Pulp Fiction — Jakubowski Hardboiled Anthology 2002

📖 Pulp Fiction edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Castle Books, 2002) — a massive hardboiled crime anthology spanning seven decades of the genre, from the 1920s to the 1990s. This edition reprints the stories from the UK’s Robinson Publishing edition (1996) under arrangement with Carroll & Graf Publishers, bringing the best of pulp crime fiction to American readers in a single volume.

QUICK FACTS

• Editor: Maxim Jakubowski, British critic and editor of numerous genre anthologies
• Publisher: Castle Books, a division of Book Sales, Inc., Edison, New Jersey
• Year: 2002 (first published in UK by Robinson Publishing, 1996; first US edition by Carroll & Graf, 1996)
• Format: Hardcover in dust jacket
• Pages: 800+ | ISBN: 0-7858-1549-X
• Condition: Near Fine / Near Fine — full report below

THE STORIES

This anthology collects over 30 hardboiled and noir stories representing the full sweep of American pulp crime writing. Featured authors include Dashiell Hammett (whose 1929 story opens the collection), Charles Williams, Paul Cain, John D. MacDonald, W.T. Ballard, James M. Cain, Gil Brewer, Robert Leslie Bellem, Jim Thompson, Day Keene, William P. McGivern, Mickey Spillane, Roger Torrey, William Rough, Lawrence Block, David Goodis, Max Allan Collins, Charles Willeford, Ross Macdonald, Fredric Brown, Howard Browne, Bruno Fischer, Robert Bloch, Frank R. Read, William F. Nolan, Bill Pronzini, John Lutz, B. Traven, Dan Gordon, Joe Gores, William Campbell Gault, Samuel G. Edsall, Donald E. Westlake, and Harlan Ellison.

The stories range from Hammett’s 1929 “The Diamond Wager” through Westlake’s 1977 “Ordo,” covering the golden age of pulp magazines through the modern era of crime fiction. The collection includes private eye stories, hardboiled noir, crime capers, and darkly comic crime fiction.

THIS EDITION

Originally published in the UK as The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction by Robinson Publishing in 1996, this Castle Books edition was published by arrangement with Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. of New York. The binding is a sturdy hardcover with the characteristic yellow spine and red back cover of the Castle Books design. The dust jacket features classic pulp-style artwork from the Robert Lesser Collection, with illustrations by R de Soto depicting a dramatic gunpoint scene on the front and the same blonde figure in a circular frame on the back. The jacket flap copy describes it as a “MASSIVE collection of seven decades’ worth of pure and unadulterated stories.”

COVER ART

The dust jacket features a striking pulp-style illustration: a blonde woman in a telephone booth being held at gunpoint by a man in a fedora, rendered in the bold, lurid style of 1940s-50s pulp magazine covers. The artwork is sourced from the Robert Lesser Collection and signed by artist R de Soto. The front cover lists key authors in colored text below the illustration, with the title rendered in a stylized red-and-yellow font evoking classic pulp magazine mastheads. The bright yellow spine features the title in the same stylized font, a circular portrait of the woman, and the Castle Books imprint in red. The back cover is solid red with the circular portrait and the tagline: “Just watch out for open windows and flying bullets!”

WHY IT MATTERS

• One of the most comprehensive single-volume hardboiled crime anthologies available, spanning 70 years of the genre from Hammett through Westlake
• Features multiple stories by authors who defined hardboiled fiction: Hammett, Thompson, Spillane, MacDonald, Block, Goodis, and Brown
• Includes rare and lesser-known stories alongside famous works — a survey of the genre rather than a “greatest hits” compilation
• Maxim Jakubowski’s introduction provides critical context on the hardboiled tradition and the selection process

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? This is the 2002 Castle Books edition of what was originally published in the UK as The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction (Robinson Publishing, 1996), published in the US by arrangement with Carroll & Graf Publishers.

What condition is it in? Near Fine / Near Fine — full report below.

Is this the Quentin Tarantino movie? No. This is a literary anthology of hardboiled crime fiction stories edited by Maxim Jakubowski. The book predates and is unrelated to the 1994 film.

FOR COLLECTORS

This Castle Books edition is the most accessible US hardcover printing of Jakubowski’s influential anthology. The dust jacket art by R de Soto, sourced from the Robert Lesser Collection, is itself a collectible piece of pulp illustration. For fans of hardboiled crime fiction, this volume serves as both a comprehensive reader and a reference work on the genre’s major authors and themes.

Condition Report

Overall Grade: Book: Near Fine (NF)/Jacket: Near Fine (NF)

Cover & Spine: Crispy all around, appears likely to be an unread copy.

Dust Jacket: Clean, glossy finish with sharp edges.

Text Block & Pages: Bright, clean off-white pages.

Binding: Square, tight, solid hinges. No marks.

See accompanying images for full condition details.

Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

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