Breakdown and Other Thrillers

Notes

10 stories with introduction by Dashiell Hammett The stories are 10 of the 21 in the 1931 anthology Creeps by Night: Chills and Thrills, which were selected by Hammett from public nominations (see that parent collection). Unknown: whether the publisher cut the introduction (Hammett died in 1961)

Four Square Books, a New English Library imprint by 1968, had published in 1965 and 1966 two other books containing 10 stories of the original 21. Those two anthologies, Creeps by Night and The Red Brain, were first published in the US, by Belmont Books in 1961. (ISFDB publication records of those two are verified.) Those two selections contain 10 distinct stories each. This set of ten appears to be first published in the UK, as Four Square Horror #1784. It contains six from the former and four from the other; none of the three contains "A Woman Alone with Her Soul" (1912) by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, the oldest of the 21.

Four Square Horror WorldCat record OCLC 18887434 reports the four-word title and a list of Contents (10 story titles and authors) in the sequence below. --except that it lists "Beyond the Door" as by "Paul Suter"

That WorldCat record and others report publisher New English Library (whose imprint appears to be Four Square), and some note "1st NEL ed." or the equivalent. OCLC notes "Four Square horror. no. 1784" (from the top of the front cover if not elsewhere). {{OCLC|801088572}} reports year 1972.

Month and partial page numbers from richarddalbyslibrary.com copy; remaining page numbers from The FictionMags Index. Other prices on back cover: Australia 60¢, Belgium Fr 35, France 4.05 FF, Germany DM 2.80, Italy Lire 450, Netherlands Fl 2.45, New Zealand 45¢, Switzerland Fr 3.00.