William's Grandmother

Less than 20 of the 481 titles Harlequin Books published between 1949 and 1959 were original. Virtually all of  the Harlequin editions were reprints of American and British books.

The Royal Story was one of the few Canadian reprints. The original edition was published in hardcover by McGraw-Hill in December 1952. The Harlequin edition was published the next month and is technically a reprint because it was printed from the same plates as the McGraw-Hill edition.

There are two variants of the Harlequin printing. The first is identical to the McGraw-Hill with the title Royal Story on the half-title and title pages and the odd sequence title page, blank, copyright page, half-title. The other Harlequin variant has the correct title and correct sequence half-title, blank, title, copyright. I don't know if there is a McGraw-Hill edition with the corrections. The other difference between the Harlequin variants is the cover title which is first red and then red/blue in the second.

McGraw-Hill

Harlequin 213 variant 1

Harlequin 213 variant 2

Harlequin 213 back