Dust Jackets Part IV

In 1942 Penguin began publishing in the USA. By 1948 the Penguin US effort had stalled and The New American Library of World Literature (NAL) took over. Six of the original Penguin USA titles were later released with dust jackets, some by NAL under the new Signet imprint.

The last post in this series had the third of the six, here is the first.

Penguin USA 503 (fourth printing) - March 1946

Penguin USA - 503 (fourth printing) back

Penguin - 503 (fourth printing) dust jacket - March 1946

Penguin 503 (fourth printing) dust jacket back

Appointment in Samarra Part I

One of my favourite novels is John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra (Harcourt, Brace, 1934). Penguin has just published a lovely trade edition, 69 years after their first edition. There have been many other editions but, not surprisingly, Penguin's are the prettiest.

Penguin 472 - 1944

Penguin 472 back

Penguin 2013

Penguin 2013 back

James Salter Part I

This past Saturday was the 60th anniversary of the signing of the truce that ended hostilities for the Korean War. James Salter was a jet fighter pilot in the war and his first novel, The Hunters (Harper, 1956), is about the lives and loves of American fighter pilots during the Korean War. Amazingly 57 years later Salter has just had his latest novel, All That Is,  published to generally very favourable reviews.

Salter rewrote The Hunters in 1997. There is also a Robert Mitchum 1958 film version which I can recommend.

The Great Gatsby Part I

The Great Gatsby has been published in "I don't know how many" editions. Has anyone done a bibliography of all Gatsby editions?

On a  recent trip to Chapters (the Standard Oil of the Canadian booksellers world) I counted eleven different versions. Here are two recent editions that are not the run of the mill. The first is from Pulp! The Classics, an imprint of Harpenden's Oldcastle Books. It is one of eight pulp versions of classics published in 2013. Two nice touches are numbering of the books and a yellow edge stain.

The next is a 2013 french version from Paris's Pocket. The single word title caught my attention.

PTC 102 - 2013

PTC 102 back

Pocket - 2013

Pocket back

Hard Case Crime Part I

The latest release from the folks at Titan Publishing and Hard Case Crime is a hit, thanks to the name of the author: Stephen King. In addition to the trade PBO Joyland has been issued in three limited editions, all but the cheapest (unsigned) sold out. The limited is a hard cover with a few nice features. The artist is the venerable Robert McGinnis with the front cover and nine internal illustrations. The back cover is a fun recreation of an early Dell "map-back". An original map-back can be seen below.

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Joyland trade - 2013

Joyland trade back

Joyland limited - 2013

Joyland limited back 

Dell 63 - [c. 1943]

Dell 63 back

LA Bantam - Jokes and Wisecracks

The 6th book published by Bantam Publications is Everybody's Book of Jokes and Wisecracks compiled by Jerome Gregory. This appears to be an original collection.

In common with all but one of LA Bantam's books Jokes and Wisecracks is 100 pages long and is 110 mm (4 5/16") wide by 152 mm (6") tall. Cover and pages are made from high acid pulp paper. The page collation is:

[1] title page,
2-100 Jokes and Wisecracks.

The copyright date, 1940, is on the title page.

The strong blue/light green cover shown below is the only one of which I'm aware.

Bantam 6 - 1940

Dust Jackets Part III

In 1942 Penguin began publishing in the USA. By 1948 the Penguin US effort had stalled and the New American Library of World Literature (NAL) took over. Six of the original Penguin USA titles were later released with dust jackets, some by NAL under the new Signet imprint. Here is one plus a DJ British Penguin.

Penguin 545 - second printing - October 1946

Penguin 545 back

Signet 545 DJ - c.1948

Signet 545 DJ back

Penguin A70 - 1940

Penguin A70 back

Penguin A70 DJ

Penguin A70 DJ back

Animal Farm Part I

In my first Orwell post I highlighted his most famous book. Here's the next most famous. Three editions from Penguin - the first, the latest and one in between. The last two have supplementary material.

Penguin 838 - 1951

Penguin 838 back

Animal Farm - 1989

Animal Farm 1989 back

Animal Farm - 2013

Animal Farm 2013 back

Dust Jackets Part II

Among the 27 dust jacketed Bantams from the late 1940s is No Place to Hide, a straightforward diary of a young doctor's involvement with the fourth nuclear explosion at Bikini on July 1, 1946. The original front cover is a tad misleading, as is the DJ version. In 1983 a third edition was published by the University Press of New England.

Bantam 421 - March 1949

Bantam 421 back

Bantam 421 DJ front

Bantam 421 DJ back

Dust Jackets Part I

One of my collecting interests is vintage paperbacks with dust jackets. Britain leads the way with Penguin alone publishing some 400 books with jackets between 1935 and 1940. There were also a few dozen in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In the US there are scattered examples from half-a-dozen publishers. Here are three examples - two from Penguin and one from Bantam who published 27 in the late 1940s.

Penguin 260 DJ - 1940

Penguin 260 DJ back

Penguin 67 DJ - 1936

Penguin 67 DJ back

Bantam 26 DJ - March 1946

Bantam 26 DJ back

Bantam 26

Bantam 26 back

Nineteen Eighty-Four Part I

I posted twice to this blog last year. The reason? Nothing to say. As my legion of followers know (hi Brian), this has been a very narrowly focused blog. I've decided to open up the blog to all books that interest me, aside from the Canadian paperbacks that are the topic of my main blog Fly-by-Night.

I'll start with one of my top half dozen favourite novels - Nineteen Eight-Four. There have been dozens of paperback editions since it was first published in 1949, with Penguin leading the way. Here are three editions from Penguin - the first from 1954, an imaginative reworking from 2013 and a Times promotion from 2009.

Penguin 978 - 1954

Penguin 978 back

Penguin - 2013

Penguin - 2013 - back

Penguin - 2009

Penguin - 2009 - back