Cards, Women and Wine

[c.1920?]

Pulp Fiction (Special Collections) PR 9610 N37 C37

London: Anglo-Eastern Pub. Co.

The 19th century French novelist Charles Paul de Kock (1791-1871) wrote about 100 titles, many of them depicting urban life in Paris. Once extremely popular, they soon lost favour with readers. Indeed, by 1905 they were described as ‘rather vulgar, but not immoral, demanding no literary training and gratifying no delicate taste’ (New International Encyclopedia). Bree Narran, the pseudonym of the Australian politician William Nicholas Willis, translated de Kock’s work under the imprint of his own London-based Anglo-Eastern Publishing Company. He too wrote ‘racy’ romances, many of them selling well during the years 1910 and 1923. This title and other de Kock ‘pulps’ were donated to Special Collections in 2012.