WWII and Paperbacks Part I

My last three posts have been WWII themed. Today is the 80th anniversary of the start of the war.

You will have seen that Canadian paperback publishers did very little directly for the war effort. But the US and British publishers' efforts did help their allies, the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Armed Services Editions is the best known US series. They were published over 46 months from September 1943 to June 1947. Here are four from December 1945. 

ASE 952 

ASE 952 back

ASE 954

ASE 954 back

ASE 949

ASE 949 back

ASE 951

ASE 951 back

Canadian Paperbacks and WWII Part I

A recent post on a favourite blog has inspired me to comment on Canadian paperbacks and WWII.

The Americans produced their well-known Armed Services Editions and English publishers their less well-known Services Editions. Canada did not have a similar effort. But there are a few examples of Canadian paperback publishers helping out with getting books to the armed services.

Beaver Publications of Hamilton, Ontario published three books in 1941. They were the first mass market paperbacks published in Canada. All had illustrated covers that were sold on newsstands as well as armed services editions that were packaged as a gift box for families and friends to send to soldiers, sailors and airmen. The covers were coloured for the three services - Canadian Army (tan/yellow), Royal Canadian Navy (blue) and Royal Canadian Air Force (red). I have also seen a blue box.

Beaver Armed Services Gift Box

Harlequin and Armed Services Editions Part III

Here is a third title published by Harlequin Books as well as an Armed Services Edition.

Sheriff of Yavisa was published in 1941 by Macrae Smith, one of over 450 novels by Charles Snow (1877 - 1967). It is one of 73 westerns published by Harlequin between 1949 and 1959.

Harlequin 38 - March 1950

Harlequin 38 back

ASE 784 - August 1945

ASE 784 back

Harlequin and Armed Services Editions Part II

In the first post in this series I introduced the Armed Services Editions and talked about one of the 10 books in that series that were also published by Canadian paperback publisher Harlequin. Here is another.

The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller (1912-1997) was published by Duell, Sloane and Pearce in 1944. There is an appealing reference to it in his 1980 film The Big Red One.

ASE R-10 February 1945

ASE R-10 back

Harlequin 9 - August 1949

Harlequin 9 back

Harlequin and Armed Services Editions Part I

I've recently been picking up some of the 1322 books published in the U.S. from September 1943 to June 1947 by Editions for the Armed Services, Inc. A couple of new books, American Pulp by Paula Rabinowitz and Molly Guptill Manning's When Books Went to War have reignited my interest in this fascinating series.

With two exceptions the 99 ASE reprints were given new numbers in the series so there were 1225 titles. Ten of those titles were also published by Harlequin Books, including the very first Harlequin, The Manatee by Nancy Bruff. Many of the ASEs are the first paperback edition, as is the case here.

Harlequin 1 - May 1949

Harlequin 1 back

ASE 1104 - January 1946

ASE 1104 back

June 6 Part II

"The most notable mass market distribution to combat troops took place in the marshaling areas in southern England just before the Normandy invasion. One copy of an Armed Services Edition was issued to each soldier as he boarded the invasion barge." - page 9, Books in Action (Washington: Library of Congress, 1984).

The Armed Services Editions program was an American effort to provide reading material to WW II Armed forces. With 123 million books distributed I imagine many of 1322 titles ended up in Canadian hands. There wasn't a similar program in Canada but publishers did encourage Canadians to send books in the "Service" parcel. An example from the White Circle imprint published by Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada is below.

The ASE program continued to September 1947. The last year's books were published in the usual mass market format rather than the vertical format.

White Circle 63 - 1943

White Circle 63 back

ASE T-2

ASE T-2 back

ASE 1244

ASE 1244 back

Bear Pocket - Part I

Here's an odd British paperback series from 1946. There is a Canadian connection, albeit tenuous.

Bear Pocket was a series of nine books published by Bear, Hudson Ltd. of London. At first glance the books could be mistaken for the famous Armed Services Editions (ASE). They are the same distinctive vertical shape as an ASE, virtually the same size and are bound by staples with a glued on cover. Like an ASE they are numbered in the upper left corner and the cover has a representation of a book’s cover on the left tilted to the left with the title of the paperback at the right. But there are differences. Instead of the words “ARMED SERVICES EDITION” in a circle in the bottom left there is a small circular photograph or drawing of the author. To the right of the author are the words “A ‘Bear’ Pocket Book” with a small drawing of a bear reading a book. Finally there is a price “2/-” at lower right.

The Canadian connection is the author of the seventh book, The Death Pack. Ray Sonin worked in Canadian radio for many years. Here are the final three Bear Pockets plus an example of an Armed Services Edition.

BP7 The Death Pack by Ray Sonin [1907-1991], (London: The Fenland Press, 1933).

BP8 What’s in it for Walter by Frank Tilsley [1904-1957], (London: Collins, 1942).

BP9 Murder with Pictures by George Harmon Coxe [1901-1984], (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1935).

Armed Services Edition T-2