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REPRINTS >> FOREIGN REPRINTS >> NETHERLANDS
Dutch/American background art by Raphael DeSoto
The Spider TM & © Argosy Communications, Inc.
Netherlands

I am lucky enough to own one rare Dutch hardcover and one softcover book. Both are undated, so my thanks go out to Hillebrand Komrij, a Dutch expert on American mystery reprints (and the Raven-Reeks series in particular), for filling in the details of the Forties translations -- and then surprising me with information on two later paperbacks.

A.G. Schoonderbeek
A.G. Schoonderbeek of Laren, Netherlands, published two hardcover Spider books in March of 1942 as part of their Raven-Reeks series of imported mystery fiction (which also included works by Earle Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, and Sax Rohmer, and pulp heroes Doc Savage, The Shadow and The Black Bat). These feature two-color dust jackets using the original pulp cover art -- which is also repeated on a title page of sorts inside. The only illustration in Dreiging is one of Richard Wentworth from "The Web" column printed with a teaser following the title page; Gedachte includes two illustrations. The books are:

Een Duivelsche Gedachte (A Devil's Idea)
     hardcover reprint of "Prince of the Red Looters" August 1934
Een Gruwelijke Dreiging (An Atrocious Threat)
     hardcover reprint of "Empire of Doom" February 1934


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During WWII, publishers were forbidden to translate works of American writers, but after the war ended Schoonderbeck tried again, publishing three small (5-1/4" x 7-1/2") De Spin books in 1946. Two of these are softcover (thin paper with a flap folded over for stiffness) and one is hardcover with a dustjacket. All three include 4-5 of the original pulp illustrations by J. Fleming Gould.

De Grot Der Verschrikkingen (The Cave of Horrors)
     softcover reprint of "Satan's Death Blast" June 1934
De Geheimzinnige Schaduwen (The Mysterious Shadow)
     softcover reprint of "City of Flaming Shadows" January 1934
De Man Van Singapore (The Man From Singapore)
     hardcover reprint of "Scourge of the Yellow Fangs" April 1937


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N.V. Internationale Romanuitgaven
Sometime in the late Fifties or early Sixties, N.V. Internationale Romanuitgaven, Groningen-Amsterdam, published two curious Spider paperbacks. These are not reprints of the Schoonderbeek translations, nor are they based on any of the American paperback series. In fact, these are translations (by Henri Sonda) of two lesser Wayne Rogers stories and nothing about these covers scream "pulp" or "hero." Take a look.

De Gemaskerde Krankzinnige (The Masked Lunatic)
     paperback reprint of "The City of Lost Men" February 1938
Doretta Overtroeft De Gangsters (Doretta Outdoes the Gangsters)
     paperback reprint of "When Thousands Slept In Hell" May 1938


Paperback 1

Paperback 2