Sunday 30 December 2012

Harlequin Reprints Part XXII

Here are the 13th and 14th of 19 titles that Harlequin reprinted as new numbers in the series from 1949 to 1959. Both have new front and back covers. The Murder on the Links is a reprint (that is, text has not been reset) but Maverick Guns has new page breaks such that the first edition has 124 pages of text and the second 122. There is no notice of the first edition in the second edition of Maverick Guns.

Harlequin 75 - September 1950

Harlequin 75 back

Harlequin 417 - March 1958

Harlequin 417 back

Harlequin 242 - August 1953

Harlequin 242 back

Harlequin 441 - October 1958

Harlequin 441 back

Thursday 27 December 2012

Are Any of Harlequin Books 61 - 70 Worth Reading?

It's been a while since a post in my series on Harlequin Worthies®. This group of 10 reveals one western, one historical, one Mountie and seven crime/thrillers. Once again only the crime/thrillers have any potential.

61 Halleran, E. E.          Shadow Of The Badlands
62 Merwin Jr., Sam        Message From A Corpse
63 Brandon, William      The Dangerous Dead
64 Michel, M. Scott        Sinister Warning [The X-Ray Murders]
65 Clamp, H. M. E.        Bridewell Beauty
66 Moore, Amos            Royce Of The Royal Mounted
67 Tracy, Don               Criss Cross
68 Bogart, William         The Queen City Murder Case
69 Schofield, Wm. G.      Payoff In Black
70 Merwin Jr., Sam         Knife In My Back

Criss Cross is the basis for the 1949 film noir of the same name starring Burt Lancaster. That deserves a Worthy®.

Harlequin 66 - August 1950

Harlequin 66 back

Harlequin 67 - Auguts 1950

Harlequin 67 back

Harlequin 69 - August 1950

Harlequin 69 back

Saturday 1 December 2012

A Dictionary from Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Part I

The "King's English" Self-Pronouncing Pocket Dictionary and Vocabulary Builder by J. M. Parrish and John R. Crossland is one of two early paperbacks from Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada in a numbered series starting with S. In the case of the dictionary, S3, noted at the base of the spine. There is a S4 but I've never seen S1 or S2. The copyright date is 1942 but a two page advertisement for "Books in Canada" at the back provides a date for the printing. This list of books includes four from the White Circle paperback series, including Literary Lapses which was published in 1945.

The "King's ... is a reprint of The New Improved Standard Dictionary. The only difference is the title page with the new title, a reset author listing and the addition of the street address in Toronto, 70 Bond Street.


Collins S3 - 1945

Collins S3 back