A Rare Publishing Event

This month, thanks to Montreal publisher Vehicule Press, Canadians will see in bookstores, for the first time in nearly 75 years, a paperback cover with a very unusual history.

Toronto paperback publisher Export Publishing Enterprises was in business from mid 1948 to early 1951. In addition to books sold in Canada, Export published 28 titles for the US market. Here is my first post on these books. Twenty of the books were published with a dust jacket, including Sugar-Puss on Dorchester Street by Al Palmer. Vehicule has just published its second edition of the title reproducing the US dust jacket cover. The first edition has the original cover seen in Canada.

None of the other nineteen covers have ever been seen since their original publication. And likely never will. Sadly the dust jacket artists are unknown.

Vehicule Press - November 2024

Vehicule Press - back

News Stand Library 20A - February 1950

News Stand Library 20A  - cover under dust jacket

Harlequin's 75th Anniversary

This past May Harlequin celebrated its 75th anniversary.

In May 1949 Harlequin published two books - The Manatee and Lost House. Over 40,000 titles and 6.7 billion copies later (see Harlequin press release), in May 2024, four Harlequin Romance titles were published. The Harlequin Romance series is the direct descendent of the earliest Harlequins. We know this because Harlequin has maintained the numbering for over 75 years, a record unmatched by any other publisher.

The first title published in May 2024 is Secretly Married to a Prince, number 4899 in the series. Next up, in June 2026, is #5000.

Harlequin 1 May 1949

Harlequin 2 May 1949

Harlequin Romance 4899 May 2024 

Retitled Harlequins Part IV

In my last post in this series I noted that 17 of the 88 retitled Harlequins from 1949 to 1959 were first published by British romance publisher Mills & Boon. The original titles are clearly not specific enough for the Harlequin's editor. Nearly all give no hint, at least to a Canadian audience, that the story is about nurses and doctors. The books were published in 1958 and 1959 when Harlequin realized how well romance sold compared to the non-romance Harlequins. 

• 423 Arbor, Jane Nurse Greve [City Nurse]
• 427 Norway, Kate  Nurse Brookes [Sister Brookes of Byng's]
• 439 Vinton, Anne Hospital In Sudan [Doctor Immacula]
• 443 Gilzean, Elizabeth Nurse On Call [On Call, Sister!]
• 446 Moore, Marjorie To Please the Doctor [Borne on the Wind]
• 449 Hoy, Elizabeth Nurse in Training [Come Back My Dream]
• 454 Arbor, Jane Nurse In Love [Such Frail Armour]
• 459 Moore, Marjorie Ring for the Nurse [Second Love]
• 463 Norway, Kate  Nurse Brodie [The Morning Star]
• 469 Seale, Sara Maggy [House of Glass]
• 477 Vinton, Anne Hospital Blue [Caprice in Hospital Blue]
• 482 Arbor, Jane Nurse Harlowe [Folly of the Heart]
• 485 Houghton, Elizabeth Island Hospital [A Sister in the Backwoods]
• 489 Arbor, Jane Consulting Surgeon [Flower of the Nettle]
• 491 Hoy, Elizabeth Nurse Tennant [Sally in the Sunshine]
• 492 Moore, Marjorie Hospital Pro [Follow a Dream]
• 497 Hoy, Elizabeth Doctor Garth [You Took My Heart]

Harlequin 439 - October 1958

Harlequin 443 - November 1958

Harlequin 423 - May 1958

Harlequin 427 - June 1958

157 and Counting

The British North American Act, enacted March 29, 1867 by the British Parliament, provided for Confederation of the three British North American colonies, Canada (Upper and Lower), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Now much amended as the Constitution Act, 1867, it was proclaimed into law on July 1, 1867 and Canada was born. The first official birthday celebration was in 1868, July 1 being named Dominion Day in 1879 and Canada Day in 1982.

The 13th Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker, was two weeks shy of his first anniversary when Canadians bought the June 7, 1958 Star Weekly. There are four parts - a 28 page article section, a 56 page magazine, a 20 page comic section and a 12 page novel - 116 pages for 15 cents.

In the middle of the magazine we see a two page map titled "See Canada's Parks This Summer" with an accompanying three page article. The article mentions 29,000 square miles of national and provincial parks. Based on the parks drawn on the map there are 15 national parks with around 8-12,000 square miles, the rest provincial. Today the national park system is 39 parks covering 130,000 square miles.

Star Weekly Magazine - June 7, 1958, page 28

Star Weekly Magazine - June 7, 1958,  page 29

Newspaper Novels Part X

In part VIII of my Newspaper Novels series I discussed the The Bangor Daily News "Book of the Week Complete Novel". I mentioned that the Daily News started using the Toronto Star Weekly novels in 1941 but had published their own at least for a couple of years. That's not entirely true. The Bangor Daily News novels were also seen in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The inserts have two differences. The Philadelphia version's illustrations are in colour and the Bangor version is 7.4 cm/3 inches longer with decorative features at the top and bottom of each page.

Did both newspapers get their novels from another source or did one create?

Here are three more.

October 28, 1939 - The Nation's Missing Guest by Hulbert Footner (Harper & Brothers, 1939)

August 26, 1939 - Moon Over Acadie by Louis Arthur Cunningham (Penn, 1937)

March 30, 1940 - Border of Blades by H. Bedford-Jones and W. R. Foran (first separate - first seen in the July 1913 issue of The Argosy)

Bangor Daily News - August 26, 1939

Bangor Daily News - March 30, 1940

Bangor Daily News - October 28, 1939

Retitled Harlequins Part III

In my last post I listed the 88 books Harlequin published from 1949 to 1959 that were retitled by Harlequin. Here I'll discuss the original publishers of these titles. 

One surprising number for me is the number of publishers - 36. Mills & Boon leads with 17, Phoenix Press seven and Dodge and Mystery House tied with five. There are 21 publishers with only one book. Did Harlequin have to deal with every publisher for permission to change? Were there agents acting for some of the publishers? I would love to find an example of a contract between Harlequin and a publisher. No doubt somewhere buried in an archive one exists.

Here are four from Phoenix Press. 

Harlequin 142 - November 1951

Harlequin 146 - December 1951

Harlequin 192 - November 1952

Harlequin 236 - July 1953

Retitled Harlequins Part II

Here I discussed the 88 books Harlequin Books published from 1949 to 1959 retitled by Harlequin. This is 20% of the 455 previously published titles Harlequin sold during these years. Harlequin very rarely acknowledged the change. A few of the changes are slight, most are not. For example, "Murder" is added to the title three times, removed six times and "Nurse" is added to the title eight times, removed once.

The original title is in square brackets. 

• 11 King-Hall, Magdalen The Wicked Lady Skelton [The Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton]
• 32 Hecht, Ben Hollywood Mystery [I Hate Actors]
• 42 Michel, M. Scott     House In Harlem [Sweet Murder]
• 49 Evans, John    Weep Not Fair Lady [If You Have Tears]
• 57 Bogart, William    Murder Man [Hell on Friday]
• 64 Michel, M. Scott      Sinister Warning [The X-Ray Murders]
• 75 Grinstead, J.E.    Maverick Guns [Guardians of the Range]
• 77 Jerome, Owen Fox A Night At Club Bagdad [The Corpse Awaits]
• 86 Jerome, Owen Fox Double Life [Murder - As Usual]
• 99 Miller, Bill + Bob Wade Murder - Queen High [Pop Goes the Queen]
• 100 Cole, Jackson Black Rider [Six-Gun Stampede]
• 103 Hall, O. M.         Wanton City [Murder City]
• 114 Bogart, William Johnny Saxon [Murder is Forgetful]
• 115 Roeburt, John Manhattan Underworld [There are Dead Men in Manhattan]
• 126 Kane, Frank Death About Face [About Face]
• 129 Findley, Ferguson Hire This Killer [Waterfront]
• 138 Prole, Lozania Emma Hart [Our Dearest Emma]
• 142 Stone, Thomas   Doctor By Day [Doctor Tony]
• 146 Westland, Lynn   Trail Rider [Over the Frontier Trail]
• 153 Cody, Al         Outlaw Valley [Forlorn Valley]
• 154 Hirsch, Richard      Rasputin and Crimes that Shook the World [Crimes that Shook the World]
• 171 Ernenwein, Leslie Savage Justice [Boss of Panamint]
• 172 Lehman, Paul Evan Gun Law [Texas Vengeance]
• 173 De Lange, Anneke Anna [Anna Luhanna]
• 174 Leitfred, Robert H. Murder Is My Racket [Death Cancels the Evidence]
• 190 Drake, H.B. Slave Ship [The Captain of the Jehovah]
• 194 Shott, Abel Triggerman [The Renegade Kid]
• 202 Fairman, Paul W. Copper Town [The Heiress of Copper Butte]
• 220 Garth, Will         Masked Rider [Lawless Guns]
• 230 Singer, Kurt Women Spies [The Worlds Thirty Greatest Women Spies]
• 231 Robb, John (Norman Robson) Legionnaire [American Legionnaire]
• 233 Cocking, Ronald       Die With Me Lady [Weep no More, Lady]
• 236 Hopson, William Gunthrower [Gun-thrower]
• 237 Key, Alexander    Island Of Escape [Island Light]
• 243 Anderson, Oliver School For Love [Grit and Polish]
• 245 Chase, James Hadley    The Soft Touch [The Fast Buck]
• 248 Westland, Lynn     Legion Of The Lawless [Texas Red]
• 258 Berg, Louis     World Behind Bars [Revelations of a Prison Doctor]
• 260 McCulley, Johnston The Outlaw Trail [Reckless Range]
• 268 Plaidy, Jean The Unholy Woman [The Italian Woman]
• 272 Prole, Lozania The Fabulous Nell Gwynne [Pretty, Witty Nell!]
• 274 Cody, Al         Lost Valley [Guns of Lost Valley]
• 281 Leinster, Murray        Outlaw Deputy [Black Sheep]
• 285 Cody, Al      Texas Outlaw [Bad Hombre] by Archie Joscelyn
• 288 Sinclair, Gordon   Bright Path to Adventure [Bright Paths To Adventure]
• 290 Timms, E.V. The Violent Years [Forever to Remain]
• 293 Webster, M. Coates      Mona [Derelict Alley]
• 297 McCary, Reed The Vice Merchants [Sleep with the Devil]
• 302 Hancock, Lucy Agnes   The Nurse [The Nurse at Whittle's]
• 305 Saber, Robert O. Out Of The Night [The Black Dark Murders]
• 311 Goodis, David Convicted [Dark Passage]
• 313 Hancock, Lucy Agnes   Hospital Nurse [Nurse Kathy Decides]
• 314 Bull, Lois           Forbidden [Captive Goddess]
• 319 Walker, Dorothy Pierce Woman Doctor [Kate Fuller, M.D.]
• 320 Fearn, John Russell The Deathless Amazon [The Golden Amazon Returns]
• 329 Russell, Victor People Of The Night [A Kingdom by Night]
• 330 Timms, E.V. Convict Town [The Beckoning Shore]
• 331 Timms, E.V. Woman in Chains [The Pathway of the Sun]
• 335 Ullman, Albert E. Hoodlum Alley [At Your Service]
• 338 Hancock, Lucy Agnes District Nurse [North Side Nurse]
• 340 Marshall, Raymond The Pick-Up [But a Short Time To Live]
• 341 Marshall, Raymond Ruthless [Trusted Like the Fox]
• 342 Ford, Marcia Nancy Craig, R.N. [Dixie Nurse]
• 343 Cody, Al Gun Thunder Valley [Gun Thunder Valley!]
• 345 Cody, Al The Gunman [Two-Gun Vengeance] by Archie Joselyn
• 350 Coburn, Walt The Renegade [The Way of a Texan]
• 382 Marshall, Raymond Never Trust A Woman  [In a Vain Shadow]
• 388 Dern, Peggy Doctor Scott [The Other Dear Charmer]
• 404 Lehman, Paul Evan Law In The Saddle [Only the Brave]
• 411 Grinstead, J.E. Range King [King of the Rangeland]
• 423 Arbor, Jane Nurse Greve [City Nurse]
• 427 Norway, Kate Nurse Brookes [Sister Brookes of Byng's]
• 429 Curwood, James Oliver Steele Of The Royal Mounted [Philip Steele of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police]
• 439 Vinton, Anne Hospital In Sudan [Doctor Immacula]
• 443 Gilzean, Elizabeth Nurse On Call [On Call, Sister!]
• 446 Moore, Marjorie To Please the Doctor [Borne on the Wind]
• 449 Hoy, Elizabeth Nurse in Training [Come Back My Dream]
• 454 Arbor, Jane Nurse In Love [Such Frail Armour]
• 459 Moore, Marjorie Ring for the Nurse [Second Love]
• 463 Norway, Kate Nurse Brodie [The Morning Star]
• 469 Seale, Sara Maggy [House of Glass]
• 477 Vinton, Anne Hospital Blue [Caprice in Hospital Blue]
• 482 Arbor, Jane Nurse Harlowe [Folly of the Heart]
• 485 Houghton, Elizabeth Island Hospital [A Sister in the Backwoods]
• 489 Arbor, Jane Consulting Surgeon [Flower of the Nettle]
• 491 Hoy, Elizabeth Nurse Tennant [Sally in the Sunshine]
• 492 Moore, Marjorie Hospital Pro [Follow a Dream]
• 497 Hoy, Elizabeth Doctor Garth [You Took My Heart]

Harlequin 171 - May 1952

Harlequin 172 - June 1952

Harlequin 173 - June 1952

Harlequin 174 - June 1952

Early Harlequin Mystery Artist Solved

In 2012 I discussed an artist who signed an early Harlequin Books cover with his signature - "LPH". I also noted two other books with his work that are not signed. I've finally identified the artist as Lawren P. Harris (1910-1994). The key new information is an auction site which lists one of his works with an identical signature.

Harris is the son of a much better known painter, Lawren Harris (1885-1970), one of the Group of Seven.

Harlequin 72 - September 1950

Harlequin 57 - June 1950

Harlequin 62 - July 1950

Newspaper Novels Part IX

In my last Star Weekly post I discussed the abridged novels that, for 35 years, many readers in Canada bought each Saturday. A shortened novel every week! Who did the work of cutting? Did the editor have help? I think so. Can't see someone handling all the administrative chores of publishing as well as having the time to read and cut many thousands of words week after week.

Or maybe titles were used that had already been condensed. This is what the editor of the other Canadian insert, The Standard (Montreal), did, at least for a time. Omnibook was an American periodical that published four or five abridgements each month from December 1938 until ???. The Standard used Omnibook abridgements from at least 1953 to 1965. Here are three.

January 28, 1956 - No Thoroughfare by Denise Egerton (Hodder and Stoughton, 1954)

June 4, 1960 - Comanche Moon by William R. Cox (McGraw-Hill, 1959)

January 9 and 16, 1965 - The Wooden Horseshoe by Leonard Sanders (Doubleday, 1964)

Omnibook Vol. 7 No. 4 - March, 1945

The Standard - June 4, 1960

The Standard - January 28, 1956

The Standard - January 16, 1965

Newspaper Novels Part VIII

In a recent post I listed nine American newspapers that used the Canadian Star Weekly novel insert each Saturday or Sunday in the forties and fifties. Here is one that at least for a couple of years published its own novels. 

The Bangor Daily News published their own novel inserts in at least 1939 and 1940 then started using the Star Weekly versions from 1941 to 1949. 

Here are three of the early novels.

June 3, 1939 - Blind Man's Year by Warwick Deeping (Cassell, 1937)

October 21, 1939 - The Dark Wing by Arthur Stringer (Bobbs-Merrill, 1939)

January 27, 1940 - The Dragon's Teeth by Ellery Queen (Frederick A. Stokes, 1939)

The Bangor Daily News - October 21, 1939

The Bangor Daily News - January 27, 1940

The Bangor Daily News -  June 3, 1939

Star Weekly Novel Part X

For many years the Toronto Star Weekly novel was described as "complete". I wonder how many readers took that to mean that they had the entire novel in their hands. Or did they understand that "complete" meant not serialized. If the latter they were right. Each Sunday the Star Weekly novel was approximately 45,000 words. This is novella territory, although there are titles described as novels that are shorter.

I imagine the vast majority of the Star Weekly novels were condensed. But in the last decade about 200 novels were published in two parts. At 90,000 words it's likely some were not abridged. 

Here is a discussion of one of the shortened novels.

Three Star Weekly novels:

July 31, 1954 - The Schirmer Inheritance by Eric Ambler (Heinemann, 1953)

April 12, 1948 - Search for a Scientist by Charles L. Leonard (Doubleday, 1947)

September 21, 1957 - Fogbound by Mark Derby. This appears to have been published nowhere else - either before or after the Star Weekly. We can't know if it was condensed from the manuscript.

Star Weekly Novel - April 24, 1948

Star Weekly Novel - July 31, 1954

Star Weekly Novel - September 21, 1957

Star Weekly Novel Part IX

So far I've found 21 US newspapers that had Sunday editions with complete novel inserts. The range of years is 1919 to 1967. Nine of those newspapers used the Canadian Star Weekly novel, just changing the name of the newspaper on the front page. Here are the nine:

Akron Beacon Journal
Bangor Daily News
Bangor Sunday Commercial
Chicago Sun, The
Long Island Sunday Press
Newark Star-Ledger
Philadelphia Record
Sunday Patriot News [Harrisburg, PA]
Washington Post

Note all are in six Northeastern and Midwestern states - New York, New Jersey, Maine, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. The other twelve newspapers are also in these states plus Michigan. Odd that none of the newspapers in the other 41 states appear to have published novel inserts.

Here are three Star Weekly novels.

June 2, 1945 - Angel Without Wings by Martha Ellen Wright (Doubleday, Doran, 1943)

October 21, 1944 - Captain Millett's Island by Katherine Newlin Burt (McCrae Smith, 1944)

October 10, 1953 - The Case of the Hesitant Hostess by Erle Stanley Gardner (W. Morrow, 1953)

Star Weekly Novel - October 21, 1944

Star Weekly Novel - June 2, 1945

Star Weekly Novel - October 10, 1953

Star Weekly Novel Part VIII

The Star Weekly's fiction editor was responsible for the Star Weekly Novel published every Saturday for 35 years. For a significant part of that range the editor was Gwen Cowley. In addition to the novel the Star Weekly published short stories and serials. A 1946 rejection letter to an author describes what she looked for in choosing a work for publishing.

"We like our stories to be full of action and colour, and also to have good strong plots. Our most urgent need at the moment is for good romances, sports, humor and adventure type of story. Our best length for short stories is around 3,500 words. We also use a novel a week, which must condense to around 46,000 words in length and also serials which run from 18,000 to 30,000 words."

Here are three of the novels.

August 1, 1953 - That Girl in Nice by Maysie Greig (Wm. Collins, 1954)

November 8, 1952 - Brave Interval by Elizabeth Yates (Coward, McCann, 1952)

February 23, 1946 - Java Orchid by Helen Eva Yates (first and only publication, not published in book form)

Star Weekly Novel - February 23, 1946

Star Weekly Novel - November 3, 1952

Star Weekly Novel - August 1, 1953

Star Weekly Novel Part VII

From the earliest Star Weekly Novel that I've seen (May 1938) until October 1956 the art work on the front cover was virtually identical. A young, impossibly perfect Anglo-Saxon woman is always on the cover. For most of that period she is the only person shown. Doesn't matter what the genre - romance, western, historical, crime or thriller. 

Finally in November 1956 the style changed and the scene matched the novel. The other change is the length is reduced from 15 1/2" to 14". Here are two examples, both Agatha Christie novels. The earlier cover is a perfect example - a young woman holding a kitten illustrating a story called "Blood Will Tell".

Star Weekly - December 25, 1954

Star Weekly - December 28, 1957

Newspaper Novels Part VII

The three front covers in my last post are from The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sunday novel insert. They share three characteristics: a man and a woman, the woman is looking away and the man is looking at the woman. Tension in the air. The woman has doubts and the man is concerned. What about the rest of the Inquirers that I own? Here is an inventory.

• one woman, no man       6
• more than one woman, no man     4
• one woman and one man     19
• one woman, two or more men      7    
• more than one woman, one or more men      3

Thirty-two have one woman. All the rest have at least two women including four where the women have equal status and three with the focus on one woman. The message is clear. Women were the likely readers of the inserts. Further evidence is Book of the Month Club 1947 readership which was 65% women, 35% men. This remains the case today generally although there is not as large a difference.

Here are three women only covers.

January 24, 1943 - Ladies in Boxes by Gelett Burgess (Alliance Book, 1942)

November 28, 1943 - The Quiet Lady by Norman Collins (Wm. Collins, 1942 as Anna)

May 23, 1943 - Air Force Girl by Renee Shann (Carlton House, 1942)

                 The Philadelphia Inquirer - January 24, 1943

The Philadelphia Inquirer - November 28, 1943

The Philadelphia Inquirer - May 23, 1943