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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 9, Winter 1945-1946

Page 203

FANTASY COMMENTATOR     203
Paper-back Fantasy in England, 1941-45
by
R. George Medhurst
One result of the war-time paper shortage, in Britain, has been a springing-up of cheap paper-covered fantasy booklets. Doubtless this seems paradoxical: the explanation seems to be that while the better-known publishers receive a ration of paper which is but a small fraction of their pre-war comsumption, there have appeared on the scene a considerable number of new publishers, each of which finds itself in possession of a quantity of paper, often of very poor quality, which needs to be used up in the most profitable way. So we have had this flood of booklets, priced usually at about a shilling, often not dated, and frequently printed on three or four different colors of paper---pink, green, yellow, and in one case very nearly black---according to what happened to be handy when the edition was run off.
I have gathered up copies of most of these very ephemeral publications. One or two, which are but lamely classified as fantasy, I haven't taken the trouble to buy. Some I may have missed---for the distribution is very irregular indeed. Quite a few, perhaps the majority, I have not read, so that descriptions of them which follow will often be confined to external points of interest rather than to literary value---which latter is for the most part negligible. Further, I have not attempted to deal in this article with the "Penguin", or the "Penguin"-type booklets, such as those bearing "Bay Tree", "Cherry Tree", "Soverign Thrillers", "Hutchinson's" or "Big Ben" imprints. These are for the most part not new titles, but mostly reprints of more expensive cloth-bound volumes.
A  few of these fantasies are concerned with the war and its future consequences, though not as many as one might expect. I, James Blunt by H. V . Morton (London: Methuen, 1942; 56pp; 19 x 12-1/2 cm; 6d.) is a diary of an Englishman, written in 1944 in a German-occupied Britain, and is intended as a Warning to the Complacent. It is ably written, and is quite well printed on excellent paper, being one of the best produced of all the war-time booklets. The 1946 Ms. by Robin Maugham (London: The War Facts Press, 1943; 44pp; 18-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm;1/-) is an account of a dictatorship set up in England by the general who defeated Germany. This also appears to be intended as a political warning. The Return of Karl Marx by Grey Lynn (London: Chancery Books, 1941; 117pp; 20-1/2 x 13cm; 1/6) descrribes a visit of the founder of international communism to London of 1941, and his experiences among the left-wing political parties there; eventually he is expelled from the communist party for left-deviation! The tale has a foreward by Herbert Head.
The remainder that we have to deal with are largely what it is fashionable to label "escapist." Outstandingly so are the publications of Mssrs. Lloyd Cole. Established initially in Worthing, they put out two juveniles: The Radium King by Edmund Burton (no date; 66pp; 21 x 13-1/2cm; 3/6) described as "a story of science gone mad," and In Quest of the Golden Orchid by the same author (no date; 80pp; 21-1/2 x 14cm; 4/-). The prices seem excessive. Transferred to London, the firm made some sort of tie-up with Benson Herbert, issuing three of his science-fiction stories and a fourth which he co-authored with Festus Pragnell. These are: Strange Romance (no date; 95pp; 13-1/2 x 11-1/2cm; 1/6), an interplanetary tale of somewhat lurid nature described as "Fantastic Fiction Series No. 2" (the first is presumably Thieves of the Air, which did not appear until subsequently); Hand of Glory (no date; 31pp; 16 x 10-1/2cm; 8d.), an invisible airplane story; and The Red Haired Girl (no date; 36pp; 13 x 12cm; 9d.), another lurid interplanetary. The volume co-authored by Herbert and Pragnell is Thieves of the Air (no date; 27pp; 9d.), yet another tale on the same theme, this time concerning invaders from the planet Mars.

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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 203 Paper-back Fantasy in England, 1941-45 by R. George Medhurst One result of the war-time paper shortage, in Britain, has been a springing-up of cheap paper-covered fantasy booklets. Doubtless this seems paradoxical: the explanation seems to be that while the better-known publishers receive a ration of paper which is but a small fraction of their pre-war comsumption, there have appeared on the scene a considerable number of new publishers, each of which finds itself in possession of a quantity of paper, often of very poor quality, which needs to be used up in the most profitable way. So we have had this flood of booklets, priced usually at about a shilling, often not dated, and frequently printed on three or four different colors of paper---pink, green, yellow, and in one case very nearly black---according to what happened to be handy when the edition was run off. I have gathered up copies of most of these very ephemeral publications. One or two, which are but lamely classified as fantasy, I haven't taken the trouble to buy. Some I may have missed---for the distribution is very irregular indeed. Quite a few, perhaps the majority, I have not read, so that descriptions of them which follow will often be confined to external points of interest rather than to literary value---which latter is for the most part negligible. Further, I have not attempted to deal in this article with the "Penguin", or the "Penguin"-type booklets, such as those bearing "Bay Tree", "Cherry Tree", "Soverign Thrillers", "Hutchinson's" or "Big Ben" imprints. These are for the most part not new titles, but mostly reprints of more expensive cloth-bound volumes. A few of these fantasies are concerned with the war and its future consequences, though not as many as one might expect. I, James Blunt by H. V . Morton (London: Methuen, 1942; 56pp; 19 x 12-1/2 cm; 6d.) is a diary of an Englishman, written in 1944 in a German-occupied Britain, and is intended as a Warning to the Complacent. It is ably written, and is quite well printed on excellent paper, being one of the best produced of all the war-time booklets. The 1946 Ms. by Robin Maugham (London: The War Facts Press, 1943; 44pp; 18-1/2 x 12-1/2 cm;1/-) is an account of a dictatorship set up in England by the general who defeated Germany. This also appears to be intended as a political warning. The Return of Karl Marx by Grey Lynn (London: Chancery Books, 1941; 117pp; 20-1/2 x 13cm; 1/6) descrribes a visit of the founder of international communism to London of 1941, and his experiences among the left-wing political parties there; eventually he is expelled from the communist party for left-deviation! The tale has a foreward by Herbert Head. The remainder that we have to deal with are largely what it is fashionable to label "escapist." Outstandingly so are the publications of Mssrs. Lloyd Cole. Established initially in Worthing, they put out two juveniles: The Radium King by Edmund Burton (no date; 66pp; 21 x 13-1/2cm; 3/6) described as "a story of science gone mad," and In Quest of the Golden Orchid by the same author (no date; 80pp; 21-1/2 x 14cm; 4/-). The prices seem excessive. Transferred to London, the firm made some sort of tie-up with Benson Herbert, issuing three of his science-fiction stories and a fourth which he co-authored with Festus Pragnell. These are: Strange Romance (no date; 95pp; 13-1/2 x 11-1/2cm; 1/6), an interplanetary tale of somewhat lurid nature described as "Fantastic Fiction Series No. 2" (the first is presumably Thieves of the Air, which did not appear until subsequently); Hand of Glory (no date; 31pp; 16 x 10-1/2cm; 8d.), an invisible airplane story; and The Red Haired Girl (no date; 36pp; 13 x 12cm; 9d.), another lurid interplanetary. The volume co-authored by Herbert and Pragnell is Thieves of the Air (no date; 27pp; 9d.), yet another tale on the same theme, this time concerning invaders from the planet Mars.