James Hadley Chase's The Flesh of the Orchid was first published in 1948 (London: Jarrolds). Harlequin published its edition in 1951 with one of their distinctive covers. Recently I was surprised to see another edition of Flesh of the Orchid [sic], published by Bruin Books in December 2009, with the same cover. Given Harlequin's concerns over "infringement of its intellectual property rights" (see here for example) I'm curious how the new edition has escaped notice. It is unlikely Bruin secured the right to use the cover.
Its interesting to compare the covers. Bruin has made small changes - the horizontal bar shadows at the right are gone. The image has been shifted to the right and down with another bar added at the left and the woman's face has been subtly changed.
Bruin Books
Harlequin 111 - April 1951
Harlequin 111 back
"Does Harlequin Know?"
ReplyDeleteGiven their recent history, I'm betting not. That said, it would be interesting to see if there is any sort of acknowledgement in the new Bruin edition.
I note that Bruin didn't use Harlequin's cover image in their No Orchids for Miss Blandish reissue. This too looks to be an old pulp painting, but I can't place it.
I'm trying to get the Bruin edition - curious to see what they've done. I can't place the other Chase cover either. The "Knock Three-Two-One" is effective - don't know source for that one.
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