Harlequin How-to Books

Harlequin Books published 477 titles between 1949 and 1959 and 11 non-romance books from 1960 to 1963 (none later). Thirteen of the 488 titles were "how-to". How to curl, how to cook, how to knit and more. Here are the 13 - more information in earlier and still-to-come posts.

Harlequin 51 - May 1950

Harlequin 52 - June 1950

Harlequin 71 - August 1950

Harlequin 161 - March 1952

Harlequin 186 - August 1952

Harlequin 271 - January 1954

Harlequin 391 - April 1957

Harlequin 415 - March 1958

Harlequin 442 - November 1958

Harlequin 452 - March 1959

Harlequin 457 - April 1959

Harlequin 550 - 1960

Harlequin 635 - November 1961

Harlequin and Noel Coward

Noel Coward wrote one novel - Pomp and Circumstance (London: William Heinemann, 1960). Not surprisingly it was never reprinted by Harlequin Books. But Coward did make an appearance on the cover of a Harlequin Book.

Harlequin 436 - September 1958

Harlequin 436 back

Harlequin and Mills & Boon Part I

Mills & Boon is the largest UK publisher of romance fiction. A "Mills & Boon" romance is as well known there as a "Harlequin" romance is in the rest of the world. Harlequin Enterprises has owned Mills & Boon for some 40 years. But the relationship reaches further back - to 1957. With Harlequin's romance books outselling the other genres, Harlequin contacted Mills & Boon to see if the Canadian reprint rights to their books could be purchased.

They could and the first Mills & Boon reprint was The Hospital in Buwambo by Anne Vinton. A further 46 followed in 1958 and 1959 - 50% of the 90 books published during those two years. Through the '60s nearly every book Harlequin published was a Mills & Boon reprint. Here are four early ones.

Harlequin 407 - December 1957

Harlequin 407 back

Harlequin 416 - March 1958

Harlequin 423 back

Harlequin 423 - May 1958

original title - City Nurse

Harlequin 423 back

Harlequin 431 - July 1958

Harlequin 431 back

Harlequin Reprints Part VIII

No one will be surprised to read that the most popular Harlequin Books from the first ten years were the romances. One measure is the number of romances that had multiple printings and editions or issues over many years. An example is Love is My Reason by Mary Burchell, first published by Mills & Boon (London: 1957). The Harlequin printings are:

first - November 1959
second - 1960 (not seen) 
third - 1971
fourth - 1972 (not seen)
fifth - 1974
sixth - 1980 (not seen)

All of these printings use the original number - 494. There are two renumbered editions or issues published in reprint series:

Harlequin Collection 128 - 1978 (not seen)
Harlequin Classic Library 136 - September 1983 (not seen).

Below are the first, third and fifth printings. The back cover copy is the same in each printing but reset. The third printing's generic cover is seen on many reprints from the era.

Harlequin 494 first printing - November 1959

Harlequin 494 third printing - 1971

Harlequin 494 fifth printing - 1974

Harlequin 494 first printing back

Harlequin Artists Part IV - Paul Anna Soik (1)

Harlequin Books published 497 books between May 1949 and December 1959. Eleven covers were reprinted and eight books had text or photo only covers leaving 478 covers with new art.

Of all the long forgotten artists who whose work is seen on the first ten years of Harlequin Books no one did more covers than Paul Anna Soik. He was one of six artists in the 2009 Harlequin Cover exhibition. I have learned nothing about him.

The cover of Conflict by E. V. Timms was the first of Soik's 90 (18.8% of the total) for Harlequin to the end of 1959. Here is that cover plus the second through fourth of his covers.

Harlequin 276 - February 1954

Harlequin 280 - April 1954

Harlequin 283 - March 1954

Harlequin 287 - March 1954