aka and originally "the day of the triffids" (1951), q.v.
cover art by earle bergey (signed "bergey", uncredited)
cover price 25¢
224pp. including titles, indica etc.
after an increasing number of - not necessarily ''down-market'', ''sleaze'' or mild porn - mmpb publishers took to recycling books they'd bought outright (or sometimes, only licensed) under ever-proliferating titles, taking advantage of the news wholsalers buyers' lack of time, expertise - or sometimes even literacy, it was made a legal requirement for merkin publishers to display clearly upon the front cover of any book they re-titled book its previous title.
n.b. this did not and does not equate with making the previous (or the original, if advised) title a sub-title;
and arguably it did not oblige them to advise a previous title if the publisher they'd acquired the rights to a book from had retitled it.
images of the various developments of the cover design and the spot-coloured foremost triffid in harry griffiths' expanded cover art would i think be found entertaining by (at least some) bookcatters.°
° - if any bookcatter out there can oblige. . . - ? (this comment is from another edition of this book)
cover art b+w decoration by john griffiths
cover price 2/- rises to 2/6 on 1956, '58, '59, '60, '61, to 3/6 on '62, '63, '63(2nd), '64, '65, '66 printings
272pp, including titles, indica etc.
cover redesign with/by 1962 7th printing has narrow vertical orange border panels, and griffiths'
cover art greatly expanded and elaborated, triffids lines in green with foreground (original, reversed?) triffid spot coloured orange, top turrets of the white tower line-drawn in black above triffid crowd...
cat# 993
cover price 3'6
272pp. including titles, indica etc.
cover redesign with 1963 8th & 9th through 1965 11th printing removes orange bar to cover chief, retains (re-expanded to fill ⅔ front cover)
cover art by john griffiths (r.h. triffid formerly overlapping rh cover bar is no longer partly orange)
cat# 993
cover price 3'6
272pp. including titles, indica etc.
1966 12th printing (sight/report of cover art not yet noticed, prob'ly as above 11th printing)
cat# 993
cover price 3'6
272pp. including titles, indica etc.
the 1968 13th printing has new cover art by harry willock, cover price 4/-, south africa R0.60, australia 70c, new zealand 55c - definitely time for a second bookcat "itriffidem", though cat# 993 is initially retained (until introduction of the isbn, 014-000993-0, which incorporates it).
penguin books managed at least 57 printings of their p/b of "the day of the triffids", not counting "b-format", nor penguin modern classics editions, nor the xxxxian 1961 horwitz H993 p/b edition, which seems to use the same penguin books setting - though it bears its very own xxxxian view of the day on its cover.
aka "revolt of the triffids" (merkin mmpb 1952), q.v. (this comment is from another edition of this book)