Fred Vermorel’s Dead Fashion Girl is less a conventional true-crime book than a séance for a lost London. For anyone drawn to the faded glamour and grubby underbelly of post-war Britain, it’s an intoxicating read. Vermorel, a Situationist-influenced writer, deploys Townsend’s death as an excuse to probe the 1950s. What emerges is a portrait of a London both glamorous and vicious: a cesspit of vice and violence populated by the criminalised demimonde, bombsites and flick knives. The prose evokes a world of libidinous parties, frauds, nude models, pseudo-actresses, marriages of convenience—in a wonderful web transgression.
A crime and a six-decade cover-up: the death of a fashion designer in the cesspit of vice and violence that was 1950s London.
In 1954, Jean Mary Townsend was strangled with her own scarf and stripped of her underwear but not sexually assaulted. The subsequent police investigation was bungled, leading to a six-decade cover-up, ensuring that this twenty-one-year-old fashion designer was effectively killed twice: first bodily, and then as her significance and her memory were erased. Fred Vermorel's forensic, troubling (and trouble-making) investigation digs deep into Jean Townsend's life and times, and her transgressive bohemian milieu. It disentangles the lies…
Alexandre Dupouy’s City of Pleasure is an uncensored photographic plunge into the erotic life of Paris between the Wars. Dupouy, a bookseller and collector, pulls back the bedcovers on a Paris that rejected post-war austerity for extravagance, partying, and erotic experimentation. The book reveals the delights of its fetish scene, licensed brothels, gay nightclubs, the first sex shop chains, erotic photography, and pornography. It is a titillating and fascinating look at the sexual excesses of what was arguably the world’s most decadent city. For anyone drawn to the faded glamour and hidden vices of interwar Paris, this is an intoxicating visual record.
From the artists’ balls of Montparnasse to the cabarets, brothels and discreet bookshops of the French capital, City of Pleasure: Paris Between the Wars explores a city intoxicated by its own decadence. Historian Alexandre Dupouy brings its erotic culture into focus through photographs, illustrations and a wealth of period ephemera.
Step inside the extravagant world of the Folies-Bergère, discover the fetish fashions of rival lingerie houses Yva Richard and Diana Slip, and meet the photographers who recorded the era’s private pleasures. Alongside cabaret performers and costumed revellers are intimate amateur snapshots and the…
Daniel Farson’s Never a Normal Man is a picaresque, candid, and richly anecdotal autobiography of one of the great Soho characters of the 1950s and 1960s. The book’s underbelly is the nether world of Soho, full of misfits and slippery characters, where Farson found a spiritual home with friends such as Francis Bacon, Caitlin Thomas, and John Deakin. A classic chronicle of post-war bohemian life, and a fitting memorial to a man who chose to fail rather than be caught in a rut.
The son of an English mother and an American father, the foreign correspondent, big game hunter and alcoholic Negley Farson, Daniel Farson became the youngest-ever Parliamentary and Lobby correspondent at the age of 17, just after the war. At Cambridge his student magazine helped launch Ken Tynan. His first job was as a staff photographer for "Picture Post". Discovering homosexuality, he grew up again in Soho, joined the Merchant Navy and then ITV at the beginning of its career. He moved to Limehouse, developed "The Waterman's Arms" as a pub on the Isle of Dogs, wrote books on Jack the…
I didn’t write it but was proud to publish it—A classic collection of pin-up art by Arthur Ferrier, one of Britain's most prolific and cherished illustrators
For nearly forty years, Arthur Ferrier defined the golden age of British pin-up art through his masterful ink work and elegant portrayal of the fashionable female form. His distinctive style graced comic strips, cartoons, and advertising campaigns, making him one of the most celebrated illustrators of his era.
This deluxe three-volume set features hundreds of cartoons, alongside rare original artwork, vintage magazine covers, news clippings, and historical posters. With an introduction by renowned author and illustrator Rian Hughes, plus Ferrier's own articles on illustration techniques—invaluable resources for artists working today.
About the Artist Arthur John Ferrier (1891–1973), born in Glasgow, Scotland, began his career as an analytical chemist but quickly found his true calling in illustration. After relocating to London in 1919, Ferrier's talent was soon recognised, leading to contributions to major publications like Punch, News of the World, and Blighty. His glamour strip cartoons made him a household name, and his work continues to be admired for its humour and allure.
The box set is only available direct form the publisher, Korero Press, but the single volumes can be found on Amazon. etc.
