Friday 12 August 2016

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

Friday 29 July 2016

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

Saturday 16 July 2016

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

Thursday 31 March 2016

Retitled White Circles

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

Tuesday 22 March 2016

White Circle Missing Information

Wm Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd published 429 titles in their White Circle paperback reprint line from 1942 until 1952. All but nine were reprints but Collins never stated the original publication information. I've been able to identify this information for all but nine of the 420 titles.

The reason I can't find the original publication is Collins changed the title. And the authors wrote dozens of books. I'm showcasing these nine books here with the hope that someone can recognize the original title.
 
White Circle 321 - 1947
 
White Circle 321 back
 
White Circle CD366 - 1948
 
White Circle CD366 back
 
White Circle CD387 - 1949
 
White Circle CD387 back

White Circle CD389 - 1949
 
White Circle CD389 back
 
White Circle CD393 - 1949
 
White Circle CD393 back
 
White Circle CD395 - 1949
 
White Circle CD395 back
 
White Circle CD416 - 1949
 
White Circle CD 416 back
 
White Circle CD420 - 1949
 
White Circle CD420 back
 
White Circle CD428 - 1949
 
White Circle CD428 back

Wednesday 24 February 2016

Harlequin and Quinn (not the Eskimo) Part VI

In the first of the series on early American paperback publisher Quinn Publishing Company I described the close relationship between Harlequin and Quinn. Nearly 30 percent (39) of the 139 titles published by Quinn were also published by Harlequin. Here are two.

Sam Merwin's Knife in My Back was first published in 1945 by Mystery House. The Window With the Sleeping Nude is a PBO.

The Harlequin edition of Knife in My Back is not abridged - at least to the extent the Quinn edition is. It may be abridged from the original.
 
Handi-Book Mystery 44 - 1945
 
Handi-Book Mystery 44 back
 
Harlequin 70 - August 1950
 
Harlequin 70 back
 
Handi-Book Mystery 118 - 1950
 
Handi-Book Mystery 118 back
 
Harlequin 106 - April 1951
 
Harlequin 106 back

Thursday 7 January 2016

Harlequin Authors

There are 259 authors (ignoring pseudonyms) whose books were published by Harlequin from 1949 to early 1960 - the first 500. Over 70% (183) had only one book published. Here is the list.

Not very many known today. Doyle, Maugham, a few more recognized by crime fans and others. One of these is David Goodis who has been honoured with a Library of America edition. You'll note on the cover of that edition the Dell reprint of Dark Passage. This is the only Goodis book published by Harlequin, renamed Convicted.

Adams, F. Cleve
Adkins, Cleo
Allan, Bette
Allan, Tony
Allen, Barbara
Allen, T.D.
Allison, Carlyle
Anderson, Oliver
Andrews, Roy Chapman
Arnold, Elliot
Barnes, Margaret Campbell
Baume, Eric
Beach, Rex
Bellem, Robert Leslie
Billings, Buck
Bogard, Dale
Borodin, George
Brandon, William
Brown, Beth 
Brown, Joy
Bruff, Nancy
Bryant, Arthur Herbert
Bull, Lois
Cameron, Doug
Campbell, Patricia
Cardwell, Ann
Carew, Dan
Cheyney, Peter
Clamp, H. M. E.
Clay, Weston
Coburn, Walt 
Cocking, Ronald
Cole, Jackson
Constantin-Weyer, M.
Cord, Barry
Creasy, John 
De Lange, Anneke
Diespecker, Dick
Dingwell, Joyce
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Doyle, Richard J.
Drake, H.B.
Eaton, Evelyn
Echols, Allan K.
Edgley, Leslie
Elroy, Edwina
Evans, John
Farnes, Eleanor
Fleming, Joan
Fletcher, Verne
Ford, Marcia
Ford, Norrey
Fox, Norman A. 
Friend, Oscar J.
Frisbie, R.D. 
Fuller, Samuel Michael
Garth, Will
George, Peter
Gilmore, Cecile
Goodis, David
Gowland, John Stafford
Graham, Lewis
Gunn, Tom
Hall, Magdalen King
Hall, O. M.
Hamilton, Wade
Handley, Alan
Harrison, Whit
Healy, Eugene
Hecht, Ben
Hecklemann, Charles N.
Henderson, George C.
Hendryx, James B.
Herbert, A.P.
Hirsch, Richard
Hodges, Carl G.
Holt, Tex
Houghton, Elizabeth
Hughes, Dorothy B.
Hunt, Howard
Johnson, Katrina
Jordan, Gale
Joseph, Robert
Kandel, Aben
Kane, Frank
Kenyon, Theda
Kersh, Gerald
Key, Alexander
Lacroix, Rose (translator)
Laurenson, R. M.
Le Butt, Paul 
Lebedeff, Ivan
LeBourdais, D.M.
Leinster, Murray
Leitfred, Robert H.
Liggett, Walter W. 
Lindsay, Norman
Lindsay, Perry
Long, Amelia Reynolds
Long, Manning 
Mace, Merlda
MacMillan, Don
Malina, Fred
Marcus,  A. A.
Martin, Chuck
Mason, A.E.W.
Mason, Van Wyck
Maugham, W. Somerset
McArthur, A. + H. Kingsley Long 
McCary, Reed
McCrea, E.R. + W.J. Young
Mcculley, Johnson
McGrath, Tom
Mcleod, Ken Mcleod
Miller, Bill + Bob Wade
Mitchell, Joseph
Montrose, David
Mooney, Martin
Moore, Amos
Moss, W. Stanley
Nye, Nelson C.
O'Donnell, Bernard
Offord, Lenore Glen
Oppenheim, E. Phillips
Orvis, Kenneth (Kenneth LeMieux)
Osler, E.B.
Peacock, Max
Percival, Lloyd 
Petersen, Herman
Philips, Bluebell S.
Powers, Tom
Rabl, S.S.
Ragsdale, Clyde B.
Randall, Rona
Rasky, Frank
Reed, Blair
Rennie, George Murdock
Rhoades, Knight
Robb, John
Robertson, Dr. Alan Brown + Dr. Elizabeth Chant
Ronns, Edward
Rush, Philip
Russell, Victor
Ryberg, Dr. Percy E.
Sabatini, Rafael
Saber, Robert O.
Seale, Sara
Shannon, Carl
Shott, Abel
Sinclair, Gordon
Smith, Arnold
Smith, Harvey
Stanley, Edward
Stark, Michael
Stegner, Wallace
Stoddard, Charles
Stokes, Manning Lee
Stone, Thomas
Stringer, Arthur
Sturdy, Carl
Symons, Harry
Taylor, Angeline
Terrall, Robert
Thompson, Sydney
Tickell, Jerrard
Tracy, Don
Truesdell, June
Tyre, Robert
Ullman, Albert E. 
Van Vogt, A. E.
Von Stroheim, Eric
Walker, Joan 
Wallace, Clair
Walz, Jay & Audrey
Watson, Ken
Watson, Will
Webster, M. Coates
Weinbaum, Stanley G.
Westcott, Jan
White, William C. 
Worley, Dorothy
Wren, P.C.
Wright, Watkins E.
                                 
Dell 221- 1947
 
Dell 221 back
 
Harlequin 311 - August 1954
 
Harlequin 311 back