A. McArthur Alexander McArthur was a Scottish working-class writer from Glasgow who came to literary attention during the 1930s. Unlike his co-author, journalist H. Kingsley Long, McArthur was not a professional author. Contemporary accounts describe him as an unemployed laborer living in Glasgow.

McArthur prepared notes and stories based on his firsthand knowledge of life in the Gorbals district of Glasgow. These were submitted to the publisher Longmans, Green & Co., who assigned Kingsley Long to shape the material into a publishable novel. The result was No Mean City (1935), one of the best-known novels depicting Glasgow’s interwar slums and razor gangs.

No Mean City remains one of the landmark novels of twentieth-century Scottish urban literature. Although controversial for its portrayal of Glasgow’s Gorbals district, it profoundly influenced later Scottish writers and helped establish the enduring literary image of Glasgow’s working-class culture.

Books by A. McArthur & H. Kingsley Long:

1935 – No Mean City – A Story of the Glasgow Slums (with H. Kingsley Long)
Original edition published by Longmans, Green & Co.

Later editions:

Corgi paperback editions (1984 and later)
Polygon Books editions
Canongate editions
Various modern reprints and e-book editions

Collectible Books Values

1935 First Edition (Longmans, Green) in poor condition – $50–100

First edition, good condition – $150–300
First edition with original dust jacket – $400–900
Fine copy with exceptional jacket – $1,000–2,000+
Signed copy (extremely rare) – Potentially $2,500+ if authenticated
1984 Corgi paperback – $10–30
Modern reprints – $10–25