I have never seen.  It is a task that is difficult now.

Mr Quaine was a great help to me both in starting and building up my collection of “bloods”.  The great bulk of my collection of these items came from him.  This may help to answer, at least partly, a question which seems inevitable among bookmen.  He once wrote to me of the death of a well known Melbourne collector and commented: “He has some nice Australiana.  So there will be another ghoulish rush for the rare items.  Has it ever struck you what a hungry lot of unfeeling wolves collectors are?  Some chap dies and the first comment is “What will happen to his books?”

Mr Quaine contributed a few articles to Biblionews, the last to appear being a short story called “The Duke and the Dustman’s Daughter.”  His failing health prevented him from contributing more.

We have lost a good friend, a helpful bookseller and a fellow collector.  He leaves behind his widow, three sons and a daughter to whom we extend our deepest sympathy.

“The Skeleton Clutch; or the Goblet of Gore.”  A Consideration of Montague Summers’ “A Gothic Bibliography.”  (Biblionews, vol 5, no 2, February 1952).

Having lately acquired a copy of this Bibliography and having given it some attention, I feel that I should now give it some comment.  It is a large volume of 621 pages of text, with many plates illustrating title-pages and other points.  Although it is called a bibliography in the title it is more accurately described as a checklist.  The work is divided into two sections, the one alphabetical, the other an author list.  The period covered is much more extensive than the few years during which the Gothic Novel was fashionable.  But Michael Sadleir has pointed out in an essay on the Northanger novels: “The Gothic novel crashed and became a vulgar blood.”  The “bloods” or “penny dreadfuls” are included in this book.  The earliest entry Summers gives is dated 1728 and the latest is as recent as 1916.  The conditions of entry appear sufficiently liberal to admit of borderline cases.

The reading of this bibliography is a sheer delight.  It exposes our ignorance and restores our humility even if it sometimes strains our credulity.  It was a revelation to learn that “The Memoirs and Adventures of a Flea, in which are interspersed many humorous anecdotes,” issued in two volumes in 1785 is “really to be distinguished from the well-known erotic book “The Autobiography of a Flea” published about 1837.  And although the works of the Marquis de Sade are merely legendary in Australia, it is interesting to read the seven and a half pages devoted to his books by Summers.  Information is given about the various editions of John Cleland’s “Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure” which is more familiar to us as “The Memoirs of Fanny Hill.”  We note that “The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk” was first published in New York in 1836 and appeared later in the same year in London where it sold at half-a crown.  Nine and a half pages are absorbed by the various editions of Mary Braddon’s novels and nearly fourteen pages by the works of G.W.M. Reynolds.  Extremely popular about the middle of last century Reynolds is almost forgotten now.  Among his most popular works were “The Bronze Statue; or the Virgin’s Kiss”, and “Mary Price; or the Memoirs of a Servant Maid.”

The well-known Gothic Novelists are all here – Mrs Radcliffe, “Monk” Lewis, Maturin and so on.  But information about them is easily obtainable so we pass on to a leter period when we find that Gothic tales have ceased to be favoured in “Society” but have become more popular than ever before as they are now reaching the poor.  Before this could happen a change had to be made in publishing methods.  This took the form of publishing books in parts – and on the lowest level, in “penny parts”.  The most successful publisher of penny parts in the early period was Edward Lloyd who attained, along with Ned Kelly, the honour of having his biography included in the Dictionary of National Biography.  He published about 200 books in one or two issues of Penny numbers.  He was, however, not without rivals.  It is doubtful if any of Lloyd’s writers had a popularity exceeding that of Pierce Egan, Junior, whose books were published in penny parts by other caterers to the public taste.  Egan’s most popular books were “The London Apprentice and the Goldsmith’s Daughter of East Chepe,” “Quentin Matsys, the Blacksmith of Antwerp” and “Robin Hood and Little John.”

The most prolific and popular scribes of the Lloyd school were Rymer (or “Errym” – an anagram of Rymer) and Thomas Peckett Trest.  They turned out the blood-and-thunder penny numbers which first earned the name of “bloods” or “penny dreadfuls”.  Occasionally the author was named but usually the tale was by “the author of such-and-such or so-and-so.”  Among the books attributed to Prest by Summers are “Varney the Vampire; or the Secret of the Grey Turret.”  The British Museum Catalogue gives Varney to Rymer and some think he wrote the other one.  Whether or not Prest did write them, others of his titles seem equally bloodthirsty: “Adeline, or the Grave of the Forsaken” (described by J.P. Quaine as “issued in 52 most fearsomely illustrated numbers”); “The She Tiger, or the Female Fiend”; “The Maniac Father; or the Victim of Seduction”; “Pedlar’s Acre; or the Murderess of Seven Husbands.”  Something like a hundred books are attributed to him.  While recognizing that Prest had an enormous output, one feels that Summers has leaned over backwards in listing titles under his authorship.  For example he lists the two following: “The Skeleton Clutch; or the Goblet of Gore”, a Romance of T. Prest.  (E. Lloyd, 1842); and “Sawney Bean, the Man-eater of Midlothian,” by T. P. Prest, in penny numbers (E. Lloyd, 1851).  Both are quite good titles invented years ago by Mr J.P. Quaine as a joke.  It is amusing to think that Summers accepted as genuine for over twenty years two fictitious titles of non-existent books.  They must have seemed of the utmost rarity.  This raises an irritating doubt.  Did Summers actually see “The Memoirs of an Hermaphrodite,” by Pierre Henri de Vergy, London, 1772?

I have a practically perfect copy of “The Blue Dwarf” in 36 penny numbers with all the 18 folding plates (16 of them coloured), published by Hogarth House and written by Percy B. St John.  Summers wrongly dates it at about 1870.  It is advertised as “coming out” in penny numbers in some Hogarth House “Jack Harkaway” stories.  This and other points would tend to place it about 1878.  Summers also lists an earlier “Blue Dwarf” (of which I have never heard) issued in 60 numbers by E. Harrison in 1861.  He said this was the “original Gentleman George version,” whatever that may mean.  Similarly I have the Hogarth House “Black-eyed Susan, or Pirates Ashore” by George Emmett which was issued in 12 numbers.  Summers lists an earlier “Black-eyed Susan, or the Sailor’s Bride” issued by Lloyd in 50 numbers in 1845.

In the early thirties Mr J.P. Quaine, a Melbourne Bookseller, who wrote an interesting number for Biblionews (“Brothers of the Blood”, 1951), issued a catalogue of great import for collectors of “bloods”.  On checking it against this Bibliography I find some startling omissions.  It seems a pity that Summers, or his assistants, missed the following:

1.  The Wild Witch of the Heath; of the Demon of the Glen, (Lloyd 1841)

2.  The Secret Cave; or the Blood Stained Dagger, 1812.

3.  Melina, The Murderess; or the Crime at the Old Milestone.

4.  The Wife’s Tragedy; or the Secret of the London Sewers; 104 parts, 1850.

5.  The Cannibal Courtesan, 1866.

6.  The Parricide Priest; or the Murder in the Monastery, 1842.

7.  Mabel, the Marble Hearted; or the Outcast’s Revenge.

8.  Mabel; or the Ghouls of the Battlefield (E. Lloyd) 55 parts, 1846.

9.  The Lady in Black; or the Wanderer of the Tombs (Prest), 1844.

10.  The Dance of Death, or the Hangman’s Sweetheart, 1874.

11.  Jessie the Morgue-Keeper’s Daughter, 1845.

12.  Mysteries of a Dissecting Room, 1846.

13.  Mysteries of Bedlam; or the Annals of a Madhouse.

14.  The Young Apprentice; or the Watchwords of Old London (Brett).

15.  The Outlaws of Epping Forest (Hogarth House).

Although there are omissions many of the penny dreadful school stories are included.  There are Australian references too in “Jack Harkaway in Australia,” “Ned Nimble amongst the Bushrangers,” and “Blue-Cap The Bushranger.”  Omissions and mistakes are likely to occur in pioneer works especially where the field is as large as this.  It would have been almost impossible for Montague Summers to have seen every item listed in his “Gothic Bibliography.”  It is a worthy effort and the most useful, even if the only, checklist in this field.  It should however be used with caution.

***

Stan Larnach, as well as being a “Brother of the Book” is a true “Brother of the Blood” and is at present busily amassing a collection of “penny dreadfuls” complete with plates.  It’s no use anyone going up to him and asking: “Why do your shelves drip wi’ bluid, Stanley?” unless they are prepared to answer truthfully whether they know where some of these books may be found.  He’s in the market for such items and his address is, Meymott Flats, Meymott Street, Randwick, N.S.W.