A Discovery

I recently learned (thanks Morgan) about an early Canadian mass market paperback that I did not know existed. It joins another book in a series that I had always thought was the only one published.

The publishing history for these two books is confusing to say the least. Both title pages list the publisher as "The National Publishing Company" of Toronto. On unnumbered page seven National is repeated with a 1945-46 copyright date. The inside front cover notes two other companies. The first is "Century Publications Ltd." with a 1946 copyright date below that. Below that is "Printed by Duchess Printing and Publishing Co. Limited", also in Toronto. The cover, inside front cover and spine have a circle with "A Superior Publication" around a maple leaf. The back cover has a larger version of the circle. Both books are 256 pages. Neither book has signed art work which is by the same artist.

The two books are:

The Damned Lover by Roswell Williams. First published 1933, The Macaulay Company of New York.

Some Take a Lover by Ann Du Pre (pseudonym for Grace Lumpkin). First published 1933, The Macaulay Company.

The Duchess/Superior connection is seen on a number of other books. For example see one here and a non-Duchess Superior here. But these are the only two (so far) with National as the publisher. The Century listing is a mystery. There was a Century in Chicago that published paperbacks circa 1945-1947 but not these two books. 

The Damned Lover - 1945/46

The Damned Lover back

Some Take a Lover - 1945/46

Duchess Publishing Part I

Duchess Publishing & Printing Company was a Toronto based publisher of comics, magazines and paperbacks from the early 1940s until the mid 1950s. Here is one of its more famous books - Brigands of the Moon (c. 1946). No author is listed on the cover but the title page has John Campbell 1910-1971). This is wrong. The author is Ray Cummings (1887-1957) and the story was first published in the March to June 1931 issues of "Astounding Stories". Campbell was the editor of Astounding from 1937 to 1971 and this is no doubt how his name was attached to Cumming's book by an inattentive editor at Duchess.

The address on the back, 104 Sherbourne St, is in downtown Toronto. Sherbourne runs perpendicular to Richmond Street East, part of which was named Duchess Street until 1967.

Superior Publishers - Part I

Toronto's Superior Publishers was a publisher of very cheaply produced digests from the mid to late 1940s. Just after the war they produced books for the English market. One is below.

Superior's address was 2382 Dundas Street West, now an used car lot.

The Outlaw of Eagle's Nest - no date [C. 1946]

The Outlaw of Eagle's Nest back