Friday 16 December 2011

Beaver Publications Part V

Canada's first mass market paperback publisher, Beaver Publications of Hamilton, is vexatious and I recently found a few bits of information that do indeed vex. 

The Hamilton Public Library has a copy of Modern Shorts with a handwritten notation on the title page beneath the name of the last author listed, Leslie Hamilton, that says "pseudonym of Henry Bolton". A check of Vernon's City of Hamilton Directory from the early forties tells us:
  • the only Henry Bolton listed is a salesman,
  • there is no listing for Beaver Publications, and
  • the only Leslie Hamilton listed is an employee of Robert Duncan & Co. who printed Modern Shorts.
Did a real Henry Bolton use the name of one of the printer's employees as a pseudonym? Is the notation in the book correct? Who was Henry Bolton?

The biography of Leslie Hamilton in Modern Shorts says very little but there is a picture of a very "authorial" man.





3 comments:

  1. He is my great-grandfather! He is indeed very real! Do you know more about him? I have answers to your questions!

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  2. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/511017888941640951/

    An newspaper article that confirms Leslie Bolton is the pseudonym of Henry Leslie Bolton.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Allison for this very interesting information. I'd like to learn more so email me please - jpfitzpatrick@eastlink.ca

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