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Imports and Translations

Hillman-Curl cast a fairly wide net when it came to seeking sources of material. Some of this was a continuation
of their Imported Sleaze trend, some of it adjunct to their previous academic business and some of it appears to
have been stabs at breaking into the literary market.
A Penny for the Poor
(Bertolt Brecht as translated by D. I. Vesey and C.
Isherwood) A novel by certifiable pinko playwright
Bertolt Brecht. This novel is itself an adaptation of
Gay’s Threepenny Opera.

The Magnificent Montez
(Horace Wyndham) ‘From Courtesan to Covert’
says it all. Men lived for her and men died for her.
The best smut is true.
Natural History (Charles Tate Regan)
Written by the director of the British Museum, this
was the last academic work ever published by the
group. Weighing in at 896 full sized pages,
containing 16 color plates and over 1000 black and
white photographs, it was easily the most expensive
book that Hillman-Curl attempted to produce.
Sir Malcolm Campbell’s
Book of Famous Motorists
(R.S. Lyons) A 176 page history of auto racing,
covering Sir Malcolm's personal recollections of
significant auto events and personalities. Hair-
breadth escapes and tragedies in famous races
and hill-climbs, with over 40 photos, mostly of races
and racers.
Panorama (“by an Unknown Novelist”)
Francis Iles of the London Daily Telegraph deemed
this novel a masterpiece, and compared it to "The
Way of All Flesh.” And if that sounds like a snow
job, it’s only because it was. Hillman’s first import.
As was the case with most of this publisher’s first
attempts at cracking into a new genre, not a
success.
Conservative Bomb Throwing

Expanding from Godwin’s offerings, the Hillman-Curl imprint became the literary home of Conservative
thinking. Some of Alex Hillman’s most creative work was done in this genre, reflecting his obvious passion for
the evolving cause.
Scientific Method
(F.W. Westaway)
Essentially the same book
as The Joy of Ignorance,
only this time with scientific
backing. First it explains the
scientific method and then
applies it to the same
fashionable notions, not
always with the same
results as The Joy of
Ignorance.
This Labor Union Racket
(Edward Dean Sullivan) Discusses
racketeer labor leaders and gangster
thugs who are abusing power, money and
union members. "Industry anxious to go
ahead after six weary years of depression
held in leash, harassed and blackmailed
by labor union inciters of stabbings,
shootings and killings. Details brutality
and violence being employed in the
terrorizing of union membership, while
employers are so cowed that they fear to
testify."
Keedle
(William and
Deirdre
Conselman with
drawings by Fred
L. Fox)
A children’s book
explaining the
negative
implications of
Hitler and the rise
of Nazi ideology.
Truly a first.
Russia 20 Years After
(Victor Serge) A relentlessly negative—
and accurate—portrait of the worker’s
paradise. Could also be classified as
part of Hillman-Curl’s Modern History
line which branched out from this
theme.
God In A Rolls Royce:
the rise of Father Divine;
madman, menace or messiah.
(John Hoshor) An expose of the
charismatic black evangelist of the
1930's Father Divine, who proclaimed
himself the manifestation of God.
Despite its tone (the text is ‘of a time’),
it should be noted that all existing
copies of this book came from the
Commuter Library market. Hillman-Curl
knew it had an extensive Black
audience.
The Hillman-Curl Self-Investment Library

This series weirdly dovetailed out of Godwin and Hillman-Curl’s anti self-help exposes. Many of these probably
would have worked better in paperback, a format that didn’t exist at the tune. Only a few of them are labeled as
part of the Self-Investment Library series, a trademark that was added on later. Almost all of these releases
were intended for distribution to the Commuter Library market. It was the imprint’s own proprietary genre.
Diet and Die
(Carl Malmberg) Published in 1935,
this is the first of Hillman-Curl’s specific
anti self-help books. Is not so much a
defense of being fat as it is an expose
of the dangers of short cut methods.
Oddly as true today as it was the day it
was written.
Let Yourself Go
(Fred B. Barton) “A Book for Those
with the Courage to live Their Own
Lives-The Greatest Adventure on
Earth.” How to live your life free from
the fashionable notions of others. Zen
for libertarians.
Health in Youth and Age: A Guide
to Keeping Fit in Mind and Body
(L. Ernest Hawkins) If you really must
know, at 562 illustrated pages, all
you need to know.

Why Salesmen Get Fired
(H.M. Appel, Sales Manager of the
Allen-A Company) Ten common
failings lose most jobs! Plan your
work. Work your plan.

Start Your Own Business
(Harold S. Kahm) The first of the
business basics series.
The Diary of a Prudent Investor, A Program for Financial Security
(Merryle Stanley Rukeyser) The author (father of Louis Rukeyser) was the inventor of financial journalism.
This 1937 publication is actually a work book.
The Road to Happiness
(Charles Grey Shaw) Part of the author’s
comprehensive guide to being a well rounded person.

They Sold Themselves – A Practical Guide to
Personal Achievement
(Howard Stephenson and Joseph C. Keeley) More
explorations of the ‘sales is everything’ theme.

99 New Ways for Women to
Make Money at Home
(Elita Wilson) As time went on, these books became
very specific.

The Complete Fortune Teller
(Diana Hawthorne) This how-to manual is either proof
that the business theme had its bridges too far, or it’s
really part of the next series.
Proto Paperback Themes

These are themes common to modern paperbacks or coffee table books. Like the above, they dovetailed out of
the Conservative Bomb Throwing trend. Some are odd travelogues, of interest only to people of a certain right
leaning bent. Other travelogues seemed to follow. The rest are instruction manuals of the non-money making
kind.
Let’s Make Mary
(Jack Hanley) We have to start here. Alex Hillman kept Jack Hanley’s guide to
trapping and taming the fairer sex in print for 25 years. Times changed, Mary
didn’t.
Photocrimes (Mileson Horton) Like Let’s Make Mary, Hillman took this book with him to other publishing
ventures. Photocrimes was published as a hard back, a digest and a paperback throughout the years. First
printed in 1936, this book describes 26 fictional crimes, each covered in full with a sequence of captioned
photographs. The crimes range from murder to robbery to kidnapping. All the evidence you need to solve each
case is in the photographs. Although republished, it was never updated or followed up upon.