How many Canadian authors were published by the Canadian mass market paperback publishers of the 40s and 50s? Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd's White Circle imprint published 143 authors, 16 of whom were Canadian. No doubts here - all Canadians living in Canada writing about Canadian subjects. Number of titles was 23, of a total 429. Nine were paperback originals. Here is the list:
Aitken, Kate
Allen, Ralph (ed.)
Birney, Earle
Campbell, Grace
Carter, Dyson
Conner, Ralph
Denison, Merrill
Edgar, Keith
Garner, Hugh
Montrose, David (Graham, Charles Ross)
Hughes, Isabelle
Kelley, Thomas J.
Leacock, Stephen
MacLennan, Hugh
Niven, Frederick
Robins, John D.
Here is an author who has not yet been seen in this blog - Earle Birney (1904-1995). His WC book, Turvey (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1949), won the fourth Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 1950. Below is the WC edition plus the New Canadian Library edition. The NCL imprint from McClelland & Stewart publishes only Canadian authors.
White Circle 534 - 1952
White Circle 534 back
New Canadian Library 34 - 1963
New Canadian Library 34 back
Sixteen seems such a small number, and yet I'm almost surprised it is so high. I once owned the NCL Turvey. Why did I ever let it go? It is, I think, my very favourite cover in the series. Being a young pup - well, younger than NCL - at first I wondered about the caricature. Too old for Private Thomas Leadbeater Turvey... then I realized it was the clean-shaven author. Like Robertson Davies, it was hard not to think of Birney as a bearded man.
ReplyDeleteThanks for clearing up the mystery of who is on the front cover.
ReplyDeleteThe NCL cover is very nice - the sort that makes you want to keep looking. That's not the case for a later NCL edition.
I realized - years later - that the original NCL series covers invariably feature an image of the author. As far as I know, Turvey is the only one to also have an illustration that actually reflects the work. Why, I do not know.
ReplyDelete