Collins White Circle Authors Part III

In Collins White Circle Authors Part II I noted that 78 of the 153 White Circle authors had just one title published. However six of the 80 had more than one edition of their title published by Collins. For each of them the first edition was published in the first year - 1942. The second edition of all six books is from a group of 18 (101-118) published in 1943-44 that were reprints of first year books.

George Digby had three editions of his novel Goose Feathers.The artists are unknown. The third edition (C.D.537J) was one of the last White Circles published.

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James Dunton's A Maid and a Million Men came out in two editions. The second edition (111) has four variants. One with a 1942 copyright date, two (blue and red edges) with a 1943 copyright date and one with a 1948 copyright date. This edition has unsigned art.

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Frederick Niven's The Flying Years had two editions. The second edition (116) was reprinted in 1945 and has artwork by Margaret Paull.

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A. D. Divine's U-Boat in the Hebrides also came out in two editions. The artist on the second edition (103) is unknown.

 

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The fifth multi-edition author was Lynn Brock with The Stoat. The second edition (101) has uncredited art.

 

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Finally there is H. Russell Wakefield's Belt of Suspicion. The second edition (110) was reprinted in 1945. The uncredited art below is from the second printing. The first printing's art is the same but the colouring is different. Note the misspelled name on the second edition.

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Photo Covers

Today's inoffensive, photoshopped, type heavy mass market paperback covers are a far cry from those of the 1940s through 1960s. Their illustrations were designed to get your attention at the newsstand, drug store or chain store such as Stedmans, Kresge, Zellers and Metropolitan. Without the covers a blog such as this would be informative (I hope) but dull.

Photo covers were very uncommon on paperbacks. Of the three large Canadian publishers only Collins made an effort to move beyond the illustrated cover with photos. I'll discuss them in another post. A smaller publisher, Studio, also used photo covers.

During its first 4 1/2 years Harlequin had three photo covers (of a total of 264). The blurb on the back cover of Paprika begins with a classic sentence - "It was written in the stars, that Paprika, the Gypsy Queen, would love only one man, and that man she would torture." First published in 1935, Paprika was a popular book with the Harlequin edition reprinted in 1953 and two American paperback editions in the 1950s.

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Export had four photo covers (of a total of 197) during its 2 1/2 years existence.  It's interesting to note that the four were published in a three month period - July to September 1950. Murder in False Face with its sick green mask on a sad looking brown carpet is in the running for ugliest Export cover. The long gone Toronto newspaper The Telegram adds some historical interest.

News Stand Library (NSL) 118

NSL 123

NSL 125

NSL 135

Harlequin no. 1

In May 2009 Harlequin Enterprises published number 4093 in the Harlequin Romance series, Adopted: Family in a Million by Barbara McMahon. One of some 60 series published by Harlequin, Harlequin Romance is distinguished as being the direct descendant of the first Harlequins.

Adopted was published 4092 issues and 60 years after Harlequin no. 1 - The Manatee by Nancy Bruff.  Published by E.P. Dutton in 1945, The Manatee was Bruff's first novel. It earned her an article in Time but would be one of thousands of forgotten novels if it hadn't been reprinted as the first Harlequin.

The Harlequin edition has undistinguished anonymous art. The British hardcover edition's cover could easily have been on one of the paperbacks of the era and is similar to the US 1950 paperback version.

Harlequin 1

British edition front and back

Pyramid 24

Collins White Circle Authors Part II

In Collins White Circle Authors Part I I talked about the two authors with the most titles published in the White Circle imprint. In Part II I focus on the opposite end of the published spectrum - authors with only one published title. There were 78 single title authors (of a total 153) and five will be discussed in this post.

The first two are the authors of the only books first published in the 19th century that Collins published. Artist on Twain's work is Margaret Paull.

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The next two are Canadians. Ralph Allen edited A Maclean's Reader, a collection of articles from Maclean's magazine. The artist is Franklin Arbuckle. Thomas P. Kelley was the Zelig of Canadian paperback authors - turning up everywhere including his one book for White Circle, Famous Canadian Crimes - articles originally published in New Liberty magazine. More on Mr. Kelley later.

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Finally, an American, Joseph Mitchell, with McSorley's Wonderful Saloon. An edition was published a few years ago and is readily available. The artist is York Wilson.

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The End of Export

I've mentioned in a few posts that Export Publishing Enterprises Ltd. (NSL and Torch imprints) came to a blazing end in the early morning of December 11, 1950. Newspapers of the day told the story. The article below, from the local New Toronto weekly, The Advertiser, a few days after the fire, is the most complete. I've split the article in two.

New Toronto was then a town west of Toronto. Today it no longer exists, having long been swallowed by Toronto. 

Export never rebuilt and this was the end.