Saturday 25 October 2014

Collins White Circle Authors Part XIII - Ballard

Willis Todhunter Ballard (1903-1980) was an energetic writer for the pulps. Starting in 1942 four novels by Ballard about amateur Hollywood PI Bill Lennox were published, the first two also in editions by Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd in their White Circle reprint paperback line. He also wrote under pseudonyms, including P. D. Ballard used on the 1963 Fawcett PBO below.

Oddly Collins published the two out of sequence. The second novel Murder Can't Stop first and the first Say Yes to Murder (renamed Murder in Hollywood) second.
 
White Circle C.D. 496 - 1951
 
White Circle C.D. 496 back
 
White Circle C.D. 525 - 1951
 
White Circle C.D. 525 back
 
Gold Medal d1352 - 1963
 
Gold Medal d1352 back

Sunday 17 August 2014

White Circle Twins Part I

Many of the paperbacks published by Wm. Collins Sons & Co Canada in their 1940s White Circle imprint were also published in the US. One example is Edgar Lustgarten's (1907-1978) first novel One More Unfortunate. First published as A Case to Answer in the UK (London, 1947), the American edition was renamed.

The first American paperback edition is distinguished by being one of 27 books published by Bantam from 1945 to 1949 with a dust jacket. Interesting how the DJ version cover has the same scene as the White Circle edition. Both are tamer than the original Bantam cover.
 
White Circle 374 - 1948
 
White Circle 374 back

 
Bantam 360 - February 1949
 
Bantam 360 back
 
Bantam 360 Dust jacket

Sunday 10 August 2014

Canadian Collins White Circle Collecting

Long time readers of this blog know that one of the three significant early paperback publishers in Canada was Wm. Collins Sons & Co Canada Limited. They were the earliest, starting in 1942, and by any measure the best. The  imprint was White Circle Pocket Library and 459 books were published between 1942 and 1952. But, if you are a collector of these lovely early paperbacks, you'll need to find more that 459 books to complete the collection. How many? I don't know.

At least sixty-three of the books come in two or more variants. That can be another printing or different ads or different back cover or edge stain or anything else that distinguishes one version from another. The variant total is 143. The remaining 396 books exist in one version. So there are at least 539 books a collector needs to find. But I'm sure there are some variants of which I'm not aware. So if anyone would like to help make sure there is a complete count of the books let me know and I will send lists.

Meanwhile for your viewing pleasure.
 
White Circle "P" - 1942
 
White Circle 88 - 1944
 
White Circle 208 - 1944
 
White Circle 281 - 1946
 
White Circle 329 - 1947
 
White Circle CD 411 - 1949
 
White Circle CD 471 - 1950
 
White Circle C.D. 516 - 1951

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Harlequin and Victor Mature

In an earlier post, Noel Coward, I talked about the artist Paul Anna Soik's use of a celebrity's image on one of the many covers he created for Harlequin Books in the 1950s. Here is another, the actor Victor Mature.

Another example from an early PBO published by Penguin Books of New York is below. The copy shown is the more uncommon second printing from October 1947. The image, by Robert Jonas, is identical to the August 1947 first printing but the movie, staring Mature, is referenced at the top unlike the first printing. The movie was also released in August 1947.
 
Harlequin 420 -  April 1958
 
Harlequin 420 back
 
Penguin (US) 642 - October 1947
 
Penguin (US) 642 back

Tuesday 1 July 2014

147 and Counting

The British North American Act, enacted March 29, 1867 by the British Parliament, provided for Confederation of the three British North American colonies, Canada (Upper and Lower), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Now much amended as the Constitution Act, 1867, it was proclaimed into law on July 1, 1867 and Canada was born. The first official birthday celebration was in 1868, July 1 being named Dominion Day in 1879 and Canada Day in 1982.

Dan Ackroyd turns 62 today. What books might his father, Peter, have been reading while waiting for young Dan to arrive? The very last of the White Circle paperbacks from Wm. Collins Sons & Co Canada Ltd may have still been on the stands in the local cigar or drug store in Ottawa. Or perhaps a colourful Harlequin tempted him.
 
White Circle CD539X - 1952
 
White Circle CD540 - 1952
 
White Circle CD541X - 1952
 
Harlequin 171 - May 1952
 
Harlequin 173 - June 1952
 
Harlequin 174 - June 1952

Monday 14 April 2014

Wm Collins After White Circle Part I

Toronto publisher Wm Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd published 459 books between 1942 and 1952 in their paperback series White Circle Pocket Library. From 1952 until 1990, when Wm Collins merged with Harper and Row, other series were published. Here is an example from one of them - Collins Crime. I don't know how many books were published in this series.

Further on are examples of White Circle Pocket Library crime.
 
1984
 
 
 
White Circle 110 - 1943
 
White Circle 110 back
 
White Circle 106 - 1944 (reprint)
 
White Circle 106 back

Thursday 3 April 2014

It's Fun Raising a Family

Back here I did a post about Kate Aitken and the various books she authored for Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd in the middle of the last century. In this post I'll talk a bit more about one of the books and it's three variants.

It's Fun Raising a Family was a paperback original published in 1955. In addition to a Collins edition there are two branded editions - both for companies that have disappeared.

The edition for Montreal based department store chain Steinberg's (1917-1992) was published half-way through its life. Tamblyn (1904-1978) was a Toronto based drug store chain.
 
Wm. Collins's edition - 1955
 
Wm. Collins's back 
 
 
Tamblyn edition
 
Tamblyn back 
 
Steinberg's Edition
 
Steinberg's back

Tuesday 1 April 2014

The Last Export

I have just found the last book from early Canadian paperback publisher Export Publishing Enterprises that I needed to complete my collection. As far as I know there are no further books, including reprints.

This is one of two books published in the American series (with the "A") that were unnumbered in the Canadian series. The edition I was missing was the DJ version.
 
News Stand Library 22A - February 1950
with dust jacket

 
News Stand Library 22A back
with dust jacket

News Stand Library 22A - February 1950

News Stand Library 22A back