Red Arrow 3
Red Arrow 2
Red Arrow 7
Red Arrow 12
Showing posts with label Red Arrow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Arrow. Show all posts
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.
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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