Star Weekly Novel Part XII

Virtually all of the nearly 1900 issues of the Star Weekly Novel published between 1938 and 1973 had at least one illustration. So far I have identified the artist for 320 of the issues with illustrations by 63 artists. Here I'll highlight three of the artists seen on the 64 (76 issues) Erle Stanley Gardner titles published from 1942 to 1973.

October 16, 1943 - The Case of the Buried Clock, two illustrations by Eloise Noel Smith. I can find no information about her.

February 2, 1946 - The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife, two illustrations by Elsie Julia Miller. Here is a short biography.

June 12, 1954 - The Case of the Green Eyed Sister, one illustration by Mabel McDermott. I have found a 1936 Chatelaine cover by McDermott.

Star Weekly Complete Novel June 12, 1954

Star Weekly Complete Novel February 2, 1946

Star Weekly Complete Novel October 16, 1943

Star Weekly Novel Part XI

Between 1938 and 1973 Star Weekly published (I estimate) 1700 titles as inserts in the Saturday edition of the Toronto Star and other papers. I have identified about 1325 of those titles by 660 different authors.

Here are three from the last five years of the run when many of the titles were published over two or three weeks. All are 12 pages.

April 12, 1969 (part 2) - The Astrid Factor by Douglas Orgill (1922-1984), Peter Davies, 1968.

February 12, 1972 (part 2) - The Freedom Trap by Desmond Bagley (1923-1983), Wm. Collins, 1971. Filmed in 1973 as The Mackintosh Man with Paul Newman.

July 21, 1973 (part 2) - Decked With Flowers by Elizabeth Cadell (1903-1989), Hodder & Stoughton, 1973. Advertised as "First Publication Anywhere". When published as a book the title changed to Deck With Flowers.

Star Weekly - April 12, 1969

Star Weekly - February 12 1972

Star Weekly - July 21, 1973

Canadian Quick Readers Part III

Continuing this series of posts on the Quick Reader imprint published in Canada in 1944 and 1945. Here and here is the background.

One unanswered question is how may of the 49 titles published in the US were published in Canada? A list at the back of #105 (Laugh Your Head Off!) has 25 books from #104 to #133. Note that while this is an early number, titles with much later numbers are listed for sale. The books were either published out of sequence in Canada or reprinted. Also note the new price - 10 cents - down from 15 cents.

Here are two more titles, both anonymously edited original collections.

105  Laugh Your Head Off!. A collection of six stories.

127 Celebrated Stories Made Into Movies. A collection of four stories.

Quick Reader 105

Quick Reader 127

Quick Reader 105

Canadian Quick Readers Part II

Here I introduced an odd imprint that was printed and sold in Canada from 1944 to 1945. The American parent, based in Chicago, published these books from 1943 to 1945 but the Canadian subsidiary wasn't incorporated until July 26, 1944.

Here are three more Canadian Quick Reader editions. None have a publication date but state on the title page that they are copyrighted in the "Dominon [sic for first two] of Canada".

119 A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. First published 1859. Gone is the famous opening.

122 The Curve of the Catenary by Mary Roberts Rinehart. First published in Pictorial Review, June 1916 (first part of three), then in The Mystery Book (Farrar and Rinehart, 1939).

128 Cat and Mouse by Hugh Pentecost. Pseudonym of Judson Phillips. First published in Cosmopolitan, November 1941.

Quick Reader 119

Quick Reader 121

Quick Reader 128

Quick Reader 128