Tully, Jim – The Bruiser

Description

Tully, Jim ‘The Bruiser’ 1943 The World Publishing Company. Tower Book Edition. First printing March 1943. Good in good mylar protected dust jacket. 248-page boxing novel.

The 1943 edition of The Bruiser by Jim Tully, published by The World Publishing Company under their Tower Books imprint, represents a notable wartime reissue of Tully’s seminal 1936 boxing novel. Stating “First Printing, March 1943” on the copyright page indicates that this copy is the true first printing of this specific World/Tower edition.

Book Description:
This edition carries unique historical significance both for its literary style and its physical production era:
• The Background: Jim Tully, a former hobo, transient, and professional prizefighter, used his firsthand experience in the ring to write this gritty narrative. Dedicated to his lifelong friend Jack Dempsey, the book chronicles the journey of Shane Rory, a drifter who boxes his way out of poverty and up the ranks of the heavyweight division.
• The Literary Context: Tully is widely regarded by modern literary historians as the “father of hard-boiled fiction,” directly influencing the stripped-down, uncompromising prose styles later populated by Ernest Hemingway, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.
• Wartime Physical Format: Tower Books were produced during World War II as affordable, mass-market hardcovers. Because of wartime paper rationing and manufacturing restrictions, these 248-page books were printed on thinner, high-acid paper stock and bound with inexpensive cloth-substitute boards or thin buckram. Finding copies that have survived without crumbling or heavy browning is increasingly difficult.