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Founded by Les Johnson and Ted Carnell in 1937, the Science-Fiction Service was the first SF book-selling business in Britain, though the name they used for business purposes was that of Johnson's brother, as can be seen on this letterhead from 1937:
"With Les setting up an office in the centre of Liverpool it became possible to use it as a meeting place in the evenings. He then invited all local people on the S.F.Service books to attend, which included me and I did. So out of this new arising we had Les and Abe Bloom (who was something of a partner) together with Dave McIlwain and John Burke - then me - as the basis of the group. Les Heald came later and several others came in and out vaguely. LesJ worked not very far away in the Liverpool Corporation Education Office (so had Arthur Askey who had left for full-time entertaining a year or two before), Burke's father was a police Inspector, LesH was a clerk in a Civil Engineering firm. The catalogue reproduced here is from the end of that same year, by which point Les Johnson is now operating using his girl friend/fiancee's name (they married 26 Aug 39) - Hilda Margaret Crossen - a practice he would continue when he restarted the business after the war and it eventually morphed into the Milcross Book Service. The catalogue that follows is the earliest in the Vince Clarke Fanzine Collection and also the only printed one - the later ones in the collection are all mimeographed. (Disclaimer: It should of course go without saying that this catalogue is presented here purely for historical interest and that none of the items listed are available for sale any longer. It should go without saying, but there are some odd people out there.)
For those unfamiliar with it, pre-decimal UK currency is explained here
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