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In part I of this post I discussed the only author that had more than one book published by Bantam Publications, Inc. Eleanor Packer was an employee at a company owned by the company that owned Bantam and edited six of Bantam's books.
The other 23 books Bantam published had 23 authors.
Book 15, Poems of Passion, was written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 - 1919). Wilcox was very popular in her time and isn't completely forgotten today. One of some 70 books by Wilcox, Poems of Passion was published in 1883 (Chicago: W.B. Conkey). It was her most popular work and includes "Solitude" with her most famous line:
"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone."
The first edition of Poems of Passion contains 82 poems. The Bantam edition manages to reprint them all plus the four page author's preface and a new introduction.
The 15th book published by Bantam Publications is Poems of Passion by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. First published in 1883 (Chicago: W. B. Conkey) the LA Bantam edition includes the preface and all the poems in the original edition.
In common with all but one of LA Bantam's books Poems of Passion 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] poem,
[4] blank,
[5-6] Poems of Passion list,
[7-8] Miscellaneous Poems list,
[9] Introduction to LA Bantam edition,
[10] blank,
[11-13] Ella Wheeler's Original Preface,
[14] blank,
[15] Poems of Passion,
[16] blank,
17-61 43 poems,
[62] blank,
[63] Miscellaneous Poems,
[64] blank,
65-97 40 poems,
[98] Bantam Books List
[99-100] blank.
The copyright date is 1940. The book was entered in the Library of Congress Catalogue of Copyright Entries on September 26, 1940. The back cover is an advertisement for Bantam Books. The list of books on page 98 has all the books from 1 to 20 except for Poems of Passion.
The strong yellowish green/light gray cover shown below is the only version with which I'm familiar.
