These were thin books, mostly old-fashioned reprints. Note: Airmont Books began publishing in the early 1960s, with romance novels that usually had the phrase "An Airmont Romance" on the front or back covers. You can check out my Facebook group Vintage Paperback Romance Novels for more discussion. It's possible that there are some errors and omissions in this list, so corrections and additions are welcomed. The list below is best viewed in desktop mode due to cover placement as referred to in the text. Much of the information below was derived from the website FictionDB as well as from other online sources like eBay and the books in my own collection. Books aimed at teenage readers are also not included, with the exception of First Love From Silhouette. Lines that were devoted to a single author (such as Bantam's Barbara Cartland Library or Jove's Camfield Novel of Love series by Cartland) are not included below. The list below includes paperbacks that were numbered on the covers (such as Harlequin, Candlelight, etc.) as well as ones which did not have such numbers (like The Avon Romance, Gallen Romance, etc.). The lines/series are listed below in alphabetical order and include only paperback books (no hardcovers or magazines). Category romance lines that are absent from this list may have debuted after 1989 (such as Kismet, which debuted in July 1990). More recent category romance novels have their own strengths and merit, but older books can have a unique charm due to their nostalgic appeal, despite flaws that they may exhibit in other ways (such as objectionable attitudes about gender and race). I have limited this list to romance lines that debuted prior to 1990 in order to focus on my primary interest in vintage books. In some cases, readers can subscribe to a publisher's category romance line and receive the books in the mail each month from the publisher. (Today one may regularly find continuing series within a category line, but this was less common prior to the 1990s.) This branding of the books helps ensure that the reader knows what she is getting when she buys the book. The books are generally unrelated standalone novels by various authors, although often sharing a similar theme for example, Harlequin Historical is for the publisher's historical romance novels. Harlequin Presents) and often with numbers on the covers. Corrected entry for "The Avon Romance.")Ĭategory romance novels are a publisher's line of books that are released regularly, sometimes several per month, under an overall series title (e.g. (The most recent update was on Maat 11:15am. The list will be continually updated as more information becomes available. “We now have a team of art directors that basically go in and direct like they would a movie or a fashion magazine,” Horvath says.The following is a list of category romance lines/series/imprints published in the U.S. But about 15 years ago, Harlequin brought the role in house. Illustrators often acted as de facto creative leads for their covers. They’d also fill in backgrounds - romantic castles and moonlit beaches - to tease at the plots. The artists would paint illustrations based on Polaroid shots, later changing the models’ clothing or hair colour to reflect character descriptions. “People are always watching other people’s work and building off genres and styles.”īack in Meers’ day, actors or talent models were hired for what Horvath refers to as reference photography. “It looks exactly like what I’m currently working on with some of our covers,” Horvath says. He points out a giant poster of John Krasinski promoting the latest season of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” in Yonge-Dundas Square outside Harlequin’s highrise office windows. “We’re always looking at what are they doing and how they tell their stories,” says Horvath. Romance is one of the more neglected areas, but it is also one of the areas where there is the most material.” “Those all start to become really expensive. “Certain fandoms have more collecting associated with them, be it science fiction, horror or pulp-adventure stuff,” says Birkemoe. Although they might not be an obvious fit with a comics crowd, Birkemoe knows many people who collect vintage illustrations. But he ended up buying the romance paintings. Meers - who is retired and doesn’t want to speak publicly about his old job - originally wanted to sell The Beguiling some of his comics art and Birkemoe went to see it. I feel privileged to have grown up in the 1950s and ’60s, surrounded by illustration.” Meers, hearkening back to his childhood in texts sent to the shop’s owner, Peter Birkemoe, said, “I was excited by illustration wherever I saw it - on paperback book covers, movie posters, science fiction magazines, the many magazines that featured short stories and advertising art, much of which was masterful.
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