Kate Aitken and Tamblyn Drugs

In an earlier post I discussed the relationship between Canadian author Kate Aitken and Tamblyn Drugs. Here is a bit of that relationship - a four page collection of recipes from Tamblyn dated May 1950. The last page advertises her "Pocket Size Cook Book".

Note the "Tamblyn Broadcast" at the bottom of the first page. The radio station is CFRB. After 93 years Toronto's CFRB is still broadcasting.

It's Fun Raising a Family

Back here I did a post about Kate Aitken and the various books she authored for Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd in the middle of the last century. In this post I'll talk a bit more about one of the books and it's three variants.

It's Fun Raising a Family was a paperback original published in 1955. In addition to a Collins edition there are two branded editions - both for companies that have disappeared.

The edition for Montreal based department store chain Steinberg's (1917-1992) was published half-way through its life. Tamblyn (1904-1978) was a Toronto based drug store chain.

 

Wm. Collins's edition - 1955

 

Wm. Collins's back 

 

 

Tamblyn edition

 

Tamblyn back 

 

Steinberg's Edition

 

Steinberg's back

The Last Harlequin (sort of)

Harlequin Enterprises has published (I'm guessing) somewhere between 12000 and 20000 books since 1949, all but 380 romance. The last non-romance Harlequin, Never a Day So Bright by Kate Aitken, was published in October 1963. It was originally published in 1956 by Longmans Green of Toronto. This is the only Harlequin by Kate Aitken but Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd published a number of her books in the 40s and 50s.

This is one of the very few illustrated Harlequins with drawings from the original edition by one of the legends in Canadian design and publishing - Frank Newfeld. Mr Newfeld is the only link I know of between Kate Aitken and Leonard Cohen.

Harlequin 768 - October 1963

Harlequin 768 back

Tamblyn Editions

Residents of Ontario cities before 1970 will recognize the Tamblyn Drug Store. Long absorbed into the Pharma Plus chain, Tamblyn had begun in Toronto in the early years of the 20th century. In the early 1950s Tamblyn was a partner with Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd. in producing "Tamblyn" editions of Collins's paperbacks, all written by Kate Aitken. Aitken has the distinction of being the author of the last non-romance Harlequin - Never a Day so Bright published in 1963 as no. 768. 

The first Tamblyn edition was a famous cook book first published in 1945 and still in print. In 1950 Collins published its White Circle version of Kate Aitken's Canadian Cook Book as no. CD445. The Tamblyn edition was published the same year with two cover variants.

The next came in 1951 with the paperback original Lovely You (C.D. 528). The editions had identical covers, with "Tamblyn Edition" replacing "A White Circle Pocket Edition"

The final three were published as paperback originals. The first, in 1953, was Kate Aitken's New Cook Book, a new edition of the 1945/1950 original. The next, also 1953, was Canadian Etiquette for Daily Living. I don't have a copy of the cook book. The final Tamblyn edition It's Fun Raising a Family came in 1955. The White Circle line ended in 1952 so the Collins editions for the three books were referred to as "A Collins Book".