LA Bantam 19 with dot
LA Bantam 18 with dot
LA Bantam 18 without the dot
LA Bantam 24 with no eye
Sunday, August 29, 2010
LA Bantam - the Eye of the Bantam
Bantam Publications published most, if not all, of its books (except the last one) with variant covers. There were different colours on the text covers and, for eight of the books, illustrated covers. However the one consistent feature was the large red bantam logo. But even here there were two variants - one with a black dot for the eye and one with the eye showing the background colour. Approximately 3/4 of the 40 some variants I've seen have the black dot. Is there any bibliographic significance to this? Don't know - need to see more variants. One interesting feature is that books with the dot have an italicized front cover blurb; those without the dot have a non-italicized blurb. All nine illustrated covers have a dot. And to confuse matters there is one book, Humorous Anecdotes, with no eye - although other copies of the book with an otherwise identical cover have the eye without the dot.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
LA Bantam - The Green Death and Other Stories
The 22nd book published by Bantam Publications is The Green Death and Other Stories by Brett Hutton. I can find no sources for the stories.
In common with all but one of Bantam's books The Green Death 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] copyright and contents page,
3-70 The Green Death,
71-85 The Man Who Would Not Fight,
86-100 Legionnaires of Death.
The copyright date is 1940.
In common with most LA Bantams there are variant covers, four with text and one illustrated. The text covers are strong blue/light blue, strong blue/light gray, strong blue/light yellowish green and strong yellowish green/light blue. The first two text and illustrated covers are below.
In common with all but one of Bantam's books The Green Death 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] copyright and contents page,
3-70 The Green Death,
71-85 The Man Who Would Not Fight,
86-100 Legionnaires of Death.
The copyright date is 1940.
In common with most LA Bantams there are variant covers, four with text and one illustrated. The text covers are strong blue/light blue, strong blue/light gray, strong blue/light yellowish green and strong yellowish green/light blue. The first two text and illustrated covers are below.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Red Arrow Illustrated Issues
Twelve of Red Arrow's 13 books had issues with illustrated covers in addition to text only covers. I imagine for the same reason that Bantam Publications tried illustrated covers on their last nine books - to boost sales. And like the LA Bantam illustrated covers they are uncommon. I've seen the illustrated covers for all of the LA Bantam books but only 4 of the 12 Red Arrow books. The only signed cover below is Red Arrow 7 - Politzer. Who is he? No idea.
Red Arrow 3
Red Arrow 2
Red Arrow 7
Red Arrow 12
Saturday, August 14, 2010
LA Bantam - Danger Mansion: A Murder Mystery and A Resourceful Lady
The 27th book published by Bantam Publications is Danger Mansion: A Murder Mystery and A Resourceful Lady by Philip Wylie. Danger Mansion was first published in the December 1937 issue of The American Magazine, A Resourceful Lady in Liberty Magazine's March 21,1934 issue.
In common with all but one of LA Bantam's books Danger Mansion 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] copyright page,
3-74 Danger Mansion,
[75] half-title,
[76] blank,
77-100 A Resourceful Lady.
The copyright dates are 1937 and 1934. The back cover is an ad for Bantam books.
In common with most LA Bantams there are variant covers, four text and an illustrated one. The text covers are dark blue/light blue, dark blue/light gray (see below), strong yellowish green/light blue and strong yellowish green/light orange yellow.
In common with all but one of LA Bantam's books Danger Mansion 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] copyright page,
3-74 Danger Mansion,
[75] half-title,
[76] blank,
77-100 A Resourceful Lady.
The copyright dates are 1937 and 1934. The back cover is an ad for Bantam books.
In common with most LA Bantams there are variant covers, four text and an illustrated one. The text covers are dark blue/light blue, dark blue/light gray (see below), strong yellowish green/light blue and strong yellowish green/light orange yellow.
LA Bantam 27 illustrated
LA Bantam 27 illustrated back
Friday, August 13, 2010
Red Arrow and LA Bantam
Bantam Publications shares a number of characteristics with Red Arrow Books which make them natural partners for this blog.
1) very early in the days of mass market publishing: Red Arrow - 1939/40 and Bantam - 1940/41,
2) not located in New York: Red Arrow - Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Bantam - Los Angeles,
3) complicated publishing histories: Red Arrow with three or four versions of all but one of its 13 books and Bantam with two or three versions of all but one of its 29 books,
4) both publishers used illustrated and type only covers. Bantam on eight books (plus one with illustrated only) and Red Arrow on the first 12 books,
5) the last book for both publishers are odd-balls.
The 13 Red Arrow books:
1 Thirteen at Dinner Agatha Christie
2 Murder on Hudson Jennifer Jones
3 Murders in Praed Street John Rhode
4 Death in the Library Philip Ketchum
5 Death Wears a White Gardenia Zelda Popkin
6 My South Sea Island Eric Muspratt
7 Yankee Komisar S.M. Riis
8 Girl Hunt Laurence D. Smith
9 The Seven Sleepers Francis Beeding
10 Captain Nemesis F. Van Wyck Mason
11 Wind-swept Olga Moore
12 Pirate's Purchase Ben Ames Williams
nn Unspeakable Gentleman John P. Marquand
Red Arrow books were colour coded: red for Mystery and Crime (1-5), green for Travel and Adventure (6-10) and blue for Fiction (11, 12). Here is an example of each.
1) very early in the days of mass market publishing: Red Arrow - 1939/40 and Bantam - 1940/41,
2) not located in New York: Red Arrow - Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Bantam - Los Angeles,
3) complicated publishing histories: Red Arrow with three or four versions of all but one of its 13 books and Bantam with two or three versions of all but one of its 29 books,
4) both publishers used illustrated and type only covers. Bantam on eight books (plus one with illustrated only) and Red Arrow on the first 12 books,
5) the last book for both publishers are odd-balls.
The 13 Red Arrow books:
1 Thirteen at Dinner Agatha Christie
2 Murder on Hudson Jennifer Jones
3 Murders in Praed Street John Rhode
4 Death in the Library Philip Ketchum
5 Death Wears a White Gardenia Zelda Popkin
6 My South Sea Island Eric Muspratt
7 Yankee Komisar S.M. Riis
8 Girl Hunt Laurence D. Smith
9 The Seven Sleepers Francis Beeding
10 Captain Nemesis F. Van Wyck Mason
11 Wind-swept Olga Moore
12 Pirate's Purchase Ben Ames Williams
nn Unspeakable Gentleman John P. Marquand
Red Arrow books were colour coded: red for Mystery and Crime (1-5), green for Travel and Adventure (6-10) and blue for Fiction (11, 12). Here is an example of each.
Red Arrow 5
Red Arrow 6
Red Arrow 12
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Red Arrow Books
This is the first post of a series on Red Arrow Books, another early short-lived American mass-market paperback publisher. This introductory post is a revised version of a post from my other blog - Fly-by-night.
On June 19, 1939 Pocket Books of New York introduced the mass market paperback to the US. Seventy years later Pocket Books imprints exist within Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publishing division of CBS Corporation.
The story for the second American mass market publisher (excepting the American division of Penguin) is much different. Red Arrow Books of Milwaukee, Wisconsin published its first 12 books on October 16, 1939 (Publisher's Weekly, October 14, 1939, p. 1539) in Milwaukee. An ad in that issue of PW introduces the 12 book list. The ad notes that "a mammoth, dormant market awaits the right kind of low-priced books".
Excepting one these were also the last books published by Red Arrow Books. They clearly had problems from the start - notice the ad is targeting book stores. Pocket Books and later other paperback publishers also had ads in PW but the make-or-break business was with the newsstands, drug, department and cigar stores of the day. Red Arrow very likely never found adequate distribution in those spots.
But Red Arrow did try some almost unique experiments to sell the books. Each of the first five books exist in four issues. The first and second are much the same with a text only cover, the only difference being a change in the colour of the spine and back cover. But the next two are quite different. The third has an illustrated cover, while the fourth is a Book Club edition with the price and blurb removed from the front cover. The last two have the list of books removed from the back cover. The contents have not been changed for any of the issues. Books 6 to 12 have three issues, one text version along with the illustrated and book club versions. A final unnumbered book exists in a book club edition only.
Below are examples of the text, illustrated and book club issues.
On June 19, 1939 Pocket Books of New York introduced the mass market paperback to the US. Seventy years later Pocket Books imprints exist within Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publishing division of CBS Corporation.
The story for the second American mass market publisher (excepting the American division of Penguin) is much different. Red Arrow Books of Milwaukee, Wisconsin published its first 12 books on October 16, 1939 (Publisher's Weekly, October 14, 1939, p. 1539) in Milwaukee. An ad in that issue of PW introduces the 12 book list. The ad notes that "a mammoth, dormant market awaits the right kind of low-priced books".
Excepting one these were also the last books published by Red Arrow Books. They clearly had problems from the start - notice the ad is targeting book stores. Pocket Books and later other paperback publishers also had ads in PW but the make-or-break business was with the newsstands, drug, department and cigar stores of the day. Red Arrow very likely never found adequate distribution in those spots.
But Red Arrow did try some almost unique experiments to sell the books. Each of the first five books exist in four issues. The first and second are much the same with a text only cover, the only difference being a change in the colour of the spine and back cover. But the next two are quite different. The third has an illustrated cover, while the fourth is a Book Club edition with the price and blurb removed from the front cover. The last two have the list of books removed from the back cover. The contents have not been changed for any of the issues. Books 6 to 12 have three issues, one text version along with the illustrated and book club versions. A final unnumbered book exists in a book club edition only.
Below are examples of the text, illustrated and book club issues.
Publisher's Weekly ad
Red Arrow 3
Red Arrow 3
Red Arrow 10
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