Export's News Stand Library US Series Part I

I've mentioned in a couple of posts (Steele and Souster and Ronald J. Cooke) that Export had a series of 28 books that they distributed in the US. The Canadian News Stand Library (NSL) imprint lasted for 156 issues. The US NSL series overlapped the Canadian and was largely new editions of books published in the Canadian series - sometimes with the author, title or both changed.

There isn't anything obvious on the books to indicate that they are for sale in the US. So how do we know? A recent article of mine in Paperback Parade #71 discusses the evidence. There is a good deal of circumstantial evidence but the the key evidence is the distribution codes on the two books. All but the earliest Canadian books have "MDS" on the bottom of the spine. The US books have "KN" or "KNC". These stand for Magazine and Distributors Sales Ltd. of Toronto and Kable News Company of Mount Morris, Illinois, Export's wholesale distributors in Canada and the US respectively.

Twenty of the 28 US books were published with and without a dust jacket. DJs on mass market paperbacks have always been uncommon. A few US publishers had a very rare DJ from time to time but Export's 20 out of 28 makes this series unique in Canada and the US.

Below are a few examples of this series, first without the DJ, then with.

NSL 6A

NSL 18A

NSL 19A