John Glassco

A departure. A new biography of Canadian author John Glassco by Brian Busby, A Gentleman of Pleasure (that I can highly recommend), notes that "Catbird" was Glassco's favourite poem. Here it is from a collection chosen by Michael Ondaatje and illustrated by Tony Urquhart published by Toronto's Oberon Press in 1971.



Collins White Circle Reprints Part III

Wm Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd. published 459 books in its White Circle imprint from 1942 to 1952. Some of the books were reprinted (I don't count the thirty new editions (i.e., new numbers) of earlier books in the series as reprints). Collins was not consistent, particularly in the first years, in indicating a reprint. For some books it isn't possible to choose the first printing from among variants.

Many of the earliest reprints have a feature I've never seen with other mass market publishers - changes to the colouring of the covers. Here's a good example. Wanted for Murder was published as a WC in 1943, the second printing in 1944, the third 1945. Both reprints have the date on the copyright page. The third printing has the price added to the front cover. There are a few differences between the covers. The last two pages are house ads, different for each printing. The address on the title page has changed for the third printing to 70 Bond Street, Toronto from 48 Pall Mall, London.

White Circle 106 first printing

White Circle 106 first printing back cover

White Circle 106 second printing

White circle 106 second printing back cover

White Circle 106 third printing

White Circle 106 third printing back cover

Canadian Authors Part II - Ralph Allen

My first post titled "Canadian Authors" listed 16 who were published by Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd in their White Circle imprint from 1942 to 1952. Four were also published by Harlequin Books from 1949 to 1963.

Aitken, Kate
Allen, Ralph
Montrose, David (Graham, Charles Ross)
Kelley, Thomas J.

Ralph Allen (1913-1966) was an author as well as editor of Maclean's magazine. Originally published in 1958 (New York: Doubleday), Peace River Country is the third last non-romance book published by Harlequin. A Maclean's Reader is a paperback original.

White Circle 453 - 1950

White Circle 453 back

Harlequin 706 - December 1962

Harlequin 706 back

Harlequin Logo

After 61+ years Harlequin Enterprises has changed their logo. The first book in their flagship line, Harlequin Romance, with the new logo is #4213, Crown Prince, Pregnant Bride! by Raye Morgan published in January 2011. 

The "Harlequin" has been streamlined and is now white on a black background. But the diamond remains and the books remain easily identified as Harlequin. Below is an example of the new logo from April 2011 plus an early example of the original.

Harlequin Romance 4232

Harlequin 706 - December 1962

Canadian Authors Part I - Earle Birney

Who is a Canadian author? Should be a simple question to answer - someone with Canadian citizenship. But what if they've lived out of Canada for the last 40 years and write novels about Australia? Or Canada? Or lives in Canada and writes about the country they were born in, Vietnam? Or not a Canadian citizen but lives in Canada and writes about depression era Saskatchewan? Or visits Canada for six months then writes about the immigrant experience in Toronto? Does it matter where the book is published? Does any of this matter? Yes if you want to win a Canadian writing award. I'll look at these in another post.

How many Canadian authors were published by the Canadian mass market paperback publishers of the 40s and 50s? Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd's White Circle imprint published 143 authors, 16 of whom were Canadian. No doubts here - all Canadians living in Canada writing about Canadian subjects. Number of titles was 23, of a total 429. Nine were paperback originals. Here is the list:

Aitken, Kate
Allen, Ralph (ed.)
Birney, Earle
Campbell, Grace
Carter, Dyson
Conner, Ralph
Denison, Merrill
Edgar, Keith
Garner, Hugh
Montrose, David (Graham, Charles Ross)
Hughes, Isabelle
Kelley, Thomas J.
Leacock, Stephen
MacLennan, Hugh
Niven, Frederick
Robins, John D.

Here is an author who has not yet been seen in this blog - Earle Birney (1904-1995). His WC book, Turvey (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1949), won the fourth Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 1950.  Below is the WC edition plus the New Canadian Library edition. The NCL imprint from McClelland & Stewart publishes only Canadian authors.

White Circle 534 - 1952

White Circle 534 back

New Canadian Library 34 - 1963

New Canadian Library 34 back