Nurses in Canada Part I

The "nurse" romance was a robust genre in the mid 20th century. Canadian paperback publishers took note and reprinted many American and British titles. Here are three that my mother, a nurse, would have found absurdly funny.

"And a nurse you shall be -- though of course you know you're much too pretty for it! How can you expect a doctor to keep his mind on a patient with you around?" said Dr. McPhail, with a little teasing laugh.

News Stand Library 130 - September 1950

News Stand Library 130 back

Elliott wouldn't let Bunny go. The rubbing alcohol had spilled all over his chest and onto the bed, but he kept his arms about her and gave her a playful kiss as she tried to pull away.

Derby 8 - 1950

Derby 8 back

Deborah was surprised to see the tears in the eyes of the strict superintendent while Doctor Hamilton found it impossible to do more than press her hand and bluster that she had been a foolish, headstrong, glorious idiot, dammit!

Harlequin 338 - May 1955

Harlequin 338 back

Export Canadian Paperback Originals - Part V

In part IV of this series of posts I discussed three News Stand Library books published by Toronto's Export Publishing Enterprises Ltd. I identified them as paperback originals which turns out to be wrong. Each of them had been published earlier under different author names. My thanks to Kenneth R. Johnson who saw the errors and took the time to let me know about them. Kenneth is the creator of the best Peggy Gaddis bibliography (a challenging task) and the fascinating The Digest Index.

Lust for Love (NSL 151) by Donna Simpson was first published as by Wright Williams (Wallace E. Watkins) as an unnumbered Stork Original Novel in 1949 by Star Publications Inc. of New York.

Everybody Loves Irene (NSL 152) by George Tremblay was first published in 1950 as by Wright Williams by New York's Quarter Books Inc. as Quarter Book 62.

Suzy Needs a Man (NSL 153) by Martha Knowles was first published as by Joan Sherman (Peggy Gaddis) as an unnumbered Exotic Novel in August 1950 by New York's Astro Distributing Corp.

Here are two Export books that I know to be PBOs. They are the two anthologies that Export published. Neither has a credited editor. Comments on the Kinsey Report is not a reprint of the more famous Signet version published earlier in 1948. Here are the contents:

7-22 COMMENTS ON THE KINSEY REPORT John R. Christie;
23- 28 MECHANICS OF SEX Marion Edwards;
29-36 STUDY OF THE SEX GLANDS Dr. D.A. Downing;
37-41 BIOLOGICAL NERVOUSNESS IN MAN Dr. Thomas Brooks;
42-47 WHY SOME MEN ARE IMPOTENT;
48-50 FIRST AIDS TO THE IMPOTENT Stephen G. Low;
51-53 EXHIBITIONISM;
54-58 MISTAKEN MALES;
59-65 WHAT IS SEX ATTTRACTION?;
66-74 SEX SECRECY IS NO ANSWER Joseph Lander, M.D.;
75-83 THE SANE WAY IN SEX TEACHING Frances Bruce Strain;
84-92 YOUTH LOOKS AT SEX Grace Verne Silver;
93-97 SEX AND THE CHILD Herman H. Rubin, M.D.;
98-103 MEN ARE MONAGAMOUS Lawrence Gould;
104-108 BLAME THE MAN;
109-114 HAS WOMAN A MYSTERIOUS INFLUENCE OVER MAN? Charles Lewis;
115-122 THE LOVE RIGHTS OF WOMAN Havelock Ellis;
123-130 HOW TO COMBAT THE SEX CRIME WAVE Charles Harris.

The stories in Spicy Detective Stories have been reprinted from the May 1937 issue of the American pulp of the same name. So while the contents are not original this is the first time in book form. Contents of Spicy Detective Stories (notwithstanding the front cover there are nine not eight Spicy Stories):

5-24 Silk Stocking Clue by N. Wooton Poge;
25-40 Murder Debt by Ellery Watson Calder;
41-58 The Thin Dame by Robert A. Garron;
59-78 Gypsum Blizzard by Robert Leslie Bellam;
79-96 Lady Dick by Arthur Wallace;
97-118 Case of the Limber Corpse by Cary Moran;
119-136 Death in the Third Act by Ken Cooper;
137-144 Killer’s Rights by Colby Quinn;
145-160 Star Witness by Peter Grant.

News Stand Library 5 - undated but 1948

News Stand Library 5 back

News Stand Library 123 - August 1950

News Stand Library 123 back



Crown Novel Publishing Part I

In my earlier post about Canadian publishers and the post-war British book market I discussed Popular Publications. Another Canadian publisher abroad is Crown Novel Publishing Company. The books carry a 1946 "printed" date and are unnumbered. There are nine I've found so far.

Seven Men states "Published by Crown Novel Book Publishing Company [sic] for Pemberton’s of Manchester Limited, 14 Lever Street, Manchester, England. Wholesale distribution through World Distributors Incorporated, Manchester, England."

The source for Rangeland Clean-up is unknown. Seven Men was first published in the April 12 1941 issue of Detective Fiction Weekly and then as a book by Quinn Publishing (New York, 1942). Seven Men is 124mm x 183mm and Rangeland Clean-up is 135mm x 210mm. My copy of Seven Men does not have a back cover.



Where Did The White Circles Come From? Part V

For the first four posts in this series I had an answer to that question. Here are three of the 15 titles, from the 429 published in Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada's White Circle imprint, that are a mystery. I can find no earlier edition but I'm sure most, if not all of the 15, are not paperback originals.

Mary Howard is a pseudonym for Mary Mussi who also wrote as Josephine Edgar. In common with many romance writers she wrote a lot of novels over many decades. Gary Marshall is one of the pseudonyms of Charles Horace Snow. There are 31 White Circles written by Snow under four pseudonyms.

White Circle C.D. 393 - 1949

White Circle C.D. 393 back

White Circle CD 444 - 1950

White Circle 444 back

White Circle CD 461 - 1950

White Circle CD 461 back

The Time Machine Part IV

A comment on the first post in this series leads to a further look at the 1931 Random House edition of The Time Machine.

Published in 1931 as a limited edition of 1200 for $12.50 (when hardcovers sold for $2.00), the Random House edition has a new preface by Wells. The AIGA web site gives the design details for the book. Lloyd Currey in his Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1979) says the limited edition was issued in unprinted tissue paper DJ and paper slipcase. There are also copies without the limitation statement on page [88]. My copy is the latter one. This also came with a slipcase but I don't know if it is different from the limited edition's slipcase.

A division of Random House, The Modern Library, published a trade paperback edition in 2002 that reproduces the 1931 edition.

Below is the 1931 edition's front cover, slipcase and the four colour plates plus the Modern Library edition.