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