I recently learned (thanks Morgan) about an early Canadian mass market paperback that I did not know existed. It joins another book in a series that I had always thought was the only one published.
The publishing history for these two books is confusing to say the least. Both title pages list the publisher as "The National Publishing Company" of Toronto. On unnumbered page seven National is repeated with a 1945-46 copyright date. The inside front cover notes two other companies. The first is "Century Publications Ltd." with a 1946 copyright date below that. Below that is "Printed by Duchess Printing and Publishing Co. Limited", also in Toronto. The cover, inside front cover and spine have a circle with "A Superior Publication" around a maple leaf. The back cover has a larger version of the circle. Both books are 256 pages. Neither book has signed art work which is by the same artist.
The two books are:
The Damned Lover by Roswell Williams. First published 1933, The Macaulay Company of New York.
Some Take a Lover by Ann Du Pre (pseudonym for Grace Lumpkin). First published 1933, The Macaulay Company.
The Duchess/Superior connection is seen on a number of other books. For example see one here and a non-Duchess Superior here. But these are the only two (so far) with National as the publisher. The Century listing is a mystery. There was a Century in Chicago that published paperbacks circa 1945-1947 but not these two books.
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