19 August 2011

The Stylish, Sophisticated Théâtre Canadien


Zone
Marcel Dubé

Hier, les enfants dansaient
Gratien Gélinas

Les Beaux Dimanches
Marcel Dubé

The first three volumes in the Collection Théâtre Canadien, all published in 1968 by Montreal's Éditions Leméac.

Q: Has there ever been a better looking series in this country?

A: Nope.

3 comments:

  1. Wow--those are really nice! How many were there in the series? And did they stick with that design? Lovely stuff.

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  2. I've never seen a complete set - in libraries the volumes are invariably scattered throughout the area Melvil Dewey classified as 819.23. That said, I've seen most of the volumes. As far as I can tell, the design was followed for the first four years, though it did begin to stray. Near the end, the white background remained, but the multiple images were reduced to one, while the single coloured bars became multiple and the dots were made hollow. In 1973, somewhere around number 27, the series design was trashed. The new titles (and reprints) featured comedy/tragedy theatre mask, but otherwise had no images. Very much rooted in the seventies, the design and type are interesting at first - until you realize that they are all alike with only the titles setting them apart one from the other. I believe the collection - 46 in all - ended in the mid-seventies.

    More than you care to know, I'm sure.

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  3. Not at all! I might have to poke around on ABE, and see if any booksellers provide cover photos/scans.

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