robert service

I have only just discovered this group: Greetings to all.

I recently acquired this volume of Service:

The Poisoned Paradise
A.L. Burt

The title page is missing but I believe the printing was 1924.
It's likely there was no date given on the missing page as Mithan's
bibliography doesn't give a specific year.The original printing was
1922, simultaeneously in New York, London and Toronto. In 1924 it was
reprinted in England by Unwin.

However, this is the photoplay edition, most likely brought out in
conjunction with the film (1924). Mithan examined four volumes,
one in private hands, one at a university and two in Yukon libraries.
He makes a peculiar note that the two Yukon copies were missing the
frontispiece (possiblly some stange Klondike fascination with Clara
Bow), and seems ignorant that it contains three other stills from the
film.

I have been unable to find another copy anywhere on the net; first
editions, thirty-odd: first editions - Bart, seven or eight: 1924
editions, half a dozen, all Unwin: Service - photoplay, a score,
but not The PP).

So, how rare is it? I solicit your comments.

stretford_end wrote:

The Poisoned Paradise
A.L. Burt

The title page is missing but I believe the printing was 1924.
[snip]
how rare is it? I solicit your comments.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and suggest it is quite scarce. I
cannot trace a record of a 1924 edition of this work published by Burt
in any of the major catalogues.

A.L. Burt are generally known as a reprint publisher, and they did not
usually indicate later printings, so even if that missing title page
were present it might not help all that much.

However, Burt editions can occasionally turn out to be collectible, and
Burt photoplay editions from this period are a case in point. Here is a
listing from Tomfolio:

_________________________________________
Abdullah, Achmed THE THIEF OF BAGDAD
Publisher: A. L. Burt NY 1924. 1st printing, 1924; First photoplay
edition of the Douglas Fairbanks film; wraparound jacket art by William
Pogany. Red cloth, lettered in stamped gold on front and spine; 4
stills from film. D/j has short edge tears top of rear panel, with a
few associated light creases, slight edge wear with a few nicks, a bit
of dust soil on rear, otherwise very clean & attractive. About Fine in
Very Good+ dj. Hardcover in Dj
US$546.25
(http://www.tomfolio.com/bookssub.asp...100&subid=2811)
_________________________________________

Service himself is only moderately collectible, and without the title
page this copy would appear to be a bit of a lame duck, but until it
can be ascertained that there are other copies around somewhere it
remains a little bit of cinematic history, presumably of some value to
someone somewhere.

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com

Thank you for the response, especially since it tends to confirm my own
suspicions. The Service biographers put some importance on this book
and on this printing. It was his first foray into prose and a huge
success, the interest in the book being extended with the release of
the film two years later. As such it dictated the future course of his
work.

However, although I greatly admire Service's poetry I have absolutely
no interest in late Victorian melodrama (rather, melodrama by late
Victorians) and I am motivated in my investigations solely by greed;
eBay with an inflated opening bid and appropriate hyperbole, I think.

I find the publisher, about whom I know nothing, much more fascinating.
The Service book was published simultaeneously in London, Toronto and
New York, in 1922. But there are two New York publishers for that year
Burt and Dodd,Mead. Was the Burt edition concurrent with the Dodd,
Mead, or did it come out six months later? Your comment as to Burt
being a reprint publisher is interesting in this context. When you
start delving into American works of the first quarter of the century
Burt is inescapable, but the name has no resonance today.

I recently picked up two matching Horatio Algers by Burt, no date but
probably about 1912, obviously part of a set. The interesting thing
about them is that they have, with the exception of the title,
precisely the same stick-on cover illustration. This would tend to
indicate cheap, mass market editions, precursors to the paperbacks; and
a market demographic that had no means to buy books after 1929.

Pure speculation on my part, but it might explain why such a prolific
publisher is no longer extant, and why some of their works as so scarce.

re Burt Publishing
from http://newportvintagebooks.com/libra...lishers_ae.htm

A.L. Burt [1883-1937]:
A. L. Burt publishing company was founded by Albert L. Burt [born in
Belchertown, MA] in 1883 and began publishing at 105 John St. in New York
City -- the beginning of several decades as a well-known reprint publisher.
Burt came to be regarded as a pioneer in the field of printing the classics
in attractive form at popular prices. His "Home Library" of several hundred
titles had widespread sales for many years. The founder, Albert L. Burt
passed away on 28 Dec 1913 and the business was taken over by his three sons
[Harry, Frederick & Edward]. A.L. Burt was sold to Blue Ribbon Books in
1937.



A.L. Burt expanded its publishing strength by establishing reprint contracts
with several publishers. Between 1915 and 1928, A.L. Burt reprinted the
first five of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan adventures acquiring the reprint
rights from A.C. McClurg Publishers of Chicago [who had issued the first
editions]. A.L. Burt setup similar reprint arrangements with other first
editions publishers such as Appleton-Century, Bobbs-Merrill, Doubleday-Doran
& Little, Brown reprinting the titles of dozens of works of popular fiction
from the mysteries of Conan-Doyle, Oppenheim, Packard, Rohmer and Wallace,
to the historical adventures of Chambers, Dumas & Farnol. Many of these
Burt reprints are often confused as first editions by collectors who eagerly
find the early copyright dates without checking for the all important
publisher imprints, and assessing dates of advertisements and publisher
address changes.



For example, dating a book can be simplified by keeping in mind that A.L.
Burt publishers changed their location as follows:



A.L. Burt
66 Reade Street
1889-1896

A.L. Burt
97 Reade Street
1896-1900

A.L. Burt
52-8 Duane Street
1900-1912

A.L. Burt
114-120 East. 23rd St
1912-1937

A very useful link, and not one I would likely have stumbled upon by
myself.
Many thanks.