Fly-by-night

Harlequin Artists Part IX

2012-02-10T11:18:00.001-04:00

I mentioned in the last posting in this series that a few Harlequin artists can't be identified from their signature. Here's a couple who only initialed their work. "NMR" is seen on two early Harlequins. "NS" on Rasputin.

Harlequin 44

Harlequin 154

Harlequin 44 - April 1950

Harlequin 45 - May 1950

Harlequin 154 - February 1952

Harlequin Artists Part VIII

2012-02-09T11:19:00.001-04:00

There are 483 different illustrated covers on books Harlequin published between 1949 and 1959. About 60% are signed. But a few of the signed covers are little help in identifying the artist. Either because there are initials or the signature is illegible.

Here is an example of the latter. This signature is better than most but still not entirely clear. The last five letters are clearly "smith" but what are the first? - "na" or "nu" or something else? are they part of the last name or first name? The two Harlequins below are the only ones with this signature.

Harlequin 285

White Circle 435

There is a tempting similarity with the signature of Murray Smith who did eight White Circles for Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada from 1949 to 1951. The "th" are alike. Smith could have changed his signature over the years.

Harlequin 271 - January 1954

Harlequin 285 - March 1954

White Circle 435 - 1951

Harlequin Reprints Part XIII

2012-02-08T13:58:00.000-04:00

Harlequin Books usually indicated reprints. Here's an example where a reprint may not have been noted. Or it may not be a reprint at all. The three copies of McSorley's Saloon (number 210) that I've seen have a July 1953 date but books 209 and 211 have a February date. The next July book is number 236. There are no other Harlequins that are dated this far out of sequence. So it may be a reprint but it's an open question for now.

Harlequin 210 - July 1953

Harlequin 210 back

Harlequin Reprints Part XII

2012-02-08T11:02:00.001-04:00

Nineteen of the 477 titles Harlequin Books published between 1949 and 1959 were reprinted with a new number in the series, one of them twice. Here's one of the earliest Harlequins reprinted three years later. Interesting to note the evolution in cover illustration.

The Wicked Lady Skelton was first published in 1946 (New York: Rinehart).

Harlequin 11 - September 1949

Harlequin 11 back

Harlequin 181 - July 1952

Harlequin 181 back

Harlequin Reprints Part XI

2012-02-06T19:45:00.003-04:00

Between 1949 and 1959 Harlequin Books reprinted 19 titles with different numbers in the series. All other reprints used the original number. The same number reprints, with one exception, are identical. The exception is The Golden Feather by Theda Kenyon. The reprint has two changes to the front cover - the addition of a 35 cent "Jumbo Book" stamp and a change in the blurb, one of my favourites.

"A Realistic Novel of Hate, Passion and Feminine Frailty". Whew!

The book was first published in 1943 (New York: Julian Messner).

Harlequin 31 - February 1950

Harlequin 31 - November 1951

Harlequin 31 back

Harlequin Reprints Part X

2012-02-06T12:31:00.004-04:00

Earlier I discussed the 2009 editions of six early Harlequins. They are not reprints because the text has been reset and, in some cases, bowdlerized. Unlike Pardon My Body I could find no changes to the text for No Nice Girl. The original Harlequin edition was not reprinted.

No Nice Girl was first published in 1946 by New York's Phoenix Press. Lindsay is a pseudonym for Peggy Gaddis.

Harlequin 16 - October 1949

Harlequin 16 back

Harlequin 16 North America edition - 2009

Harlequin 16 NA edition back

Harlequin 16 - Mills & Boon (Australia) - 2009

Harlequin 16 Mills & Boon (Australia) back

Through Thick or Thin

2012-02-04T15:56:00.004-04:00

Mass market paperbacks today are thick. In the early days they were thin.

The current (February 12, 2012) NY Times mass market best seller list with the page count:

Bonnie                                       Iris Johansen                         384
The Girl Who Played With Fire       Steig Larsson                         752
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo    Steig Larsson                        672
A Lady Never Surrenders               Sabrina Jeffries                      416
One For the Money                      Janet Evanovich                      352
The Jefferson Key                       Steve Berry                         592
Tom Clancy's Act of Valor             Dick Couch + George Galdorisi   336
Smokin' Seventeen                      Janet Evanovich                    336
You…Again                                 Debbie Macomber                 384
A Game of Thrones                     George R.R. Martin                 831

The median page count is 400.

Compare this to the 906 titles that Harlequin Books and Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada (White Circle) published between 1942 and 1959. Not a single one is 400 pages. In fact only 2% (14 Harlequins and three White Circles) just about equal, at 320 pages, the two shortest books on the NY Time's list. Both companies worked hard at keeping books under 320 pages through cuts to the text.

Here is a current mass market paperback (at 542 pages) and one each 320 page Harlequin and White Circle.

Pocket Star - February 2012

White Circle 210 - 1944

Harlequin 217 - February 1953

Harlequin and Star Part I

2012-02-04T09:20:00.002-04:00

Star Guidance, Inc. was a New York based paperback publisher from late 1949 to early 1954. Star published 39 "Star Books" titles plus nine renumbered reprints for a total of 48 books, all but two westerns. Harlequin published eight of the titles from 1951 to 1956. Here is one that was published under two titles and two authors.

Bad Hombre by Archie Joscelyn is a paperback original. Star reprinted under a new title, Texas Outlaw, the title Harlequin used but with one of Joscelyn's pseudonyms, Al Cody, as the author.

Harlequin 285 - March 1954

Harlequin 285 back

Star 7 - 1950

Star 30 - 1952

Harlequin and Quinn (not the Eskimo) Part V

2012-02-03T08:14:00.003-04:00

Continuing our look at the shared publishing history of Quinn Publishing (New York and Kingston, NY) and Toronto's Harlequin Books in the 1940s and 50s.

The 37 titles shared by Harlequin and Quinn (Handi-Book imprint) had 74 covers - twenty-nine sets are different, two similar and six identical. Here is one of the two sets with similar covers plus a set with semi-different covers.

Harlequin 81 - October 1950

Handi-Books 87 - 1949

Harlequin 139 - October 1951

Handi-Books 110 - 1950

Canadian Best-Seller Library Part IV

2012-02-02T16:32:00.000-04:00

Here is the list of McClelland & Stewart's Canadian Best-Seller Library series published from 1964 to 1968. Two of the 38 authors also had books published by Harlequin Books. I discussed one in part II. The other author is Gordon Sinclair. Bright Path to Adventure was published as Bright Paths to Adventure in 1945 by McClelland & Stewart and his first book, Foot-loose in India, by S. B. Gundy in 1932.

One look at photograph of Sinclair and it's clear the Robert Taylor look-a-like on the Harlequin cover is not him.

CBL 1 Newman, Peter C. Renegade in Power: The Diefenbaker Years
CBL 2 Berton, Pierre The Big Sell
CBL 3 Green, H. Gordon + Frank Selke Behind the Cheering 1964
CBL 4 Newman, Peter C. Flame of Power
CBL 5 Minifie, James M. Peacemaker or Powder-Monkey: Canada's Role in a Revolutionary World
CBL 6 Lynch, Charles China: one fourth of the world
CBL 7 Richler, Mordecai The Incomparable Atuk
CBL 8 Berton, Pierre Klondike: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush
CBL 9 Mowat, Farley People of the Deer
CBL 10 Creighton, Luella High Bright Buggy Wheels
CBL 11 Hutchison, Bruce The Unknown Country
CBL 12 Denison, Merrill Klondike Mike
CBL 13 Hamilton, Robert M. Canadian Quotations & Phrases: Literary and Historical
CBL 14 Berton, Pierre Just Add Water and Stir
CBL 15 Marika, Robert A Stranger and Afraid
CBL 16 Holt, Simma Terror in the Name of God
CBL 17 MacMillan, Don Rink Rat
CBL 18 Sinclair, Gordon Foot-loose in India…
CBL 19 Lambert, Richard Stanton Exploring the supernatural; the weird in Canadian folklore
CBL 20 Hiemstra, Mary Pinder Gully Farm
CBL 21 Macfarlane, Leslie McGonigle scores!
CBL 22 MacKay, Douglas The Honourable Company: A History of the Hudson's Bay Company
CBL 23 Boliska, Al The World's Worst Jokes
CBL 24 Young, Scott The Flood
CBL 25 Roy, Katherine Lise
CBL 26 Berton, Laura Beatrice I Married the Klondike
CBL 27 Irwin, Grace Least of all Saints
CBL 28 Desbarats, Peter The State of Quebec
CBL 29 Berton, Pierre Adventures of a Columnist
CBL 30 Bishop, William Arthur The courage of the early morning
CBL 31 O'Hearn, Walter Lady Chatterley, Latterly
CBL 32 Robertson, Terry The Shame and the Glory: Dieppe
CBL 33 Allen, Robert Thomas When Toronto was for kids
CBL 34 Ludwig, Jack Confusions
CBL 35 Mowat, Farley The Regiment
CBL 36 Childerhose, R. J. Splash one tiger
CBL 37 Berton, Pierre Fast Fast Fast Relief
CBL 38 Clark, Gerald Canada: The Uneasy Neighbour
CBL 39 Penfield, Wilder No Other Gods: The Tender Story of Two Lovers Destined to Found a Nation
CBL 40 Hobson, Richmond P., Jr. Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy
CBL 41 Leacock, Stephen Laugh with Leacock : an anthology of the best work of Stephen Leacock
CBL 42 Creighton, Luella Turn east, turn west
CBL 43 Weintraub, William Why Rock the Boat?
CBL 44 Penfield, Wilder The Torch: Love, Treachery, and a Battle For Truth in Ancient Greece
CBL 45 Green, H. Gordon A Time to Pass Over
CBL 46 McGoey, John H. Nor Scrip Nor Shoes

Harlequin 288 - March 1954

Harlequin 288 back

CBL 18 - 1966

CBL 18 back

Canadian Best-Seller Library Part III

2012-02-01T19:45:00.002-04:00

In part II I discussed a title that was published by Harlequin Books and later by McClelland & Stewart in its 1960s paperback Canadian Best-Seller Library series. Here is another example of one published in the CBL series and by an early Canadian paperback publisher.

Klondike Mike by Merrill Denison was first published by William Morrow in 1943. The White Circle edition arrived in 1949 from Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada and was reprinted in 1950. Silently abridged, about one-third has been cut.

White Circle CD431 - 1949

White Circle CD431 back

CBL 12 - October 1965

CBL 12 back

Peddlers of Scarlet Junk Part I

2012-02-01T17:54:00.000-04:00

There are few instances in the 1950s where the Canadian publisher Harlequin Books is mentioned in Canadian newspapers. Here is one from the December 6, 1952 edition of The Windsor Daily Star, page 14.

"Two new Harlequin pocket releases are NINE TO FIVE, by Harvey Smith, a novel of private secretaries, and HIS MAJESTY'S YANKEES, Thomas H. Raddall's fine historical novel of Nova Scotia during the American Revolutionary War. Curiously this work is adorned in a garish cover, and offered as "Brutality and lust of frontier life". It is not. If the pocket-book people sometimes invite inquiry as peddlers of scarlet junk, it's equally true they often invite this criticism with their promotional exaggerations.
Two additional reprints issued by Harlequin pocket books are DAUGHTER OF SATAN, by Jean Plaidy, a romantic action novel of the late 16th and early 17th century, in a New World setting; and THE UNFULFILLED, a novel of Canadian-American impacts and relationships by W. G. Hardy of Alberta."

Here are two of the four books mentioned.

Harlequin 195 - November 1952

Harlequin 195 back

Harlequin 196 - November 1952

Harlequin 196 back

Canadian Best-Seller Library Part II

2012-02-01T10:08:00.002-04:00

The recent news about the end of McClelland & Stewart (now owned by the largest book publisher in the world) started me thinking about early M&S paperback series. I introduced the 46 book Canadian Best-Seller Library series in part I. Only fourteen of the books are fiction but one of them had been published by Harlequin Books.

Rink Rat by Don MacMillan was first published in 1949 by J.M. Dent (Canada). Harlequin's edition came out in 1950 and was reprinted in 1951 and 1957, the second time with the new number 408 but same cover.

Here is a connection to Rink Rat by the author of a recent Harlequin novel about hockey.

Harlequin 78 - 1950

Harlequin 78 back

CBL 17 - June 1966

CBL 17 back

Harlequin Authors Part XVII - Thomas H. Raddall (3)

2012-01-31T19:51:00.003-04:00

Canadian author Thomas H. Raddall's third Harlequin edition is His Majesty's Yankees, his first novel, published in 1942 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart). Even at 320 pages, like the second, the third is silently abridged.

The Popular edition below is some 40% longer than the Harlequin. It isn't dated but the young miss looks 1960s rather than 1760s and the flag on the cover puts it after 1965. The back cover blurb ("FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK") is wrong but it may be the first unabridged paperback edition.

Harlequin 196 - November 1952

Harlequin 196 back

Popular 95-202 - nd

Popular 95-202 back

Harlequin and Quinn (not the Eskimo) Part IV

2012-01-29T20:17:00.000-04:00

The 37 titles shared by Harlequin and Quinn (Handi-Book imprint) had 74 covers - twenty-nine sets are different, two similar and six identical.

The first sixty or so Handi-Books have distinctive covers different from Harlequin and other mass market publishers of the time. Here is one set with an example of these early covers plus a set with a later Quinn offering.

Harlequin 98 - February 1951

Handi-Book 46 - 1946

Harlequin 366 - August 1956

Handi-Book 138 - 1951

Collins White Circle Artists - Franklin Carmichael Part IV

2012-01-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

Continuing on from part III here are five more examples of early 1943 covers from the White Circle paperback line. All showing a sophisticated designer that might be famed Canadian painter Franklin Carmichael.

White Circle 59 - 1943

White Circle 61 - 1943

White Circle 63 - 1946

White Circle 64 - 1943

White Circle 65 - 1943

New Canadian Library Part II

2012-01-29T11:25:00.003-04:00

The first set of McClelland & Stewart's reprint paperback series New Canadian Library ran from 1958 to 1978 - a total of 152 titles. Today 54 remain in the NCL series according to the M&S web site. The original number and introduction are gone and, for a few titles, an unabridged version has replaced an abridged.

Two titles that have not survived are The Stepsure Letters and Tiger Dunlop's Upper Canada. Janet Friskney's New Canadian Library (University of Toronto, 2007) helps explain why. She has a table of the unit sales for each book from 1958 to 1979. There are 73 books with 10 or more years of sales data. Eight of the books averaged sales of less than 500 copies a year, including The Stepsure Letters and Tiger Dunlop's Upper Canada. The other six are also no longer in print.

I'm not surprised at the low sales as both books look unappealing (the back cover blurbs are no help) but The Stepsure Letters does have an introduction by Northrop Frye that makes the book worth finding.

NCL 16 - 1961

NCl 16 back

NCL 55 - 1967

NCL 55 back

Collins White Circle Artists - Franklin Carmichael Part III

2012-01-28T19:10:00.001-04:00

In part II I introduced the idea that Group of Seven member Franklin Carmichael designed White Circle paperbacks in 1943. When Wm. Collins Sons & Co, Canada started the White Circle imprint in 1942 they modeled the covers on the parent company's White Circle line in the UK. Starting with the 1943 issues illustrated covers replaced these uninspired efforts. The 32 books published in the first half of 1943 (51-72 and 101-110) have a level of design that, it seems to me, could only have come from a very talented hand. Carmichael did design at least three hard covers for Collins in the mid 1940s. He was also responsible for the hiring of the artist who started handling the covers in the last half of 1943 - Margaret Paull.

From the McMichael Canadian Art Collection web site:

Carmichael joined the Sampson-Matthews firm in 1922, probably as head designer under the art directorship of J.E. Sampson. Among his projects at Sampson-Matthews, Carmichael worked on the illustration and design of a number of promotional brochures as well as advertisements for newspapers and magazines. In step with the fashions of the times, his work increasingly reflected the flat, simplified design popular in the 1920s. In the 1920s Carmichael also created illustrations for stories, mostly in magazines. The distinctive commercial art of Franklin Carmichael is among the finest examples of design work by the Group of Seven.

Here are four more examples.

White Circle 53 - 1943

White Circle 55 - 1943

White Circle 56 - 1943

White Circle 58 - 1943

Collins White Circle Reprints Part VII

2012-01-27T16:36:00.002-04:00

Twenty-two of the 50 titles published in 1942 by Wm Collins Sons & Co. Canada in the White Circle imprint were reprinted with new numbers in the series. Eight of the new numbers were also reprinted. One example is The Nutmeg Tree first published in 1937 (London: Arthur Barker).

The second printing states "REPRINTED 1945", the third printing "REPRINTED 1946". All printings state "COPYRIGHT CANADA 1942". The second and third printings are identical except for slight colour differences in the covers.

White Circle 40 - 1942

White Circle 40 back

White Circle 224 (2nd printing) - 1945

White Circle 224 (2nd printing) back

White Circle 224 (3rd printing) - 1946

White Circle 224 (3rd printing) back

Nicholas and Nigel Part I

2012-01-26T21:48:00.000-04:00

"Nigel's six feet sprawled all over the place; his gestures were nervous and little uncouth; a lock of sandy coloured hair dropping over his forehead, and the deceptive naïveté of his face in repose gave him a resemblance to an overgrown prep. schoolboy. His eyes were the same blue as his uncle's, but shortsighted and noncommittal. Yet there was an underlying similarity between the two. A latent, sardonic humor in their conversation, a friendliness and simple generosity in their smiles, and that impression of energy in reserve which is always given by those who possess an abundance of life directed towards consciously-realised aims." (from Thou Shell of Death, 1936)

This May Vintage is publishing the 16 books in Nicholas Blake's Nigel Strangeways crime series - the first four as trade paperbacks, the last 12 as POD (hiss, boo). Blake was Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972) and the Strangeways series ran from 1935 to 1966. All the books were first published by Wm. Collins Sons & Co in the UK. The Collins Canadian subsidiary published in its White Circle imprint seven of the nine books that came out before 1950 . The final seven were published after the White Circle imprint ended in 1952.

But the publishing was haphazard. In addition to missing the first and third books the others were published out of order.

1               A Question of Proof
2    44          Thou Shell of Death
3                 There's Trouble Brewing
4    66          The Beast Must Die
5    268        The Smiler with the Knife
6    450        Malice in Wonderland (The Summer Camp Mystery)
7    202      The Case of the Abominable Snowman (The Corpse in the Snowman)
8    370        Minute for Murder
9    493       Head of a Traveler

White Circle 44 - 1942

White Circle 44 back

White Circle 66 - 1943

White Circle 66 back

White Circle 202 - 1944

White Circle 202 back

Harlequin Authors Part XVI - Thomas Raddall (2)

2012-01-25T19:27:00.002-04:00

The second of four Harlequin editions of Thomas H. Raddall novels is The Nymph and the Lamp, his fourth, published by McClelland & Stewart in 1950. This is the first contemporary (1920s) novel after three eighteenth century historicals.

Unlike the first Raddall title from Harlequin, Roger Sudden, there is no notice that the work is abridged. But a comparison with the New Canadian Library edition published in 1963 shows the Harlequin has less pages, less lines per page and less characters per line. The full effect is about 15% less novel.

I haven't read the book but my guess is that the heroine depicted on the Harlequin edition isn't what Raddall had in mind. The book is available from the Halifax publisher Nimbus.

Harlequin 189 - September 1952

Harlequin 189 back

New Canadian Library N38 - 1963 ("sixth reprint")

New Canadian Library N38 back

A Rose Part II

2012-01-24T20:49:00.001-04:00

Some 15% of the 477 titles Harlequin Books published between 1949 and 1959 were changed for their edition. The publisher with the most changed titles is Mills & Boon - 20 of the 50 that Harlequin reprinted in that period. Unlike Harlequin's other title changes the Mills & Boon ones were noted on the copyright page. Here are two.

Hospital In Sudan first published as Doctor Immacula (1958)
To Please the Doctor first published as Borne on the Wind (1950)

Harlequin 439 - October 1958

Harlequin 439 back

Harlequin 446 - January 1959

Harlequin 446 back

Collins White Circle Artists - Harold Rayner Part I

2012-01-24T13:52:00.003-04:00

Surprisingly few (30%) of the cover illustrations for the White Circle paperback imprint from Toronto publisher Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada are signed.

Harold Rayner is one artist who did sign his five covers during the last two years of the imprint. A Harold N. Rayner is listed in three Toronto City Directories:

1948 - commercial artist, suite 1502, 302 Bay Street
1951 - commercial artist, Brigand's
1952 - same

Brigand's was a printer at 160 Richmond Street West in Toronto. Here are Rayner's first three White Circle covers, all from 1950.

White Circle 474

White Circle CD468

White Circle CD474

White Circle CD481

Collins White Circle Photo Covers Part IV

2012-01-24T11:28:00.000-04:00

In the first of this series of posts I told the story of the 32 photograph covers in Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada's White Circle imprint. So far I've shown 15 covers. Here are the next five, all from 1948.

White Circle 336

White Circle 339

White Circle 347

White Circle 351

White Circle 355

Harlequin Canadian Paperback Originals Part II

2012-01-23T20:06:00.003-04:00

The mass market paperback was invented for one reason - to make money selling cheap editions of already published books. To date, aside from modern romance novels, that's pretty much still true. But there is that enticing subset of mass market paperbacks called the paperback original. See, for example, science fiction, mystery and western.

Even the early Harlequin Books published PBOs, 24, or 5% of a total 477 titles, between 1949 and 1959, fifteen fiction and nine non-fiction. Here are two of the novels.

Joy Brown was an editor at Harlequin. E(dmund) B(oyd) Osler was a well know Manitoban.

Harlequin 72 - September 1950

Harlequin 72 back

Harlequin 261 - December 1953

Harlequin 261 back

New Canadian Library Part I

2012-01-23T09:50:00.004-04:00

I've discussed Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart's quality paperback series New Canadian Library in other posts, usually relating it to earlier Canadian paperback publishers. The recent demise of M&S has made me return to the series.

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder by James De Mille was published as NCL 68 in 1969. Janet Friskney in her book New Canadian Library: The Ross-McClelland Years 1952 - 1978 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007) discusses (pp. 104-107) the long effort by the editors to convince the publisher, Jack McClelland, to publish Manuscript. His first thought was OK but only if the book were cut. But finally it was published uncut.

The NCL edition was the first Canadian, 81 years after the American (Harper, 1888) and British (Chatto & Windus, 1888) editions. I'd love to see what Harlequin might have done with this title.

De Mille (1833-1880) was a professor of English at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Harper - 1888

Harper title page

NCL 68 - 1993 reprint

NCL 68 back

Insomniac Press - 2000

Macrae Smith Part I

2012-01-21T09:57:00.003-04:00

The Philadelphia publisher Macrae Smith was the second most popular source for the early Harlequin titles. Thirty-eight of the 477 titles published by Harlequin between 1949 and 1959 were originally published by Macrae Smith. In contrast only two of the 429 titles from the White Circle imprint (1942-1952) of Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada were Macrae Smith books.

Here are two from Harlequin and one from Collins. Honeymoon Mountain and True by the Sun were published in 1934 and One Way Street in 1936.

Harlequin 8 - August 1949

Harlequin 8 back

Harlequin 50 - May 1950

Harlequin 50 back

White Circle 319 - 1947

White Circle 319 back

Harlequin Artists Part VII

2012-01-19T20:15:00.000-04:00

In part V of this series of posts I showed two of the 484 covers on Harlequin Books published between 1949 and 1959 that are among the few that are not original. Here are two more.

The cover for the Harlequin edition of The Window with the Sleeping Nude has two significant differences from the Quinn Publishing version. One is obvious - more people looking at the nude. The other is less obvious. In the Harlequin version the view is from inside the store with the people outside (see the reversed sign on window). The Quinn version has the view from outside with the people on the inside.

Neither Harlequin cover is signed.

Harlequin 106 - April 1951

Handi-Book 118 - 1950

Harlequin 245 - September 1953

Robert Hale - 1952

Halifax Part II

2012-01-19T12:15:00.002-04:00

The Harlequin Book edition of Roger Sudden by Thomas H. Raddall has an illustration of early (1750s) Halifax, Nova Scotia. The one identifiable landmark is the church St. Paul's, built in 1750, to the right of our heroine's head.

The current steeple, seen in the 1831 illustration below, was added in 1812. The Harlequin view is to the right in this illustration and from behind the church looking to the harbour, largely hidden by the smoke.

Harlequin 141 - December 1950

St. Paul's - 1831

Harlequin Authors Part XV - Thomas H. Raddall (1)

2012-01-19T10:42:00.003-04:00

Three time Governor General's Award winner Thomas H. Raddall (1903-1994) was a popular Canadian author from the 1940s to the 1960s. Today I imagine he is little remembered outside of Nova Scotia where he spent most of his life. Here there is a provincial park, a county archive, and an award for fiction named after him.

Harlequin Books published four of his novels with Raddall's second novel, Roger Sudden, first. Originally published by McClelland & Stewart in 1944, it is still in print. It was also published in the US and UK as well a five part serial in the pulp Adventure.

The Harlequin edition is 320 pages long but we are told on the copyright page that it is "abridged for your reading pleasure." I wonder what Raddall thought of that. The abridgement is not subtle with whole paragraphs dropped at random. For example five of the first ten paragraphs are excised.

Harlequin 141 - December 1951 (reprinted July 1952)

Harlequin 141 back

Nimbus - 1996

Nimbus back

Harlequin and Export Twins Part II

2012-01-18T19:11:00.001-04:00

In part I I discussed one of two titles that early Canadian paperback publishers Harlequin Books and Export Publishing Enterprises shared.

Harlequin published 477 titles between 1949 and 1959 while Export published 165. The second and last shared title is William Hopson's Hell's Horseman, originally published by Phoenix Press of New York in 1946. The shared back cover blurb is likely from this edition.

News Stand Library 126 - August 1950

News Stand Library 126 back

Harlequin 275 - February 1954

Harlequin 275 back

A Rose Part I

2012-01-16T20:06:00.008-04:00

One of the fun aspects of collecting old paperbacks is the title changes that were an important part of selling these books. Here are three examples from Harlequin Books written by Australian E(dward) V(ivian) Timms (1895-1960). All were published by Angus & Robertson of Sydney, Australia.

Forever to Remain (1948) becomes The Violent Years
The Beckoning Shore (1950) becomes Convict Town
The Pathway of the Sun (1949) becomes Woman in Chains

Harlequin 290 - April 1954

Harlequin 290 back

Harlequin 330 - March 1955

Harlequin 330 back

Harlequin 331 - March 1955

Harlequin 331 back

Studio Publications Part VI

2012-01-16T13:32:00.001-04:00

In the first five parts about the small Toronto paperback publisher Studio Publications I discussed the 15 books Studio published. There is also a four book series called the Junior Adventure Library.

Unlike the 15 adult books, the JAL books have some information about Studio, viz. a printing date of 1952 and an address, the Bloorhill Building on the Kingsway in Toronto. This ties in with information in the 1953 Toronto City Directory which has Stanley R. Schrag as the manager publishing of Studio at 2842 Bloor St. West, Suite 205. This is address of the Bloorhill Building which is still there. We met Schrag as the president of Export Publishing Enterprises.

The books are a mixed bag - two classics each available in hundreds of editions, an obscure Jules Verne and one from a very obscure author. All are digest size (139mm x 202mm) and 96 pages.

J1 The Blockade Runners by Jule Verne. First published in 1871 as Les forceurs de blocus.

J2 Dawn Patrol by Thomson Burtis. First published in the June 1924 issue of American Boy. As far as I can tell this is the only book appearance.

J3 Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp. Three stories - Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp, The Three Sisters, and The Enchanted Horse.

J4 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

Studio J3 - 1952

Studio J3 back

Harlequin Reprints Part IX

2012-01-15T19:29:00.003-04:00

In 1971 Harlequin Books reprinted a number of books in an odd way. The original numbers were kept but every reprint has the same generic cover. Fifteen of the reprinted books were originally published by Harlequin in 1958 and 1959, before the complete shift to romance. All the reprinted books are Mills & Boon romances.

1971 was a significant year for Harlequin. A new president would change Harlequin into the company we see today. It was also the year that Harlequin began negotiations to buy Mills & Boon. In the five years starting 1971 sales doubled, then doubled again - from 19,000,000 books in 1970 to 72,000,000 in 1975.

Here are two from that year.

Harlequin 449 - February 1959

Harlequin 449 back

Harlequin 449 - 1971

Harlequin 462 - May 1959

Harlequin 462 back

Harlequin 462 - 1971

Mass Market Paperback (1935 - ?) Part II

2012-01-15T10:04:00.000-04:00

In an article for The Atlantic's on-line edition, "The Revenge of the Paperback Book", Steven Heller discusses a "new book series [that] attempts to revitalize the printed word with innovative design." He argues that "[b]efore Kindle and Nook, the mass-market paperback book was the publishing industry’s crown jewel. Convenient and compact, it was the inexpensive alternative to bulky tomes and ripe for avant garde experimentation."

Heller quotes Adam Michaels, the creator of the series,: ”Neglected by publishers in recent years, the mass-market paperback format remains highly desirable for its accessibility, both in terms of portability/usability and its low production and purchase costs.”

This and the recent news about the end of the Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart made me think of the M&S mass market New Canadian Library series which began in January 1958 and ended in January 1978. A modified series began in 1981 and continues. Here are the first and last of the original NCL series.

NCL 1 - January 1958

NCL 1 back

NCL 152 - January 1978

NCL 152 back

Harlequin and Quinn (not the Eskimo) Part III

2012-01-14T11:59:00.003-04:00

The 37 titles shared by Harlequin and Quinn (Handi-Book imprint) had 74 covers - twenty-nine sets are different, two similar and six identical.

The first sixty or so Handi-Books have distinctive covers different from Harlequin and other mass market publishers of the time. Here are two sets which include examples of these early covers. Sweet Murder was given a new title by Harlequin.

Harlequin 42 - 1950

Handi-Book 47 - 1946

Harlequin 79 - October 1950

Handi-Books 13 - 1943

Harlequin and Quinn (not the Eskimo) Part II

2012-01-11T19:05:00.005-04:00

Part I introduced the shared publishing history of Quinn Publishing Company and Harlequin Books - 37 books published by both companies in the 1940s and early 1950s. Of the 139 titles published by Quinn, 30 were originals and Harlequin subsequently published 13 of them. Here are three.

Harlequin 88 - December 1950

Handi-Book 111 - 1950

Harlequin 105 - March 1951

Handi-Book 119 - 1950

Harlequin 106 - April 1951

Handi-Book 118 - 1950

Harlequin and Quinn (not the Eskimo) Part I

2012-01-10T20:29:00.006-04:00

Operating out of New York City (1941 - 1945) and Kingston, NY (1945 - 1951), the Quinn Publishing Company published 141 paperbacks (139 titles) from 1941 to 1951. There were two series - 137 Handi-Books and 4 Handi-Book Westerns. One-quarter (37) of the titles were also published by Harlequin Books, 15 western and 22 crime/thriller. The breakdown by year published by Quinn is:

1942     1
1943     1
1945     2
1946     4
1947     2
1948     3
1949     7
1950    13
1951     4

In a run of 91 Harlequin books from 1950 to 1952 (issues 70 to 160) a third (32) had been published by Quinn. Here are three from 1950.

Harlequin 43 - May 1950

Handi-Book 63 - 1947

Harlequin 73 - September 1950

Handi-Book 89 - 1949

Harlequin 84 - November 1950

Handi-Book 52 - 1946

Halifax Part I

2012-01-07T09:05:00.006-04:00

This past December 6 was the 94th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion. Hugh MacLennan's 1941 novel about the explosion was published by New York's Duell, Sloan & Pearce. The Canadian edition was published in hardcover by Toronto's Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd in 1941 and in paperback in 1943 and 1952. The 1952 version has an illustration with one identifiable Halifax landmark, the Town Clock on Citadel Hill, seen through the window at middle right.

But there is a problem with the illustration which shows the shipbuilder's office at least on the same level as the top of the clock if not higher. As the photographs below show this wouldn't have been possible since the only spot on higher ground than the clock is Fort George behind it on Citadel Hill.

White circle C.D. 529 - 1952

Halifax Town Clock

Fort George with Town Clock

Collins White Circle Reprints Part VI

2012-01-06T19:55:00.002-04:00

Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd published 459 books in their White Circle imprint between 1942 and 1952. Thirty of the books were renumbered reprints, eighteen published in 1944 and eight in 1945-1947. Then none for four years. The last four came at the very end of the imprint in a run of 17 books in 1952. Included among them is the only time a cover was reused and the only time a title was given a third number. The impression is that the imprint is running out of steam.

White Circle 75 - 1943

White Circle C.D. 529 - 1952

White Circle 210 - 1944

White Circle C.D. 532 - 1952

White Circle 47 - 1942

White Circle 118 - 1944

White Circle C.D. 537J - 1952

White Circle 255 - 1946

White Circle C.D. 545X - 1952

Collins White Circle Artists - Margaret Paull Part X

2012-01-06T19:00:00.008-04:00

The first 52 of 67 signed covers by Margaret Paull for Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd's White Circle imprint are discussed in parts I to IX. Here are the next five. All were published in 1946.

White Circle 266

White Circle 253 - 1946

White Circle 258 - 1946

White Circle 259 - 1946

White Circle 266 - 1946

White Circle 267 - 1946

Harlequin Authors Part XIV - Day Keene (1)

2012-01-02T17:11:00.003-04:00

Day Keene (1904-1969) was a prolific pulp writer from the thirties to the sixties. Six of his many novels were published by Harlequin Books of Toronto and Winnipeg. Five of the six have the notice on the front cover "An original novel - not a reprint" but as we shall see this is misleading.

The first three books were published as paperback originals:

Love Me - and Die! - Phantom 504 (New York: Hanro, 1951)
Hunt the Killer - Phantom 507 (New York: Hanro, 1951)
If the Coffin Fits - Graphic 43 (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ: Graphic, 1952)

The Harlequin editions are clearly published later so the notice is not correct. The original editions also have this notice and somehow it has been carried forward to the Harlequin editions.

The artwork is redrawn.

Harlequin 167 - May 1952

Harlequin 167 back

Phantom 504 - 1951

Harlequin 168 - May 1952

Harlequin 168 back

Phantom 507 - 1951

Harlequin 180 - July 1952

Harlequin 180

Graphic 43 - 1952

Hard Case Crime Part IX

2012-01-01T11:30:00.002-04:00

The Life magazine site here has a fun look at covers from the Hard Case Crime series. The really interesting feature is a description by the artist, Chuck Pyle, of how he created the cover to the first book in the series Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block, a reprint of Mona. I wonder if Pyle had the image from the 1925 first edition of The Great Gatsby in mind? Probably not.

Lawrence Block has had six books published in the series including the latest Getting Off which is the first hard cover and his first original for the series. Two more are coming in 2012.

HCC-001 September 2004

The Great Gatsby - 1925

Fawcett Gold Medal s1085 - 1961

HCC-101 September 2011

HCC-101 back

Harlequin Artists Part VI

2011-12-30T15:24:00.003-04:00

There were 484 illustrated covers on the books published by Harlequin Books between 1949 and 1959. Some artists like Paul Anna Soik illustrated dozens of covers. Others less than five.

One of these artists is "Ikeno" who illustrated three covers, all westerns, in 1952 and 1953. This is likely Masayoshi Ikeno who is listed in the 1952 and 1953 Toronto City Directories. The first as an artist with New Liberty Magazine, the second as Art Director of the magazine. I can find nothing else about him.

The Canadian edition of New Liberty Magazine seems to have hung around from the twenties to the sixties. The copies I've seen from the early fifties and early sixties (then called Liberty) show an uninspired family magazine. The February 1953 issue has Mas Ikeno listed as Art Director and well known Canadian businessman Jack Kent Cooke as President and Publisher.

Harlequin 263

Harlequin 163 - April 1952

Harlequin 260 - November 1953

Harlequin 263 - December 1953

Fireside Publications Part IV

2011-12-29T11:27:00.032-04:00

In parts I and II I discussed 10 of the magazine sized paperbacks from Toronto's Fireside Publications. As far as I know there are only two more. One I've not seen is Evelyn Dick: The Tragic Story of an Emotional Degenerate by Keith Edgar and Richard Daniel. However the book is briefly seen in this Evelyn Dick clip at 1:28.

The other is the undated 64 page Women of All Nations by Watson V. Somers which appears to be a paperback original. The cover art is by O.W. Peak. Subtitled "Strange Customs the World Over" Mr. Somers takes us to Africa, India, Southeast Asia and around the world ending with the cave man's woman. Notwithstanding the picture of "the Canadian girl of today" we learn nothing about Canadian women.

Mass Market Paperback (1935 - ?) Part I

2011-12-26T16:47:00.002-04:00

A recent NY Times article talks about the rapid drop in mass market paperback (MMP) sales in the US. Looking for more information I came across a 2011 study (Bookstats) of publishing trends from 2008 to 2010, a period when net sales revenue of MMP dropped 13.8 % to $1.28 billion and 16.8% to 319 million units. Net sales revenue is the publishers revenue net of discounts to booksellers and credits for returns and not sales to consumers which of course is at the book's list price.

The American Association of Publishers issues monthly sales reports. The latest October data show MMP sales revenue has dropped 34% in 2011 over 2010. This survey is from 80 publishers whereas the more comprehensive BookStats has data from 2000. But the 80 have sales of more than 50% of the market so the drop in 2011 is likely representative of the full market.

So MMP unit sales have dropped from 383 million in 2008 to 319 in 2010 and heading for 200 million in 2011. Hard not to agree that the MMP is rapidly being eclipsed by ebooks.

Here are a few of my favourite non-Canadian paperbacks.

Pelican S35 - 1939

Dell 270 - 1948

Avon 314 - 1951

Penguin 2591 - 1967

Most Viewed Post

2011-12-25T09:11:00.000-04:00

After some 350 posts I thought I'd note the "most viewed post" with nearly twice as many views as the second most popular - More Canadians Abroad - Crown Novel. Why? Because Pulp International borrowed one of the images. Otherwise it would be as obscure as 95% of its fellow posts. I'm flattered but here's an image they won't be interested in.

The Time Machine Part VIII

2011-12-23T10:44:00.014-04:00

"The Time Machine represents a revolution in storytelling. It may stand in a tradition of marvelous travel tales, but it presents us with something new: a story whose mainspring is a dramatization of the grand, grim process of evolution. Unprecedented as this was in 1895, one might think that by the time a century had passed, the bemusement of literary critics might have given place to a general acknowledgment of H.G. Wells's stature and the new gifts and vistas he brought to a traditional form of literature."

Brian W. Aldiss "Doomed Formicary Versus the Technological Sublime", George Slusser, Patrick Parrinder, and Daniele Chatelain, eds. H.G. Wells's Perennial TIME MACHINE: Selected Essays from the Centenary Conference, "The Time Machine: Past, Present, and Future" Imperial College, London, July 26-29, 1995. Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 2001.

How many editions of The Time Machine have been published? Including all languages, thousands I'm sure. Here are four paperbacks, three English, one Bulgarian.

The first English is a special one - the first British edition in wrappers, one of two currently for sale.

William Heinemann - 1895

Pan - 1953 (37th printing)

Tor - 1992

1984

Arrow Publishing Part V

2011-12-22T20:50:00.002-04:00

The final three (for now) books from Toronto's Arrow Publishing.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a paperback original
Four Great Classics is a paperback original
Until They Do Not Breathe is a paperback original

All books are 128 pages.

Arrow 118 - February 1950

Arrow 118 back

Arrow 119 - February 1950

Arrow 119 back

Arrow 120 - February 1950

Arrow 120 back

inside covers of Arrow books

Export News Stand Library US Series Part X

2011-12-22T11:32:00.005-04:00

For me the most appealing feature of the 28 book US series from Toronto's Export Publishing Enterprises is the dust jacketed books. In earlier posts I've shown 19 of the 20 DJ books plus examples from non-Canadian publishers.

The books are uncommon, even rare. But which is the least, most uncommon? I'd say Jesse James is the least, Sin for Your Supper the most. I have two copies of Jesse, there have been two for sale on ABE for years from the same dealer and two copies have shown up on eBay in the last few months. I have a copy of Sin but I know of one collector who has been looking for 30 years.

Joining these books is a 1946 digest sized paperback "cheap edition" from the Scottish/British firm Wm. Collins & Sons and Co. Indian subsidiary. This has a dust jacket glued on at the spine covering blank card stock with the illustration from the original edition published in 1944.

News Stand Library 15A with DJ - January 1950

News Stand Library 6A with DJ - June 1949

Wm. Collins Indian "cheap edition" - 1946

Wm. Collins Indian "cheap edition" back

Arrow Publishing Part IV

2011-12-22T09:58:00.001-04:00

Four more books from Toronto's Arrow Publishing.

Live in Any Village is a paperback original
Bad Men of Canada is a paperback original
Seconds to Go is a paperback original - pseudonym of Danny Halperin
No Tears for Goldie is a paperback original - pseudonym of Thomas P. Kelley

All books are 160 pages except 117 at 128 pages.

Arrow 114 - February 1950

Arrow 114 back

Arrow 115 - February 1950

Arrow 115 back

Arrow 116 - February 1950

Arrow 116 back

Arrow 117 - February 1950

Arrow 117 back

Arrow Publishing Part III

2011-12-20T19:43:00.000-04:00

Here are four more books from Toronto's Arrow Publishing.

Hallelujah Brother first published New York: The Beechhurst Press, 1946
Showdown is a paperback original
Curtain Call first published New York: The Beechhurst Press, 1946
Becky's Corset first published New York: House of Pettit [sic], 1942

All books are 128 pages except 111 at 160 pages. The artist on 110 is D. Rickard.

Arrow 110 - January 1950

Arrow 110 back

Arrow 111 - February 1950

Arrow 111 back

Arrow 112 - January 1950

Arrow 112 back

Arrow 113 - January 1950

Arrow 113 back

Check the attic: Paperbacks turn golden Part III

2011-12-20T09:22:00.003-04:00

The first parts of this post have been about the first few paragraphs of a 1981 article in The Windsor Star by Alan Abrams about collecting Canadian paperbacks.

After the discussion of Export, Harlequin and White Circle Abrams has an odd paragraph mixing John Glassco's The Governess with "historian [?] T.T. Kelly's [i.e.: Thomas P. Kelley] book on the Black Donnellys [which] was preceded by a paperback entitled Gorilla [i.e.: The Gorilla's Daughter]." The paragraph ends with "now-senator Donald Graham" without noting the book and Sunburst from Phylis Gottlieb. I wonder if Abrams thought it strange that a historian wrote a book called Gorilla?

Next is a comment from Rollison that some of his best finds have been in Florida, "where sun-seeking Canadians often left behind their light reading." Rollison also says that he has 800 of the 1150 collectible Canadian paperbacks. The article ends with some tips on collecting. My figure for the number of collectible books is over 1800, including reprints and variants, 1300 if only first printings and no variants are counted.

Summing up the article is a mistake filled introduction to collectible Canadian paperbacks. Wonder if anyone started to collect because of the article?

Harlequin 289 - April 1954

News Stand 122 - August 1950

Check the attic: Paperbacks turn golden Part II

2011-12-20T08:46:00.000-04:00

"But the magic name in Canadian paperback collecting is Harlequin." So says Alan Abrams in his 30 year old article in The Windsor Star. He then notes Brian Moore's two books for Harlequin - Wreath for a Redhead and The Executioners. Oddly he gives incorrect numbers for the books that aren't even close - 40 (instead of 102) for the first book and 45 (instead of 117) for the second. He says that they would cost, depending on condition, between $50 and $100. A look at ABE today shows 14 copies of both books ranging from $38 to $735.

Next is a comment that the 1942 White Circle edition of Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is worth more than the first edition (John Lane, 1912). That isn't the case today and I would be very surprised if it had been true in 1981.

Harlequin 102 - March 1951

Harlequin 117 - June 1951

White Circle 39 - 1942

Arrow Publishing Part II

2011-12-19T15:18:00.001-04:00

Here are four more books from Toronto's Arrow Publishing.

Everything is Quite All Right first published New York: Bernard Ackerman, 1945
Backstage with Joe first published New York: Roy, 1946
Sextet first published New York: The Beechhurst Press, 1946
Tokyo Romance first published New York: Didier, 1947

All books are 128 pages. The artist on 103, 108 and 109 is D. Rickard.

Arrow 103 - November 1949

Arrow 103 back

Arrow 106 - November 1949

Arrow 106 back

Arrow 108 - November 1949

Arrow 108 back

Arrow 109 - January 1950

Arrow 109 Back

Check the attic: Paperbacks turn golden Part I

2011-12-19T14:49:00.001-04:00

I recently found a fascinating article from the September 19, 1981 edition of The Windsor Star called "Check the attic: Paperbacks turn golden". The article discusses "the last great collecting frontier - early Canadian paperbacks". Thirty years on, not surprisingly, the frontier has yet to be conquered. I'll discuss the article over a number of posts.

The author, Alan Abrams, has Paul Rollinson, a book dealer and Canadian paperback collector, from Midland Ontario as his expert voice. The article begins with two well known Canadian authors' early books from Export Publishing Enterprises Ltd. - Hugh Garner and Raymond Souster. The two books and pseudonyms are nearly correctly identified, Garner's Waste No Tears and Souster's The Winter of Time (A Winter of Time in the article). But the publisher and imprint names are wrong - Export Publishing Company and Newstand Library, instead of News Stand Library.

The next paragraph briefly talks about Export and Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada's White Circle imprint as collectible. Export's "lurid' covers and dust jackets are mentioned. Four of the smaller publishers are noted - "Derby, Crow Editions, Howard and Superior."

Continued in part II.

Here are examples of "Derby, Crow Editions, Howard and Superior".

Derby 8 - 1950

Crow 40 - January 1950

Howard Publications - 1944

Superior - nd

Arrow Publishing Company Part I

2011-12-18T11:24:00.002-04:00

Arrow Publishing Company was one of a number of short lived Canadian mass market paperback publishers in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There is no publisher street address, only Toronto and New York. I don't know anything about the publisher. There are 20 books in the series: 100 - 103, 105 - 120. No one has ever seen a number 104.

There is a hint in number 102 below, Charm is Every Woman's Business, that the publisher is connected to Export Publishing Enterprises Ltd. The book is as poorly produced as Export's average book and the author's name is "Claire" on the front cover and spine and "Clare" on the back cover and title page. This is an Export "mark of distinction".

Each book's copyright page announces "This book has been selected for reprint because of its popular appeal and its successful record of sale when originally printed. The story is exactly as represented in the synopsis on the following page…". Even the eight paperback originals have this announcement. I haven't checked any of the books with the original editions but this sounds like a sneaky way of suggesting that the Arrow edition just might be abridged.

Here are the first three books in the series. The books are dated November 1949 and 128 pages long. All cover art is by D. Rickard.

Man and Woman first published New York: The Beechhurst Press, 1946
Easter Island first published New York: The Beechhurst Press, 1947
Charm is Every Woman's Business is a paperback original

Arrow 100 - November 1949

Arrow 100 back

Arrow 101 - November 1949

Arrow 101 back

Arrow 102 - November 1949

Arrow 102 back

Beaver Publications Part V

2011-12-16T11:42:00.004-04:00

Canada's first mass market paperback publisher, Beaver Publications of Hamilton, is vexatious and I recently found a few bits of information that do indeed vex.

The Hamilton Public Library has a copy of Modern Shorts with a handwritten notation on the title page beneath the name of the last author listed, Leslie Hamilton, that says "pseudonym of Henry Bolton". A check of Vernon's City of Hamilton Directory from the early forties tells us:

the only Henry Bolton listed is a salesman,
there is no listing for Beaver Publications, and
the only Leslie Hamilton listed is an employee of Robert Duncan & Co. who printed Modern Shorts.

Did a real Henry Bolton use the name of one of the printer's employees as a pseudonym? Is the notation in the book correct? Who was Henry Bolton?

The biography of Leslie Hamilton in Modern Shorts says very little but there is a picture of a very "authorial" man.

Tan Ming

2011-12-15T21:16:00.003-04:00

Lan Stormont was the pseudonym of Montreal's Morse Robb (1902-1992). His Tan Ming was published in 1955 by New York's Exposition Press, a vanity press. Robb's more enduring claim to fame is as an early inventor of the electric organ.

This book has nothing to do with early Canadian paperbacks but the author is Canadian and the book deserves a post.

Harlequin Science Fiction Part III

2011-12-15T10:11:00.003-04:00

The first five of seven SF titles Harlequin Books published between 1949 and 1959 are straightforward mid-century SF. Not so the last two. Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1912) is surely SF but isn't typically found in that corner of the bookstore. Forbidden by Lois Bull (1935 as Captive Goddess) is marginally SF as described in a contemporary advertisement:

Captive Goddess concerns an American aviator and one-time war ace, who is involved in an amazing series of adventures "somewhere east of Suez," on the island of Artocos. An English nobleman disguised as a sea captain, a sultan who is an Oxford graduate, a Forbidden Plateau: and its White Goddess, are but a few of the many remarkable characters the author has drawn in her latest mystery novel. The reader is taken from the squalor of Port Said, that wickedest of cities, to the splendor of a multi-millionaire sultan's summer palace, and he is taken in high-powered aircraft that mysteriously run short of fuel and deposit their pilots on the strangest island ever conceived by a writer of fiction.

Harlequin 238 - July 1953

Harlequin 238 back

Harlequin 314 - September 1954

Harlequin 314 back

I mentioned in part II of these posts that the 1970s Harlequin SF imprint, Laser Books, was not a success. One measure of that is the number of titles that were subsequently published in revised editions - six from a total of 58. Surely a record. Here are two.

Ruler of the World becomes This is the Way the World Begins (1977)

Epitaph in Rust becomes An Epitaph in Rust (1989). See here for Powers's discussion about the Laser edition.

Laser 24 - March 1976

Laser 47 - November 1976

Baxter Publishing

2011-12-14T10:45:00.003-04:00

Of the, depending how you count, twenty or so Canadian paperback publishers of the 1940s and 1950s only two are still in business. Harlequin Enterprises is one. But the other one is likely to come as a surprise. Around 1950 Baxter Publishing published eight paperbacks about the NHL, all written by sports journalist Ed Fitkin. Now called Baxter Publications, the Toronto company is an "all media" business for the travel and education industries.

The eight books are:

Maurice Richard: Hockey's Rocket
Come on Teeder!
Footloose in Hockey
Turk Broda of the Leafs
The "Gashouse Gang" of Hockey
Max Bentley: Hockey's Dipsy-Doodle Dandy
Detroit's Big Three
On the Hockey Beat

Maurice Richard: Hockey's Rocket - nd

Maurice Richard: Hockey's Rocket back

Harlequin Science Fiction Part II

2011-12-13T19:19:00.001-04:00

The first two (of seven) science fiction titles Harlequin Books published between 1949 and 1959 are old time SF. The Black Flame was first published in a 1930s pulp, then a 1940s hardcover, next a 1950s pulp and the Harlequin first paperback, with a 1960s paperback and 1990s hardcover (expanded edition) following. The House that Stood Still has been published in even more editions and titles.

Harlequin 177 - June 1952

Harlequin 177 back

Harlequin 205 - January 1953

Harlequin 205 back

In 1975 new Harlequin management tried to move beyond the romance field with a SF imprint - Laser Books. All original, the imprint was a failure and after 58 books was shut down. The much criticized editor, Roger Elwood, was touted in ads as "America's top SF editor" and "one of the best SF editors in the world". Here is one author's, Tim Powers, views on being published by Laser.

Laser 13 - 1975

Laser 13 back

Laser 26 - 1976

Laser 26 back

Harlequin Science Fiction Part I

2011-12-12T20:21:00.005-04:00

Harlequin Books published seven science fiction titles (of a total 477) from 1949 to 1959. Three were by John Russell Fearn (1908 - 1960). Fearn was an Englishman who in his relatively short life published well over a hundred SF, western, romance and crime novels, often under a pseudonym. He was a human Harlequin! Canadians of the 1940s and 1950s would have been familiar with Fearn in the Star Weekly magazine.

The three SF books published by Harlequin were from his Golden Amazon series, six of which were published in his lifetime. All were first published in hardback.

The Golden Amazon (London: World's Work, 1944)
The Golden Amazon Returns (London: World's Work, 1948 - Harlequin title - The Deathless Amazon)
The Golden Amazon's Triumph (London: World's Work, 1953)

Harlequin 218 - February 1953

Harlequin 218 back

Harlequin 320 - January 1955

Harlequin 320 back

Harlequin 421 - April 1958

Harlequin 421 back

The Owners of Export Publishing Enterprises Part II

2011-12-12T09:55:00.005-04:00

In part I I noted the three owner/managers of the late 40s/early 50s Toronto paperback publisher Export Publishing Enterprises Ltd and discussed the President. Here is the little bit I have found about the Vice-president, Frank R. Steele.

From Toronto City Directories:

1947 Power cable estimator - residence 202 Pacific Avenue,
1948 same,
1949 Vice-president, Export Publishing Enterprises - residence 202 Pacific Avenue,
1950 same,
1951 Vice-president, Export Publishing Enterprises - residence 126 Lakeshore Drive,
1952 no occupation - residence 126 Lakeshore Drive,
1953 Vice-president and sales manager, Periodical Publishers & Printers - residence 126 Lakeshore Drive,
1954 and 1955 no occupation but listings for "Harry M. Steele", who was an employee at Export, have Harry as an employee of "Frank R. Steele Publicity Service".

Steele's change in occupation from "power cable estimator" to publishing "executive" is the most interesting aspect of this biography and likely a first. How did he hook up with the other two owners?

His first residence, 202 Pacific Avenue, is walking distance from Export's first address at 3079 Dundas Street West and his second, 126 Lakeshore Drive, is a short drive from Export's second at 240 Birmingham Street. I can find nothing on "Periodical Publishers & Printers".

Here are three Export offerings from March 1949.

News Stand Library 30 - March 1949

News Stand Library 30 back

News Stand Library 31 - March 1949

New Stand Library 31 back

News Stand Library 32 - March 1949

News Stand Library 32 back

Fireside Publications Part III

2011-12-11T12:31:00.003-04:00

The most colourful of Toronto's Fireside Publications magazine sized "A 3.00 Immortal Classic for fifty cents" series is Rocket Flight to the Moon by Jules Verne. Of course this is a renamed From the Earth to the Moon, first published in 1865 as De la Terre a la Lune. The novel and its sequel Around the Moon (Autour de la Lune, 1870) have seen many English editions with modified titles but Fireside's is the only one with rocket in the title.

Subtitled "A story to kindle atomic-age imaginations", the Fireside edition is 96 pages and undated but circa 1950. The artist of the cover and eighteen internal illustrations is unknown.

Here are a couple of nineteenth century paperback editions of From the Earth to the Moon.

Toronto: Fireside, nd

New York: John W. Lovell, nd

London: Ward, Lock, nd

D. Rickard Part III

2011-12-10T18:24:00.002-04:00

I've said often here that I knew nothing about Canadian artist D. Rickard who illustrated dozens of paperbacks in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He is the only artist to have worked for the three big early Canadian paperback publishers - Wm Collins Sons & Co. Canada (White Circle), Export Publishing Enterprises (News Stand Library), and Harlequin Books.

A recent look through Toronto City Directories may have uncovered something about Rickard.

There is a listing in 1947 for "Douglas Rickard artist Canadian Art Centre, residence 68 Ferrier Avenue". There are no listings for 1948 to 1950 then in 1951 "Doug Rickard art director Harold F. Stanfield, residence 577 Glengrove Avenue West". The same residence but no occupation is seen for "Doug Rickard" in 1952 and 1953.

There is a listing in 1949 for "Rickard Studio (John Smith and Robert Nokes) commercial artists". This is the only year. The two artists then show up in subsequent years with different details. I don't think this is related to our Rickard.

Harold F. Stanfield Ltd was a Toronto advertising agency operating from 1944 to 1958. I can't find anything on a "Canadian Art Centre" in Toronto in the 1940s.

Here is a gallery of Rickard's work.

News Stand Library 54 - June 1949

News Stand Library 43 - May 1949

Harlequin 24 - December 1949

Harlequin 25 - December 1949

White Circle 540 - 1952

Arrow 102 - November 1949

Derby 3 - 1949

The Owners of Export Publishing Enterprises Part I

2011-12-09T20:07:00.004-04:00

In November 1946 Letters Patent for Export Publishing Enterprises Ltd were granted by the Secretary of State for Canada. Subsequent Annual Summaries filed with the Secretary note the three directors as Stanley Roland Schrag, Martin Kastner and Frank R. Steele. They were also the officers and owners of the company. In this post I'll introduce Schrag, about whom I can find very little.

Stanley R. Schrag's listings in Toronto City Directories:

1946 no occupation listed - residence 759 Indian Road,
1947 no occupation listed - residence 90 Delemere Avenue,
1948 President Export Publishing Enterprises - residence 120 Ellins Avenue,
1949 same,
1950 President Export Publishing Enterprises - residence Park Plaza Hotel,
1951 President Export Publishing Enterprises - residence Port Credit,
1952 not listed,
1953 Manager publishing Studio Publications - residence not listed. This is the from the listing for Studio, there is no separate listing for Schrag,
1954 and 1955 not listed.

A couple of comments. One is how unstable Schrag's home life was - five residences in six years. And this is the first documentary evidence of his connection to another Canadian publisher, Studio Publications. More on this in another post.

When we next see Schrag he's in Florida crossing paths with the well known author Richard S. Prather here and here in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The story is told here. Below are examples of his Export work and his later US efforts.

News Stand Library 119 - July 1950

News Stand Library 119 back

News Stand Library 48 - June 1949

News Stand Library 48 back

Neva Paperbacks Playtime Reading 760-S - 1966

Neva Paperbacks Playtime Reading 760-S back

Edge Staining Part I

2011-12-08T21:39:00.004-04:00

Recently, in one of Canada's largest bookstores, I chose one mystery book among thousands. The book caught my eye for one reason - it had stained edges. Dan Festerman's Layover in Dubai was published in June as one of the first four books in a new imprint from Vintage, Pocket Black Lizard. There are other features which make the book distinctive - a slightly smaller than trade trim size and an effective and appealing cover.

But it was the black edge stain that made me pick it up from the shelf. The publisher describes in its blog why edge staining, once common for mass market paperbacks, is difficult to produce today.

Here is what a May 1942 article in Quill & Quire (Vol. 8, No. 4, p. 24) has to say about edge staining for a new paperback imprint from Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd.

"The edges of the first few [White Circle] books were brush-stained with colour. Then a method of spraying them was discovered, which eliminates any untidy fringes of ink running down into the margins."

Collins used green (though different shades, some bluer than others) and red until 1944 then red only until the end of the imprint in 1952. A few books such as The Riding' Fool were published with both stains.

White Circle 80 - 1943

White Circle 80 back

Collins White Circle Reprints Part V

2011-11-25T10:11:00.002-04:00

A couple of recent posts from The Dusty Bookcase about Dyson Carter has inspired this post.

Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd was inconsistent in the way it handled reprints for the White Circle paperback imprint. Usually the reprint is indicated on the copyright page. Sometimes that is missing but new covers or new numbering in the series were used. Once in while there are more subtle differences between copies that might indicate reprints but nothing on the copyright page or anywhere else in the text block to confirm as a reprint.

Dyson Carter's Night of Flame is seen with two cover variants. The more common has a black irregular dot on the "G". It also has a green tint missing from the less common cover. This is most obvious on the bottom of the man's ear and in the shadows under the woman's arm. There is nothing else different about the books.

The Commandos by Elliott Arnold was first published by Collins in 1943 and again in 1945 with a different cover and series number. This version was reprinted in 1946 and indicated as such on the copyright page. There is a clear difference in the covers of the two printings. There is also a variance within the 1945 printing with one copy having a darker blue/green background which makes the black text hard to read.

White Circle 256 - 1946 with dot

White Circle 256 without dot

White Circle 256 back

White Circle 225 - 1945

White Circle 225 - 1945 variant

White Circle 225 - 1946 (2nd printing)

White Circle 225 back

Harlequin Today

2011-11-23T09:56:00.001-04:00

The latest Inside Romance from Harlequin Enterprises covers the books published in the 12 week period September 27 to December 20. There are 14 numbered series plus 4 unnumbered series. During this period the cumulative total for the numbered series passes 20,000. With around 65 published every four weeks in the numbered series, this total increases by some 850 every year, 1,100 including the unnumbered books. This is a bit over twice the number of books Harlequin published in their first 10 1/2 years. Another way of saying this is Harlequin now publishes more books in Canada in six months than in their first 10+ years. And this excludes all the foreign editions.

Something that caught my attention is the number of westerns that Harlequin lists for the 12 weeks - 50. All but of a handful are modern with stories about "a rancher who's an undercover FBI agent" or "a wealthy, sexy fun-loving cowboy". My guess is that the Western Writers of America would not consider any of these books western.

Here are a few early Harlequins from the only Harlequin author to have received the WWA's Spur Award (1956) for best western novel.

Harlequin 88 - December 1950

Harlequin 88 back

Harlequin 145 - December 1951

Harlequin 145 back

Harlequin 171 - May 1952

Harlequin 171 back

Canadian Paperbacks - Other Editions Part V

2011-11-17T20:46:00.001-04:00

In an earlier post I showed some of the non-Canadian paperback editions of Mickey Spillane's very popular first book I, the Jury. Once again the very first paperback edition from Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada leads followed by the first American, British and French. Then four later editions, two British and two American.

White Circle CD384 - 1948

NAL Signet 699 1st printing - December 1948

Arthur Barker 1st printing - 1952

Presses de la Cité Coll. Un Mystère n° 2 - 1950

NAL Signet 699 26th printing - December 1952

NAL Signet AE3543 77th printing - nd [after 1982]

Arthur Barker Dragon 31 - 1959

Corgi 9th printing - 1970

Harlequin Authors Part XIII - William G. Bogart

2011-11-13T09:29:00.003-04:00

William G. Bogart (1903-1977) was one of hundreds of writers of pulp fiction during the first half of the twentieth century. His claim to fame is ghosting The Shadow novels but I'm more interested in the fact that he was one of the few who wrote about the world of pulp fiction. In his "Johnny Saxon" stories he told of Saxon's careers as a P.I. and pulp fiction writer. The three novels are:

Hell on Friday (New York: Johnathan Swift, 1941) reprinted as Murder Man
Murder is Forgetful (New York: Mystery House, 1944) reprinted as Johnny Saxon
The Queen City Murder Case (New York: Mystery House, 1946).

Only the first book features Saxon's career in the pulp field.

Harlequin Books published their editions in 1950 and 1951 out of sequence and were the last until 2010 when Altus Press published an omnibus edition Hell on Friday. The cover is from the first edition of Hell on Friday.

Harlequin 57 - June 1950

Harlequin 57 back

Harlequin 68 - August 1950

Harlequin 68 back

Harlequin 114 - May 1951

Harlequin 114 back