Avon Books in Canada Part III

In part II I introduced a short-lived (1952-3) series of paperbacks from Avon Canada. Here's more about them.

The early numbers (at least to C762) in the series do not have a price on the covers. Later books have the price (35 cents) on both covers. All titles have “Printed in Canada” on the back cover and the copyright page. The Canadian subsidiary of American News Corporation (474 Wellington Street West in Toronto), the owner of Avon, is the distributor. The number on all books is on the top left front cover and lower spine.

Avon (Canadian printing) C788

(US printing number 467)

Avon (Canadian printing) C788 back

Avon (Canadian printing) C792

(US printing number 373)

Avon (Canadian printing) C792 back

Avon (Canadian printing) C798 - May 1953

(US printing number 504)

Avon (Canadian printing) C798 back

George Victor Martin in Canada

George Victor Martin (1900-1959) had three novels published. The last was his most successful, at least in paperback. There are three US editions (under three different titles), one UK and two Canadian.

The first Canadian edition was from Toronto publisher Export Enterprises, one of its first two unnumbered books. There are two printings - May and June 1948. The second edition came out five years later as the Canadian printing of a US edition. 

The US edition was published by Avon Books as one of their Eton imprint. The Canadian printing is renumbered as part of Avon's short lived uniquely Canadian numbering editions from 1951 to 1953. There are 62 of the renumbered Avons from C751 to C812.

Avon C805 - 1953

Avon C805 back

News Stand Library nn - May 1948

News Stand Library nn back

White Circle Twins Part II

Surprising or not publishers of early paperbacks often chose the same scene from the book for the cover. Here is one example crossing the "longest undefended border in the world' (is it still?). The Canadian is from Wm. Collins Sons and Co. Canada Ltd and the American from Avon Publishing Co., Ltd.

 

White Circle 215 - 1945

 

White Circle 215 back

 

Avon 165 - 1948

 

Avon 165 back

Mass Market Paperback (1935 - ?) Part I

A recent NY Times article talks about the rapid drop in mass market paperback (MMP) sales in the US. Looking for more information I came across a 2011 study (Bookstats) of publishing trends from 2008 to 2010, a period when net sales revenue of MMP dropped 13.8 % to $1.28 billion and 16.8% to 319 million units. Net sales revenue is the publishers revenue net of discounts to booksellers and credits for returns and not sales to consumers which of course is at the book's list price.

The American Association of Publishers issues monthly sales reports. The latest October data show MMP sales revenue has dropped 34% in 2011 over 2010. This survey is from 80 publishers whereas the more comprehensive BookStats has data from 2000. But the 80 have sales of more than 50% of the market so the drop in 2011 is likely representative of the full market.

So MMP unit sales have dropped from 383 million in 2008 to 319 in 2010 and heading for 200 million in 2011. Hard not to agree that the MMP is rapidly being eclipsed by ebooks.

Here are a few of my favourite non-Canadian paperbacks.

Pelican S35 - 1939

Dell 270 - 1948

Avon 314 - 1951

Penguin 2591 - 1967

Canadian Paperbacks - Other Editions Part V

One of the 14 books published circa 1952 by Toronto's Studio Publications is Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris, one of the most popular books of the vintage paperback era. From 1941 until 1974 there were six editions, including Studio's. Here we'll look at the first two. Of the thousands of covers of American paperbacks published from 1939 to 1959 they are among the most recognizable.

Pocket Books, Inc. #97 – published February 1941. The first American paperback edition, “complete and unabridged”. Cover artist is unknown. The book has 344 pages including a three page autobiographical article by the author and eight pages of ads. Apparently the cover was controversial. As Kenneth Davis (Two-Bit Culture, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984, page 43) says “The only discouraging word [for Pocket] was the first appearance of paperback censorship. After Appointment in Samarra and The Werewolf of Paris provoked complaints, Pocket Books withdrew both books from circulation rather than upset dealers at this early stage.”

Avon Publishing Company, Inc. #354 – published 1951. Cover artist William Randolph credited on the inside front cover. The book has 192 pages. Described on front cover as “specially revised and edited”, the Avon edition is approximately 30% shorter than the original.

Studio 105

Studio 105 back

Pocket 97

Pocket 97 back

Avon 354

Avon 354 back

The Way We Were Part I

In We're #1 I highlighted the number ones for three early American paperback publishers. Here I'll continue looking at the early publishers, showing an example and an update on where they are now.

Pocket Books, Inc. published its first 10 books on June 19, 1939. Today Pocket Books Mass Market and Pocket Star Books Mass Market are imprints in the Pocket Books division of the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, a unit of Simon & Schuster, Inc., which is the publishing division of CBS Corporation. Simon & Schuster ranked sixteenth in the publishing world in 2006 with sales of € .64 billion.

Pocket 18 front and back (1st printing - September 1939)

Avon Book Company published its first 12 books on November 21, 1941. Today Avon Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, a subsidiary of News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch. HarperCollins ranked ninth in the publishing world in 2006 with sales of € 1.06 billion.

Avon 54 front and back (1944)

Pines Publications published its first titles of the Popular Library imprint in 1943. The Columbia Broadcasting System bought Popular in 1971 and it became a unit of the CBS/Education and Publishing Group. In 1977 CBS merged Popular with newly acquired Fawcett Publications to form Fawcett Books, Inc., a unit of CBS/Publishing Group. Popular Library’s publishing activity was substantially reduced and in 1982 Warner Books bought most of Popular’s assets and the imprint disappeared.

Popular Library 49 front and back (1945)

Dell Publishing Company sold its first ten books in early 1943. Today Dell Mass Market Paperback is an imprint of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., which is owned by Bertelsmann AG. Random House ranked fifth in the publishing world in 2006 with sales of € 1.83 billion.

Dell 39 front and back (1944)

Canadian Paperbacks? Part II

Part I began the discussion about paperbacks published in Canada by Canadian arms of American companies. Here we'll look at two more companies. The first is Avon Book Company and its Canadian edition of W. Somerset Maugham's Theatre. The US edition was published in 1944 and was number 56 in the series. The Canadian edition does not mention any Canadian publisher but rather a distributor, The American News Company, Ltd at 474 Wellington St. West in Toronto. The copyright page states that the book is printed in Canada. As was the cover which differs from the American with the addition of a "29 cents in Canada" price tag and, typically with Canadian Avons, no series number.

The two Popular Library Canadian editions are John Erskine's The Private Life of Helen of Troy and Anita Loo's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, published in 1948 and 1950 respectively. Both are published by Montreal's Better Publications of Canada Ltd. Both books state printed in Canada but in this case the covers are American printed as stated, identical to the US editions.

The two covers are among the most recognizable vintage paperback covers published. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is signed by Earle Bergey. The Private Life of Helen of Troy is not signed and has been attributed to Rudolph Berlarski. 

Popular Library 147

Popular Library 221