George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd. (London, UK)
Series dates: 1928-1939
Size: 4.5″ x 7″
Harrap’s Short Stories of To-Day and Yesterday series reprinted short stories from mostly contemporary writers and a few 19th-century authors. It followed similar Harrap series, One-Act Plays of To-Day (1924 to 1948) and Essays of To-Day and Yesterday (1926 to 1938). The Short Stories of To-Day and Yesterday series reached 17 volumes, the majority published in 1928 (the series first year) and 1929. No new volumes seem to have been issued after the Bill Adams title in 1931. Reprints extend to 1939.
| 1928 Arnold Bennett G.K. Chesterton Bret Harte W.W. Jacobs Barry Pain Eden Phillpotts Morley Roberts Anthony Trollope |
1929 Ernest Bramah Gerald Bullett Irvin Cobb George Gissing A. Neil Lyons Guy de Maupassant Arthur Morrison |
| 1930 Algernon Blackwood |
1931 Bill Adams |
Jackets were common to the series. This copy of Irvin S. Cobb’s entry in the series is dated 1929, the second year of the series. What is probably an earlier text jacket (not shown here) was replaced by the more common repeating pattern jacket by 1929. This design may have been inspired by Curwen Press designs. The only variable is the changing name of the author on the front of the jacket. The series name encircles the author’s name. The pattern used on the jacket precludes the inclusion of any other information on the jacket front and flaps.
The back and rear flap of the jacket continues the pattern, and no additional information is included.
Solid cloth bindings have minimal decoration, only the author, and title in gold.
The half title page includes the series name and author of the stories in the volume.
A list of the first 15 (of 17) titles issued in the series faces the title page. The title page includes the series name, author, and publisher’s imprint.
Copyright page includes the year of publication and publisher information. Printer information is included at the bottom of the page.
A few titles appear with a faux-leather binding in a box. This may have been an attempt to sell books in what seems to have been, by 1930, a struggling series.
