Avon Books Canadian Printings

     As I've mentioned in many places, Avon Books were my first vintage paperback love. The bright pulpy covers with great good girl art by Raymond Johnson, Bill Randall, Robert Crowl and other "Avon Artists" of the 1940's & 50's called to me as a burgeoning collector back in the late 70's and early 80's when I started collecting, even though at the time, I had no idea who these artists were.

     I recently came into a copy of the Canadian edition of "The Blue Negro" numbered C792, which I had never seen before, so I delved a bit into the web and my own collection to write a little bit about the Canadian Avons. 

  

 

Avon (Canadian) C792  The Blue Negro by Robert Payne. Cover art by Robert Hilbert. Released in the U.S. as Avon Books No. 373 in 1951 

 

 

     The other identifying features on the Canadian Edition are the lack of lamination (the American release was laminated) and the tiny words "Printed in Canada" at the end of the copyright page.

 

 

"Printed in Canada" at the end of the copyright page.

 

   Digging through my collection, I found that I also had a copy of the Canadian edition of "The Juvenile Delinquents" by Lenard Kaufman. Avon Books C755.  This was also unlaminated - as well as much thicker than the U.S. edition, not more pages but a thicker paper stock than the U.S. edition. It also has the "Printed in Canada" at the end of the copyright page.

 

   "The Juvenile Delinquents" by Lenard Kaufman. Canadian Edition C755. Cover art by Raymond Johnson

 

    After thinking about them for a litte bit. I decided to check the "Bookscans" website to see what, if any, Canadian Avons were listed there. The Canadian Avons were buried a bit, in the "Other Non U.S. Publishers A-C" section - which is kind of not where I'd think they were.  There were 11 Canadian Avons with the "C" numbering there.  The earliest number was "The Juvenile Delinquents" at C755, the last was C799 "Straw Boss" by E.E. Halleran.  C792, "The Blue Negro" was not listed so I have an unlisted title that I will need to send them a scan of so they can display it there. You always kind of know you have something rare (or just obscure!) if it's not pictured on Bookscans.

   I recall that I had at one time, a copy of the Canadian edition of Abraham Merritt's "The Fox Woman" and other stories (Avon No. 214) from 1949, this slightly earlier Canadian edition did not have a "C" numbering, instead, the number circle was blank. I have seen this Canadian "Blank Circle" on a few other Avons in the past that I cannot recall, so it was obviously an earlier device to identify Canadian Avon releases.

 

Avon "Blank Circle" Canadian edition of "The Fox Woman" by Abraham Merritt. Released in the U.S. as Avon No. 214 in 1949

  

    I still have the cover pic above, but I sold that "Fox Woman" some time ago so cannot scan it for copyright info. I have dug a bit deep on the world wide web and can't find any kind of comprehensive work on the Canadian Avons. 

 

    If any readers have any other "Blank Circle" editions, or "C" editions not listed at "Bookscans" I'd love to see them (or any reference work on them, whether digital or in print). Logic would dictate that all of the numbers between C755 and C799 are potentially out there!