[GAMBLING -- GAMES & GRIFTING].
Blue book number 430.
K.C. Card Co., 1217 W. Washington Blvd., [1943]., Chicago, IL:: 1943
8vo. 47, [1] pp. Cyano tinted illustrations & printing throughout. Self-printed colour-decorated softcovers in blue, blue & white lettering, together w/ 4 pp. War prices price list, and order blank & envelope (minor age toning as usual w/wartime paper, edgewear), still VG copy. First edition of this surprisingly scarce catalogue of dice for sale, crooked dice, spotting drills for spotting crooked dice, dice blanks to create your own dice, as well as Ball Corner Dice, Chinese Style Chuck Luck Dice, decks of marked cards, luminous readers to be able to spot the marked cards with specially supplied glasses and visor, look-out two-way security glass to be installed in the door, or wall of the purchaser's illegal poker and gambling parlour along with magic items, billiard balls, and magic coin box. In the spirit of the grifters as depicted in Robert Redford & Paul Newman's movie "The Sting," K.C. Card Co. initially out of Kansas City joined together with Mason & Co. of Newark, NJ in 1935 forming one of the largest crooked card gambling equipment supply operations in the United States, which firm along with selling con supplies, also offered cocktail, horse racing, and gambling guide books. No copies in Worldcat.
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The return of Conan: based upon and continuing the Conan stories by. . . .
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Blue book number 436.
[GAMBLING -- GAMES & GRIFTING]. 8vo. 68 pp. Cyano tinted illustrations & printing throughout. Blue printed softcovers, game chip logo front cover, blue & white lettering (slight age toning, very slight shelfwear), still NF copy, w/ original order form laid-in. First edition, thus, of this uncommon catalogue of dice for sale, crooked dice, spotting drills for spotting crooked dice, micrometers for measurement, dice blanks to create your own dice, as well as Ball Corner Dice, Chinese Style Chuck Luck Dice, decks of marked cards, luminous readers to be able to spot the marked cards with specially supplied glasses and visor, look-out two-way security glass to be installed in the door, or wall of the purchaser's illegal poker and gambling parlour along with magic items, billiard balls, and magic coin box. This catalogue updates slightly the previous post-World War II catalogue, and reverts back to the layout and sizes of those issued in the Great Depression, including specialized cardsharp arm pressure holdout for cheating at cards, made of aluminum and costing $ 60.00 (about $1000 today), ring concealers, bill shiners, match box shiners, along with Keno outfits, second dealing boxes, automatic bingo cages, and more. In the spirit of the grifters as depicted in Robert Redford & Paul Newman's movie "The Sting," K.C. Card Co. initially out of Kansas City joined together with Mason & Co. of Newark, NJ in 1935 forming one of the largest crooked card gambling equipment supply operations in the United States, which firm along with selling con supplies, also offered cocktail, horse racing, and gambling guide books. Although undated, the firm had moved from Washington to Wabash at the end of World War II, and includes a listing for "Common Sense at the Races" issued in 1946. No copies in Worldcat.- $250
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Venus equilateral. Illustrations by Sol Levin. Introduction by John W. Campbell, Jr.
SMITH, George O. 8vo. 455, [1] pp. Frntsp., plates. Red cloth, black lettering (some rubbing & edgewear, upper right corner bumped, both covers & textblock), w/both d.j.'s 1st with 2nd printing variant cover art by L. Robert Tschirky (old creasing, mis-folding some edgewear), and 2nd the usual in blue, white & red (edgewear, minor tidemark, spine renewed in facsimile manuscript), still VG/Fair copy, inscribed by the author on ffep. and dated 1948 at the "Torcon" 6th World Science Fiction Convention, the first held outside of the United States. First edition, inscribed, of the author's first book about his hero Don Channing attempting to establish interplanetary communication networks. Scarce in both original dustjackets of the first edition and first two printings, the first bearing the price of $ 3.00 imprinted, and the Tschirky cover art.- $150
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Branch office, Portland Taxicab Co. For safety, for courtesy, for service, always use a black and white day and night. For your protection always take a receipt. The meter issues one. . . [Day-glo advertising sign].
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The brass ring.
PADGETT, Lewis. [pseud. of KUTTNER, Henry & MOORE, Catherine Lucille]. 8vo. 217, [1] pp. Light gray-blue publisher's cloth (uniform light interior toning from Wartime paper, slight offsetting on covers from sunning through d.j. cover art), w/ d.j. (couple minor closed tears, light creasing, edgewear), still VG/VG copy. First edition of this duo's first work under their pseudonym, a hard-boiled Seth Colman psychological mystery/thriller set on the Hudson River.- $150
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Space platform: To the Stars series Book I; Space tug: To the Stars series Book 2. . . .
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Song of Kali.
SIMMONS, Dan. 8vo. 311, [1] pp., including ad on last page. Red boards, gilt lettering (uniform very light interior toning), w/ d.j. cover art by Dewey Franklin, NF/NF copy, signed by author on title. First British edition, signed, of this early horror/fantasy suspense by Simmons, and winner of the 1986 World Fantasy Award.- $125
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