Collectors of Penny Bloods, often being an impecunious and resourceful lot, would take it upon themselves to bind these into convenient volumes or rebind volumes that had fallen apart. Here is John P. Quaine, the Melbourne Bloods collector and bookseller, mentioning some examples he had bound himself in letters to Stanley Larnach:
"I have another fierce item – Dashing Duval
the Ladies Highwayman, last reissue approx 1895, full of illus, some very
sensational. 150 pages, wrapper, perfect
copy, but towards the end evidence of dirty-fingered printers. My own cloth binding. There is an awful semi human creature in it
called Vaughan
"Susan Hoply; or, the Trials and
vicissitudes of a Servant Girl. A Tale
of Deep Interest. By the author of
Kathleen, Hebrew maiden, etc. 56 Nos, each illus in the usual bloodcut style,
lacking three leaves, fierce front of a midnight murder, cloth binding
(by myself) £2."
"I think the same chap will sell me back Mabel, or, The ghouls of the Battlefield and The love Child, by the author
of ‘Varney’ both Lloyds. Can’t tell how
much till I make the purchase. “Mabel”
is in 2 small vols (again my binding) and one vol I think I described once to
you as being badly cracking in places.
This I patched with transparent paper as well as I could, but it still
needs careful handling."
"Remember I told you how I had made an off
to a chap early last year for The Old House at West St
Some years ago I bought a bunch of Penny Dreadfuls from a dealer based in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. I can't recall his name, but he was a trusting old time dealer who sought payment when the requested books were received, sometimes even asking me to make an offer when I received them. The books came from a Dreadfuls collector who had passed on, and who had bound up some of them himself. Here's a fine example:
Here's another, acquired from the Internet, the margin of the first page taped, with the collector's notes on the front pastedown:
One of the annotations implores future owners, "Do NOT ERASE NOTES." Poorly bound, taped, annotated, incomplete, this one of my favourite books.
Here is a fierce cut from a Christmas number of Young Men of Great Britain. The bloodcurdling caption reads: "The door flew open and disclosed a ghastly skeleton."
Here is a fierce cut from a Christmas number of Young Men of Great Britain. The bloodcurdling caption reads: "The door flew open and disclosed a ghastly skeleton."
"I can't recall his name, but he was a trusting old time dealer who sought payment when the requested books were received, sometimes even asking me to make an offer when I received them. "
ReplyDeleteAh, those were the days! What I wouldn't give to meet another bookman like that in this day of digital dealing.