|
David Whiteley 7th Sep 2020
| | I'm unable to throw any light on the mystery publishers. All I've managed to find from my own collection is a link between Zenith, Trojan and Howard Baker Publishers. Some of the books by each publisher state copyright Press Editorial Services. Only the Howard Baker Publishers books have publication dates and catalogue Numbers.
I will be adding books by each of these publishers soon. |
|
|
|
ppint. 7th Sep 2020
| | david whiteley: trojan books, london has proved remarkably elusive, and seems to've published/been used to publish instant remainder p/bs very similar to the post-consul books output of world distributors (manchester) ltd. and pbs of victoria mills, manchester - who were likely connected with wdl - including five star books, ensign books, the apparently publisher-less uk p/b editions of the ''land of the giants'' spin-offs & novelisations, sci-fi books, etc.
whether - and if so, how - all of these, zenith, and stoneshire / ace/stoneshire books were connected, yr hmbl srppnt. does not yet know; but i retain hopes of finding out from a couple of people in fandom, whist they - and i - yet live... |
|
|
|
23skidoo 19th Aug 2020
| | @David Whiteley Fascinating! As ppint mentioned, Ballinger was a house name used by, among others, W. Howard Baker. Given the Zenith-Sexton connection, maybe he owned this publishing company and decided to toss in some of his Danger Man work? He and Wilfred McNeilly (another Ballinger writer) are credited on most of the Danger Man/Secret Agent novels so that increases the chances that the others might have also gotten the Zenith treatment. |
|
|
|
David Whiteley 19th Aug 2020
| | 23skidoo & ppint. I don't have any more Danger Man/Secret Agent books published by Zenith. The others are either Consul (UK) or MB (US). What I do have are some war books by William Howard Baker, two of them are Zenith's,The others are, one by Mayflower, one by another unknown publisher, Trojan Publications London. and one hardback published by Howard Baker Publishing Limited.Only the Mayflower and the hardback have a date of publication and catalogue No.
These were re-prints of Sexton Blake stories written by Baker in the late 1950's while he was editor of The Sexton Blake Library with Sexton Blake's name changed to Richard Quintain.
Zenith by the way was a main adversary of Sexton Blake. |
|
|
|
23skidoo 19th Aug 2020
| | @David Whiteley You mentioned elsewhere that you have additional Danger Man/Secret Agent novels - did Zenith reprint any of the others? This edition reminds me of the type of book that would turn up in 50-cent bins in Canadian department stores like Zellers in the early 80s, bagged with other UK printings of things like The Six Million Dollar Man. |
|
|
|
ppint. 18th Aug 2020
| | david: thank-you. i wonder whether anyone still remembers who, where & what companies, now? |
|
|
|
David Whiteley 18th Aug 2020
| | I also own this book.
The only other information I can add is that it was printed by Hunt Barnard, Aylesbury. No date or catalogue No. is given. |
|
|
|
ppint. 22nd Jul 2019
| | @mystdrf - do you still have, or have access, to this edition? |
|
|
|
23skidoo 22nd Jul 2019
| | Never seen this edition before. The US MacFadden-Bartell edition is clearly labelled as a "Secret Agent" novel with a photo of Patrick McGoohan. Given the cover price it's pretty obvious the Zenith edition did not come out in 1966. Do we know when it was published? Based on the $3.50 Canadian price, and comparing with Doctor Who novels (which were of similar page count), that would put it in the early 1980s. |
|
|
|
ppint. 3rd Mar 2019
| | danger man (john drake) consul series novel #4:
published as by w. a. ballinger, known pseudonym of w. howard baker, q.v.
#1: "departure deferred" w. howard baker (1965), q.v.
the consul danger man series titles were published in mmpb a year later by macfadden books, under the series title "secret agent".
they were preceded by a dell publishing mmpb, "target for tonight" richard telfair (1962), which does not seem to've seen UK publication.
i've no idea who zenith publications were: more - any! - information from the indica would be welcome; looks to've been a late nineteen-seventies uk p/b, possibly published in some tie-up between w. howard baker and world distributors (manchester) ltd., given their association with him, and their related five star/pbs imprint books also bearing nor (i)sbn, nor cat#° - ? - love, ppint.
(° - like them, this edition was very possibly not distributed in xxxxia nor canadada, despite the prices printed on the back cover. it possibly saw only yuk-of-gb-&-n.i., roi & a little western yeurppean distribution via news wholesalers, followed by speedy remaindering.) |
|
|
|
ppint. 6th Oct 2018
| | house name, of sorts, used by w. howard baker, q.v., with or without wilfred mcneilly. |
|
|