John Burke: Foreign editions

[andydecker]

A few of John Burke's science fiction novels were sold to Germany in the 50s.

Cover found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.
The Dark Gateway, 1953, translated 1954, Bewin Verlag


Cover found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.
The Echoing Worlds, 1953, translated 1954, Bewin Verlag

I guess that John Burke didn't earn much from these, if he was even aware of them at the time. Like in the Heftroman as a weekly publication there were no royalties in this. In the next days I will post a few more of his editions, as most of those above were later re-issued as Heftromane with sometimes nice and later not so nice covers.

A few words to the editions. These were actual hardcovers. After the war a market of independent libraries established itself, offering a steady supply of entertainment. Basically this was genre literature only, which in this form never was available in the official community libraries or in book stores.

Those books, all cheaply produced hardcovers with the cheapest paper quality available and with gaudy covers – those things were thick, 1,4 inches for 250 pages - , were sold to independent stores like newsagents, tobacco shops, mom and pop stores and so on, who had a shelf or two in some corner and lend them for a week for a small fee. Come to think of it, it was not unlike the later video store, the owner had to buy the copy from the publisher and try to make a profit.

There were a lot of those publishers, which all vanished later on. The literary quality was not an issue, those books were seen as trash by the establishment. But in the age of the Wirtschaftswunder in West-Germany before television it was a steady source of new entertainment. People who never would have set a foot into a "real" library with its perceived "high-brow" literature could read something hopefully exciting for small money. According to Wikipedia in 1956 the stock of all those outfits combined is estimated at 20 million books, four time the program of regular libraries. It was a good business as long as it lasted.

Those kind of libraries had a pre-war tradition. Of course the offer of crime, romance, nurse novels, western and sf was not possible under the Nazis who controlled all media and banned stuff like that. So there was also a novelty factor at first.

The programs were a mix of a few translations and a lot of novels written for this market by German writers; a few of the later Heftroman writers sold their first novels to those "Leibuchverleger". The sf market was quite lively, you could read the odd Heinlein or Van Vogt.

I actually can remember such a lending library from my neighbourhood as a young lad in the late 60s. It was a newsagent down the street who had two rows of these colourful things and still did the business. At the time production of new material had ceased though. The Heftroman was taking over, you could buy it cheap and put it in the trash afterwards instead of having to return it. As far as sf is concerned, quite a few of those novels later were reprinted as Heftromane, even more abridged though. Burke among them.

[andydecker]

Another few:

All covers found on the net. Thanks to the original scanners.
Hotel Cosmos, 1954, translated 1960, Gebrüder Zimmermann

These books were later re-issued as Heftromane in 1961 and 1963. The same translation, only a bit edited for length.

Those Terra covers were done by artist Johnny Bruck (1921-1995) who painted a few thousand science fiction covers and interior illustrations for the publisher since the end of the 50s. Later he gave the Perry Rhodan series - for which he created 1797 covers up to his death; he died in a motorcycle accident - its distinct look. Those series were all published weekly. You recognize a Bruck cover when you see it. 

[andydecker]

More reprints.

Covers found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.
Oase/Neuzeit Verlag, 1975

These were reprints of the Leihbuch books. This Heftroman series was old fashioned when it started, had a weak distribution and was cancelled after 20 issues. A footnote today.