Harlequin Artists Part XXXIX - Paul Berta

In my last post I noted the signature of an artist on a 1958 Harlequin cover that I could not entirely decipher. A recent correspondent (thanks, Grant) has found the artist. He is Paul Berta. A now retired Toronto artist, this was Berta's only cover for Harlequin.

Berta is the 23rd Harlequin cover artist from the first 500 books that I have at least a partial name. I recently completed a survey of these Harlequin artists and here is the summary.

The art on 11 of the first 500 covers had been used on an earlier book. The remaining 489 books included seven covers with photographs and one with only text, leaving 481 books with original art. The work of at least 32 artists is seen on these books, some relatively well known, most forgotten and some anonymous. A surprising 304 (63%) covers are signed by 23 artists (22 men, one woman), three of whom are known to be alive in 2018. I have identified the likely artist on 62 of the unsigned covers, meaning 366 (76%) of the covers have identified art. On the remaining 115 books there are 14 covers with the unknown initials or unintelligible signatures of nine artists.

Here are a few covers from the 23 artists.

D. Rickard - Harlequin 75 - September 1950

Lyle Glover - Harlequin 84 - November 1950

Wesley Chapman - Harlequin 131 - September 1951

Friede - Harlequin 189 - September 1952

Harlequin Artists Part XXXVIII - Who?

I've been reviewing the artwork on the first 500 Harlequin books the last few weeks - trying to identify the remaining unknown artists. Here's one that continues to puzzle. There is a signature but I cannot decipher completely. I see "Paul (B or E)??t?".

It appears to be his only work for Harlequin.

Harlequin 434 - August 1958

Harlequin 434 artist

Two Solitudes Part III

In the first of the posts on the Canadian novel Two Solitudes I highlighted the new edition from McGill-Queen's University Press. McGill holds Hugh MacLennan's archives, including this correspondence between him and Margaret Paull about Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada's paperback editions of two of his novels.

Did Collins eventually cut 39 pages? A quick comparison of the two editions shows that the foreword and chapter 39 are missing. But these are 3 or 4 pages. Only a close reading will establish if more is cut. The Collins's edition is 320 pages, the maximum they published in this series.

White Circle CD540 - 1952

McGill-Queen's Press - 2018

Collins White Circle Artists Part XXXVIII - Harold Rayner (2)

In my first post on Canadian mid-century Canadian artist Harold Rayner I showed his first three of six covers for publisher Wm. Collins & Sons Canada.

I have some more information on Rayner. His nephew, Gordon Rayner, was an artist who, in this piece, describes his early life with his father, Gordon, and his uncle, Harold, both artists.

Here are the last three of his White Circle covers.

White Circle CD495 - 1951

White Circle CD527 - 1951

White Circle CD538 - 1952

Collins White Circle Artists Part XXXVII - George Menendez Rae (2)

A recent corespondent (thanks, Steve) has alerted me to a very small, obscure signature on the cover of an early Canadian paperback that I had missed.

The signature is "RAE" who is Canadian illustrator George Menendez Rae (1906-1992). In my first post about Rae I showed two covers he did for Wm. Collins & Sons Canada's White Circle Pocket Library. This is the third and I have now identified a fourth.

Below is one of the oddest of the 376 illustrated covers in the White Circle imprint. Plus a tamer Western.

White Circle 325 - 1947

WC 325 artist

White Circle 329 - 1947

Export Publishing Bibliography Part VIII

Here is the third and final title from Toronto's Export Publishing that has recently been published by Montreal's Vehicule Press. There is a Canadian Export edition (84) and an US edition (20A).

84 Sugar Puss on Dorchester Street

A1.a.

SUGAR PUSS | ON | DORCHESTER STREET | [ornament: company logo] | By | AL PALMER

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-7 [8] 9-15 [16] 17-21 [22] 23-39 [40] 41-45 [46] 47-67 [68] 69-73 [74] 75-79 [80] 81-93 [94] 95-122 [123] [124] 125-141 [142] 143-149 [150] 151-159 [160]; 177 x 107 mm.

Contents: p. [1] About this book…; [2] NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | First Printing NOVEMBER, 1949 | Printed and Bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title; [4] blank; 5-7 PREFACE; [8] blank; 9-10 THE CHARACTERS; 11-159 text; [160] blank.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers pattern with logo – vivid red.

Note: Paperback original. Signed art by D. Rickard. 

A1.b.

Collation: [1-5¹⁶]; pp. [1-4] 5-6 [7] [8] 9 [10] 11-21 [22] 23-39 [40] 41-45 [46] 47-67 [68] 69-73 [74] 75-79 [80] 81-93 [94] 95-117 [118] 119-122 [123-124] 125-141 [142] 143-159 [160].

Binding: Stapled gatherings. Inside covers pattern with logo – moderate brown. “SUGAR PUSS” on back cover shifted 7 mm to left.

20A Sugar-Puss on Dorchester Street 

A1.a.

SUGAR-PUSS | On Dorchester Street | To Sean Edwin | who didn’t give a damn either! | by Al Palmer

Collation: pp. [1-7] 8 [9] 10 [11] 12-39 [40-42] 43-78 [79-81] 82-125 [126-129] 130-159 (but with an unnumbered first page for 21 of the 25 chapters) [160]; 176 x 106 mm.

Contents: p. [1] the book at a glance; [2] | NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | First Printing February, 1950 | Printed and bound in Canada | [ornament: company logo] | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK;  [3] title; [4] ALL NAMES, CHARACTERS, | AND EVENTS IN THIS BOOK | ARE FICTIONAL, AND ANY |  RESEMBLANCE TO REAL | PERSONS WHICH MAY SEEM | TO EXIST IS PURELY CO- | INCIDENTAL.; [5]-159 text; [160] blank.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers pattern with logo – moderate brown. “KN” on spine printed red, “20A” on spine black. Back cover copy: “Sugar Puss | ON DORCHESTER STREET” at top of blurb and “Sugar Puss” larger font size; “A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION” at bottom of blurb.

Note: Paperback original. Signed art by Sid Dyke.

A1.b.

Binding: Inside covers pattern as A1.a.“KN” on spine printed black, “20A” as A1.a. Back cover blurb as A1.a.

A1.c.

Binding: Inside covers pattern with logo – vivid blue. “KN” and “20A” on spine as A1.a. Back cover blurb as A1.a.

A1.d.

Binding: Inside covers pattern with logo – vivid red. “KN” on spine as A1.a, “20A” printed red. Back cover copy is advertisement for In Passion’s Fiery Pit.

A1.e.

Binding: Inside covers pattern with logo – vivid red. “KN” and “20A” as A1.d. Back cover copy: “Sugar Puss | On Dorchester Street” at top of blurb, both same font size; “A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION” missing. 

A1.e.DJ

Binding: Inside covers patter with logo – vivid red. Spine and back cover as A1.e. Dust jacket attached at spine – number C8.

Vehicule - 2013

Vehicule Back

Export Publishing Bibliography Part VII

Here is the second of Export's books that have been recently published by Vehicule Press of Montreal. This is an early book from Export which illustrates how messy the bibliographic data are for the early books. There are two Export editions - one sold in Canada (13S) and one sold in the US (2A). The Vehicule Press edition uses the US edition's cover from New American Library.

The Long November has confusing numbering. The November 1948 first printing is numbered “13 S”. There are two versions numbered “R15” which indicates a second printing, but the copyright page is unchanged from the first printing. A stated April 1949 second printing is numbered “3R15” which indicates a fourth printing. I have not seen a copy with “2R15”. There is no book numbered “15”.

  

13 S The Long November

A1.a.

The | LONG | NOVEMBER| By JAMES BENSON NABLO | [ornament: company logo] | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: [1-4¹⁶ 5-6⁸]; p. [1-4] 5-160; 170 x 109 mm.

Contents: p. [1] The Story; [2] Copyright, 1946 | By James Benson Nablo | All rights reserved. | Printed in Canada. | First News Stand Library edition | November, 1948. | EXPORT PUBLISHING ENTERPRISES LIMITED | 3079 Dundas St. W. Toronto 9; [3] title; [4] For | BERTA KASLOW; 5-160 text.

Binding: Stapled signatures. Inside covers illustration – strong yellow green. Title on spine black. Border on back cover on three sides – top, right and bottom. The book description on the back cover differs from the description on page [1].

Note: First published New York: E. P. Dutton, 1946. Signed art by Sid Dyke. Text contains a number of errors including a stray line 11 on page 115 and line 25 repeating line 30 on page 117.

A1.b.

Binding: Stapled signatures. Inside covers illustration – as A1.a. Title and author missing from back cover.

A2. second printing - number R15

Collation: [1-5¹⁶]; pp. as A1.a.

Binding: Stapled signatures. Inside covers illustration – vivid red. Title on spine black and larger than A1.a. Back cover title green and larger than A1.a, author as A1.a. Border on back cover on two sides – top and bottom. Back cover blurb reset.

Note: Errors on pages 115 and 117 not corrected.

A3. third or fourth printing - number 3R15

Collation: as A2.

[2] Copyright, 1946 | By James Benson Nablo | All Rights Reserved. | Printed in Canada. | First News Stand Library Edition | November, 1948 | Second News Stand Library Edition | April, 1949 | EXPORT PUBLISHING ENTERPRISES LIMITED | 3079 DUNDAS STREET WEST TORONTO

Binding: Stapled signatures. Inside covers illustration – blank white. Title on spine as A2.a but green. Book number and “MDS” printed in green. Bands on back cover as A2.a but red. Back cover blurb as A2.a. Front cover red rather than purple as in A1.a, A1.b, A2 and B1.

Note: Errors on pages 115 and 117 not corrected. 

B1. second edition - number R15

Collation: as A2.

Binding: Stapled signatures. Inside covers illustration – strong reddish brown. Title on spine as A1.a. Back cover title and author as A1.a. Bands and blurb on back cover as A2.

Note: Errors on pages 115 and 117 fixed by removing the lines but not resetting the pages.

  

2A The Long November

A1.a.

The | LONG | NOVEMBER| By JAMES BENSON NABLO | [ornament: company logo] | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-160; 171 x 109 mm.

Contents: p. [1] This Book in Brief; [2] blacked out [COPYRIGHT 1946 | BY JAMES BENSON NABLO | All Rights Reserved] | FIRST NEWS STAND LIBRARY EDITION | PUBLISHED JUNE 1949 | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | NEW TORONTO CANADA | Printed and Bound in Canada; [3] title; [4] For | Berta Kaslow; 5-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – light purplish gray.

Note: First published – New York: E. P. Dutton, 1946. The description of the book on page [1] is identical to the NSL first series edition (13 S + R15) except that “in Canada” has been deleted from the end of the first sentence.

  

A1.b.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – light orange.

Vehicule Press - 2014

Vehicule Press - back

Export Publishing Bibliography Part VI

Montreal's Vehicule Press has just published its 13th Ricochet Book - John Buell's 4 Days. Three of their books were originally published by Export Publishing. Here are the Export bibliographic entries and the Vehicule edition for Waste No Tears. There are two Export editions, a Canadian (116) and an US (27A).

116 Waste No Tears

A1.

WASTE | NO | TEARS | by | JARVIS | WARWICK | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-5] 6-160; 177 x 108 mm.

Contents: p. [1] The Book at a Glance; [2] NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | First Printing | July 1950 | Printed and bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title; [4] blank; [5]-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – slate blue. 

Note: Paperback original. Pseudonym of Hugh Garner. Signed art by Sid Dyke. 

27A Waste No Tears

A1.a.

WASTE | NO | TEARS | by | JARVIS | WARWICK | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-160; 176 x 109 mm.

Contents: p. [1] The Book at a Glance; [2] NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | First Printing | July 1950 | Printed and bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title; [4] blank; 5-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers pattern with logo – light blue.

Note: Paperback original. Pseudonym of Hugh Garner. Signed art by Sid Dyke.  

Vehicule Press - 2014

Vehicule Press back

Export Publishing Bibliography Part V

The name of this blog is from a review of an Export Publishing PBO. It is the only review I have found of any of Export's 52 PBOs.

“Two things, perhaps, excuse our giving [The Winter of Time] so much space: first, that there is some reasonably good writing in it, whence it is shameful that Mr. Holmes should have aimed so low; second, that this kind of book, deliberately offered by some fly-by-night publisher in the hope of wringing a few dollars from the sex-starved, is a relatively new thing in Canadian publishing. Or do I not get around enough?” 

Allan Sangster, “The Winter of Time”, The Canadian Forum, May 1950 pp. 45, 46.  

Below is the bibliographic entry for The Winter of Time. The author is Raymond Souster, a well known Canadian poet.

85 The Winter of Time

A1.a.

The | Winter | Of Time | By RAYMOND HOLMES | [ornament: company logo] | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-160; 178 x 108 mm.

Contents: p. [1] About this book… [2] NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | First Printing NOVEMBER, 1949 | Printed and Bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title; [4] blank; 5-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers pattern with logo – red.

Note: Paperback original. Pseudonym of Raymond Souster. Signed art by D. Rickard.

   

A1.b.

Collation: [1-5¹⁶].

Binding: Stapled gatherings. Inside covers pattern with logo – black. Title and author name on back cover shifted to the left 5 mm and 8 mm respectively. Yellow blob on fire hydrant, lower left front cover.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Last Friday was the 65th anniversary of the broadcast of the first film version of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Eddie Albert is Winston and Canada's Lorne Greene (1915-1987) is O'Brien. 

The first Canadian edition of Nineteen Eight-Four was published in 1949 by S. J. Reginald Saunders of Toronto. I don't know when or if a Canadian paperback edition was published. Here are the first US and UK paperbacks plus a glimpse of a younger Lorne Greene at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.

Penguin 972 - 1954

Penguin 972 back

Signet 798 - July 1950

Signet 798 back

Export Publishing Bibliography Part IV

My Export Publishing bibliography is now finished. Here are a couple more entries. These are two of the more uncommon books that Export published.

122 The Gorilla’s Daughter

A1.

THE | GORILLA’S | DAUGHTER | by | THOMAS P. KELLEY | [ornament: company logo] | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-127 [128-130] 131-160; 177 x 107 mm.

Contents: p. [1] This Book at a Glance; [2] NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | Copyright 1950 by | EXPORT PUBLISHING ENTERPRISES LIMITED | First Printing | August 1950 | Printed and Bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | Toronto London New York; [3] title; [4] blank; 5-127 text; [128] blank; [129] AWAKEN | THE DEAD! | by HALLS WELLS; [130] blank; 131-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – greenish brown.

Note: Paperback original. “This Book at a Glance” on page [1] and back cover blurb have “defenseless” spelled as “defenceless.” 

A2.a. second printing – number R122

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – blue. Back cover blurb has “defenseless” spelled correctly but “This Book at a Glance” is still incorrect.

A2.b.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – light black. Back cover blurb and “This Book at a Glance” as A2.a.

123 Spicy Detective Stories 

A1.

SPICY | DETECTIVE | STORIES | By | N. WOOTEN POGE | ELLERY WATSON CALDER | ROBERT A. GARRON | ROBERT LESLIE BELLEM | ARTHUR WALLACE | CARY MORAN | KEN COOPER | COLBY QUINN | PETER GRANT | [ornament: company logo] | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-98 [99] 100-160 177 x 108 mm.

Contents: p. [1] This Book at a Glance; [2] NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | Printed and Bound in Canada | First Printing | August 1950 | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title; [4] blank; 5-24 Silk Stocking Clue; 25-40 Murder Debt; 41-58 The Thin Dame; 59-78 Gypsum Blizzard; 79-96 Lady Dick; 97-118 Case of the Limber Corpse; 119-136 Death in the Third Act; 137-144 Killer’s Rights; 145-160 Star Witness.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – blue. 

Note: Paperback original. The stories were first published in the May 1937 issue (Volume 7 #1), of the American pulp of the same name published by New York’s Culture Publications. The front cover lists the first eight stories with the title “Eight Daring Detective Stories”. The ninth story, Star Witness, is missing. A comic strip in the pulp is not in the Export book.

The listed authors are:

Silk Stocking – N. Wooten Poge. Pseudonym of Norvell W. Page.

Murder Debt – Ellery Watson Calder. Pseudonym of Robert Leslie.

The Thin Dime – Robert A. Garron. Pseudonym of Howard Wandrei.

Gypsum Blizzard – Robert Leslie Bellem.

Lady Dick – Arthur Wallace.

Case of the Limber Corpse – Cary Moran. Pseudonym of Edwin Truett Long.

Death in the 3^rd Act – Ken Cooper.

Killer’s Right – Colby Quinn.

Star Witness – Peter Grant.

Export Publishing Bibliography Part III

Here are two more entries from my bibliography of early Canadian paperback publisher Export Publishing. These are two of the 28 books Export published for the US market. But first some comments on bibliography.

A descriptive bibliography includes the following techniques: (a) transcription of the title page, (b) collation of the book, (c) details of the book’s contents, (d) list of states, (e) binding information and (f) other information about the book.

Capital letters designate editions, numbers following the letter designate impressions (printings) and lowercase letters designate states. An edition is defined as all copies resulting from a single job of typographical composition such as plates. An impression is all copies of an edition printed at the same time and a state is a variation in an impression, either of the text block or the wrappers. 

6A Sin For Your Supper

A1.

SIN | For Your | SUPPER | by | MILTON DOUGLAS | [ornament: company logo] | A NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-160; 180 x 111 mm.

Contents: p. [1] This Book In Brief…; [2] FIRST PRINTING | NEWS STAND LIBRARY POCKET EDITION | JUNE, 1949 | Printed and Bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title [4] blank; 5-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – light gray.

Note: Paperback original. 

A1.DJ

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration as A1.a. Dust jacket attached at spine – number 19.

  

7A The Pagans

A1.

THE PAGANS | By JACK BENEDICT | [ornament: company logo] |A NEWS STAND LIBRARY | POCKET EDITION

Collation: pp. [1-4] 5-160; 179 x 102 mm.

Contents: p. [1] About This Book [2] FIRST PRINTING | NEWS STAND LIBRARY EDITION | AUGUST, 1949 | Printed and Bound in Canada | Export Publishing Enterprises Limited | TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK; [3] title [4] Let us drink! – who would not? – Since | Through life’s varied round, | In the goblet alone no deception is found. | LORD BYRON; 5-160 text.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration – light gray.

Note: Paperback original. Unsigned art by D. Rickard. At p.53 there is an error in the text. 

B1.

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration light gray.

Note: Text reset starting at p.53 correcting the error in A1.

B1.DJ

Binding: Perfect. Inside covers illustration as A1. and B1. Dust jacket attached at spine – number 14.