Criminologie

1934 · 60209 — London: Longmans Green and Co. 1934-1936. Two vols. 8vo. xv 1 303 1; vii 1 305 1 pp. Uniformly bound in red publisher’s cloth black lettering on spine vol. I w/ revolver illust. on spine both vols. slightly cocked minor shelfwear slight bumping to corners vol. II w/ faint tidemark w/ d.j.’s. hard-boiled cover art of white on black of gangster on front of vol. I and 2nd story burglar on 2nd minor chipping heads of spines edgewear creasing price crossed out on vol. II replaced w/ 7/6 in pencil on front flap still VG-/VG- set. Novographic reprint “Cheap†editions of this ostensible autobiographical memoir regaling the British readers with Guest’s 1901-1975 life of crime from early theft and burglary rings along with confidence scams in the UK to rum-running bootlegging and eventual incarceration in San Quentin Prison in California. While violent mob violence as experienced by Chicago New York and environs during Prohibition was largely nonexistent in Great Britain the British newspapers awed readers with never-ending tales of American armed robberies and Guest under his Spenser pseudonym stepped into advise the British public an invasion of American gangsters was imminent with peaceful Britain open for the pickings. He also published an account of being held as a German POW during World War I under “An aukward marine.†All early printings are scarce and dustjackets even more so. Longmans, Green and Co., hardcover