Nineteen Eighty-Four Part III

In my last Orwell post I discussed the US paperback editions of Nineteen Eighty-Four published by New American Library (NAL) from 1950 to current. The UK equivalent is Penguin. Oddly Penguin took five years to first publish the title - in 1954.

The publishing history for the NAL editions is relatively easy to sort out. Not so  Penguin. From 1954 to 1989 Penguin published at least 60 mass market paperback printings. This publishing history is somewhat confusing but starting in 1989 the history is quite muddled when Penguin published a new edition with text from the Complete Works of George Orwell (Secker and Warburg, 1987) including an Introduction and Note on the Text. Since then Penguin has put out many variations of this combination.

Here is a random set of six versions of the 1989 edition, all UK editions. The first four are printings of the same setting of type so technically printings of one edition. The small sample below has at least 68 printings. The last two are printings of a different type setting and therefore a different edition. 

1) trade paperback with Introduction and Note on Text. At least four printings, no date for printing. One of "Twentieth Century Classics".

2) mass market with no Introduction or Note on Text. At least 19 printings, no date.

3) mass market with Note on Text but no Introduction. At least 44 printings of a "2008 edition", no date.

4) trade paperback with no Introduction or Note on Text. First printing, no date. One of "Film Classics" free to buyers of The Times in 2009.

5) mass market with no Introduction or Note on Text. First printing of a "2013 edition". One of "Great Orwell" series.

6) trade paperback with a different Introduction and same Note on Text. Includes notes, further reading and three appendices. First printing of an annotated "2013 edition". One of "Modern Classics".

Nineteen Eighty-Four Penguin Version 1

Nineteen Eighty-Four Penguin Version 2

Nineteen Eighty-Four Penguin Version 3

Nineteen Eighty-Four Penguin Version 4

Nineteen Eighty-Four Version 5

Nineteen Eighty-Four Version 6

Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I

Last Friday was the 65th anniversary of the broadcast of the first film version of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Eddie Albert is Winston and Canada's Lorne Greene (1915-1987) is O'Brien. 

The first Canadian edition of Nineteen Eight-Four was published in 1949 by S. J. Reginald Saunders of Toronto. I don't know when or if a Canadian paperback edition was published. Here are the first US and UK paperbacks plus a glimpse of a younger Lorne Greene at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.

Penguin 972 - 1954

Penguin 972 back

Signet 798 - July 1950

Signet 798 back

Collins White Circle Authors Part XII - Leacock (2)

Stephen Leacock was a popular author with early paperback publishers; editions of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town include two numbers by Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada in their White Circle series, a Penguin and a Penguin New Zealand. All published in 1941 - 1945.

White Circle 39 - 1942

White Circle 39 back

White Circle 223 - 1945

White Circle 223 back

Penguin 320 - 1941

Penguin 320 back

Penguin New Zealand - 1944

Penguin New Zealand back

Penguin and Harlequin Part II

Another entry in the short list of titles published by Harlequin Books of Winnipeg and Toronto and London's Penguin.

Harlequin 273 - February 1954

Harlequin 273 back

Penguin 1038 - 1955

Penguin 1038 back

Penguin and Harlequin Part I

Penguin began publishing mass market paperbacks in 1935, 14 years before Harlequin. Both are very much still in business, but it is unlikely that the same title has been published by both publishers in over 50 years. However until 1959 there were a few titles so honoured. How many? Not sure yet. For your viewing pleasure, here is one.

Harlequin 210 - July 1953

Harlequin 210 back

Penguin 1116 - 1954

Penguin 1116 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 II

Stephen Leacock's self published his first literary book, Literary Lapses, in 1910 when he was 40. In 1939 the first paperback edition was published by Penguin Books. Six years later Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd. published its White Circle edition. In January 1958 Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart published Literary Lapses as one of its first four offerings in the New Canadian Library (NCL) imprint. Coincidentally the Penguin edition is 212 and the White Circle edition is 213. The Penguin edition has a dust jacket identical to the book's covers except for the flaps.

A Bibliography of Stephen Leacock by Carl Spadoni (Toronto: ECW Press, 1998), pages 97 and 98, notes that the Penguin edition sold over 46,000 copies in the first five months after publication. The bibliography also notes that McClelland & Stewart held the Canadian rights to the book and refused Collins (who were Penguin's agent in Canada) permission to sell the Penguin edition in Canada. But in 1945, the year after Leacock died, Collins was able to publish the first Canadian paperback edition. The Collins edition has been printed from the same plates as the Penguin edition.

The Penguin edition has a short biography of Leacock but no introduction. B. K. Sandwell, a Canadian editor and author, provided a three page introduction to the Collins edition which also had a couple of photographs of Leacock by the celebrity photographer of the day, Karsh. The NCL edition has a five page introduction by Robertson Davies and remains in print. The texts are the same except the NCL edition doesn't have a one page of acknowledgements from the author.

Penguin 212

Penguin 212 back cover

Penguin 212 DJ flaps

White Circle 213 - Margaret Paull artist

White Circle 213 back cover

New Canadian Library 3

New Canadian Library 3 back cover

P. K. Page

P. K. Page, described as a Canadian literary icon (see obituary here), died earlier this month after an amazing career of more than seventy years. An anthology of Canadian poetry published 68 years ago has one of her poems - "For G. E. R.". See part way down right hand column.

The Globe & Mail review by W. A. Deacon (June 6, 1942, p. 9) calls the book a "neat, small, cheap collection." He congratulates Ryerson Press on "an excellent piece of bookmaking" and notes that "[the president of] Collins plans to sell 50,000 copies during the next two years, which is the term for which he has leased copyright privileges." Note that he mentions Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd. rather than the publisher Penguin Books. Collins had been the agent in Canada for Penguin since the late 1930s but in this case was publishing the book in Canada. My copy has the following slip which dates from a few years later when Collins was no longer agent. A small company in St. Lambert Quebec had taken over.

Penguins and John Buchan

From time to time I'll detour from Canadian paperbacks to those of the Commonwealth with a Canadian connection. The Penguins from 1956 are part of a 10 book series of John Buchan books with the lovely Penguin look. Artist for all but Castle Gay is Stephen Russ. Buchan was Canada's 15th Governor General from 1935 to 1940. He had the distinction of being the only GG to serve under three different monarchs.

Penguin 1132

Penguin 1133

Penguin 1134

Penguin 1135

Penguin 1136

Penguin 1137

Penguin 1134 back