Jacobs, T C H (Jacques Pendower) — Sweet Poison

Kent, Manuscript, 1966. typescript. Loose_leaf. Quarto paper loose leaf 208pp typewritten book manuscript with editor's hand-written amendments. No date but assume early 1966. In original brown envelope returned from Hutchinson & Co 1/7/55. T.C.H. (Thomas Curtis Hicks) Jacobs was a prolific pulp fiction author of Westerns, romances, true crime stories, and spy and detective fiction. Born in Plymouth, 30th December 1899, educated at a local Plymouth grammar school, he wrote his first published work for the Western Weekly News at 16. He served in the British Army Infantry from 1917 to 1921 and in 1918 was wounded in action and taken prisoner of war. He escaped and was demobilized in 1921 as a second lieutenant. After the war, Jacobs joined the English civil service as a revenue investigating officer. In 1925, he married Muriel Newbury. In 1928, he sold his first novel as a serial published by A. J. Rhodes. During his 23 years with the Inland Revenue, Jacobs wrote at night. From 1950 to 1976, he wrote full time. He began by writing many short stories for boys' magazines, but later branched into non-fiction writing with a trilogy on the study of murder. In 1939, he attained the distinction of being the first English civil servant to have a film made from one of his novels, Traitor Spy. For much of his life, Jacobs made his home in Bexley, Kent. He died in London in 1976; his obituary was listed under the pseudonym Jacques Pendower. Immediate despatch from the UK. G-.