I'm trying to recreate the look of a cheap pulp book from the 1950s, complete with letters that are damaged or badly set.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a font that a) looks right and b) preferably has glyphs that will add that kind of variety?

Cheers,

It would be better to add a few images/examples of what you're looking for.

Look at here : http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=113&fpp=50&af=on