Adventures of a Columnist
Pierre Berton
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1967
Pirates at Play (1950) by Violet Trefusis
4 hours ago
17 February 2011
15 February 2011
The Erotic Brian Moore
I Am Mary Dunne
Brian Moore
New York: Bantam, 1969
Brian Moore's masterpiece sold as "A NOVEL OF SEXUAL TORMENT".
"AUTHOR OF THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE" – which has nothing to do with self-love.
14 February 2011
13 February 2011
A Moment of Love, Health and Fertility
A Moment of Love [The Feast of Lupercal]
Brian Moore
London: Panther, 1970
Because, I suppose, so few of us still celebrate Lupercalia.
It begins today.
Cheers!
11 February 2011
Silent, but Deadly
Death Wind [The Last Canadian]
William C. Heine
New York: Pyramid, 1976
William C. Heine's Canadian bestseller, rechristened for the American market. The new title is the sort of thing that can send one's inner ten-year-old into a fit of giggles.
"QUIETLY, ALMOST PAINLESSLY..."
Stop, you're killing me.
09 February 2011
Richler Retitled
Another deadline approacheth. Tradition dictates that things here become a little less wordy and a bit more visual. There'll be no great theme this time – just a few uncommon covers that I find odd, silly or terribly amusant.
Popular Library's 1955 edition of The Acrobats, retitled Wicked We Love, leads the parade. The sexy substitution will come as no surprise to those familiar with the paperback publisher. Mordecai Richler received no special treatment – look what they did with Casino Royale.
I can't think of any other Canadian writer who experienced so many title changes at the hands of American publishers. In 1963, The Incomparable Atuk was fine with André Deutsch and McClelland & Stewart, but not Simon & Schuster.
The New York publisher not only replaced the title, but got rid of Len Deighton's wonderfully whimsical cover.
Yes, Len Deighton.
Canadian and British publishers seem to have been happy with Shovelling Trouble, as a title for Richler's 1972 collection of essays, but not the folks at Knopf down in New York.
Here, I cheat a bit. Shovelling Trouble and Notes on an Endangered Species and Others aren't exactly one and the same. Published in 1974, the latter scrambles the contents, and drops nine essays while adding nine others.
And finally, from 1983, this reflection of a great cultural divide. The Knopf cover – need I point to the right? – is by Lawrence Ratzkin, the very same man who twenty years earlier designed Stick Your Neck Out.
My thanks to John W. MacDonald for the image of Wicked We Love. His entertaining and informative essay on this surprisingly rare edition is highly recommended.
07 February 2011
NCL: Devolution, Evolution and Lateral Moves
New Canadian Library series designs as reflected in the work of Sinclair Ross, beginning way back in 1958 with NCL 4.
1970
1985
1988
1998
2008
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