Collins White Circle Reprints Part XIII

I've been collecting the White Circle series from Toronto Publisher Wm. Collins & Sons Co. Canada for about nine years. I have all but two first printings but remain unsure how many other printings I'm missing. For instance I just came across one of my favourite reprints from 1943/44 that I didn't know existed. 

These are reprints where Collins changed the colour of the covers but kept the design. In this case, like a few others, the printings can't be distinguished. The only diffference, aside from the colours, is an odd loop at the bottom of the "R" in "Whispering" on the red/blue version.

At this point there is only one of these reprints that I know I'm missing. Could be others.

White Circle 70 - 1943

White Circle 70 back

White Circle 70 - 1943

White Circle 70 back

Canadian Punishment

Capital  and corporal punishment in Canada were abolished in 1976 and 1972 respectively. Capital I knew but this newly unearthed paperback from 1956 (thanks Grant) opened my eyes to corporal punishment in Canada.

The title is accurate. The Courts could, until 1972, sentence people to a lashing as well as a strapping under the provisions of the Criminal Code. For instance there were 33 lashings and 14 strappings associated with over 15,000 convictions in 1952. Wardens of prisons could also use them to maintain order. Amazing it took until 1972 to end.

This uncommon Canadian paperback was published by Winnipeg's Stovel-Advocate.

March 1956

back

Harlequin and Armed Services Editions Part III

Here is a third title published by Harlequin Books as well as an Armed Services Edition.

Sheriff of Yavisa was published in 1941 by Macrae Smith, one of over 450 novels by Charles Snow (1877 - 1967). It is one of 73 westerns published by Harlequin between 1949 and 1959.

Harlequin 38 - March 1950

Harlequin 38 back

ASE 784 - August 1945

ASE 784 back

Harlequin and Armed Services Editions Part II

In the first post in this series I introduced the Armed Services Editions and talked about one of the 10 books in that series that were also published by Canadian paperback publisher Harlequin. Here is another.

The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller (1912-1997) was published by Duell, Sloane and Pearce in 1944. There is an appealing reference to it in his 1980 film The Big Red One.

ASE R-10 February 1945

ASE R-10 back

Harlequin 9 - August 1949

Harlequin 9 back

Collins White Circle Retitled Books Part II

In my last post I asked for help to identify the original titles of nine paperbacks published by Wm Collins Sons & Co. Canada in the late 1940s. Here are the seven retitled books in the White Circle series that I have identified.

One Summer Night first published as First Star in 1949 (New York: Arcadia House)

If I Live to Dine as Madam Will Not Dine Tonight in 1947 (New York: Coward-McCann)

The Tarnished Lady as Deadlier than the Male in 1942 (New York: Duell, Sloane and Pearce)

Murder in Hollywood as Say Yes to Murder in 1942 (New York: G. P. Putnam's)

Uninvited Corpse as Women Are Skin Deep in 1948 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott)

The Affair at the Marco Polo Club as Death Before Dinner in 1948 (London: Wm Collins)

The Sheriff of Union County as Boomerang Jail in 1947 (New York: E. P. Dutton) 

The total of 16 (out of 420 reprints) is quite small compared to Harlequin. In this post I discussed the Harlequin retitled books - 87 out of 455. This is a rate almost 5.4 times greater than the White Circles. This is no doubt due to the 318 White Circle reprints of titles first published by the parent company Wm Collins, only one of which was retitled.

 

White Circle CD413 - 1949

White Circle CD438 - 1950

White Circle CD444 - 1950

White Circle CD483 - 1950

White Circle CD522 - 1951 

White Circle CD525 - 1951

White Circle 339 - 1948