Addition to Collection Redux

Another addition to the collection of vintage Canadian paperbacks - Against the Grain by J[oris]-K[arl] Huysmans (1848-1907). Published by Fireside Publications of Toronto (c. 1950) with an introduction by Havelock Ellis. First published in 1884 as À rebours, translated in 1922.

Unlike other Fireside novels which are magazine sized this book is digest sized. There are 128 pages, so the text is bowderlized - plus 15 illustrations.

The artist is Leo Orenstein.

Oddly there is another version of this title from Fireside. The text block is the same - just new covers. The cover tells the reader that it is the January 1950 issue of T.N.T. - "gusty [sic] - unusual - thrilling". The photograph of Fred Astair (!) is from the 1950 film Ziegfeld Follies. I don't know if there are other issues of T.N.T.

Leo Orenstein

This post is a follow-up to one at The Dusty Bookcase about Leo Orenstein. In particular I'll add a bit more information on his published work.

His first novel, The Queers of New York, was published in September 1972 by Simon & Schuster of Canada, Ltd as a Pocket Book original. A couple of aspects of the book stand out for me (aside from the obvious.) The first is the absence on the covers of any information about the book with the back cover used for an absurdly detailed biography of the author. The second is the publisher - not a small obscure publisher but the venerable Simon & Schuster with the famous Pocket Book logo.

Note the phrase "as a young man, he worked as a magazine illustrator" in the biography. This gives the impression that one might see his work in Chatelaine. Below are two examples of his work from a different sort of publisher - Fireside Publications Limited of Toronto. Undated but likely circa 1950. Both books are magazine sized with 64 pages.

Baron Munchausen - art by L. Orenstein

back of One of Cleopatra's Nights - art by L. Orenstein

One of Cleopatra's Nights - art by Jackson Heise