Q Books

Faber & Faber, Ltd. (London, UK)
Series dates: 1942-1943
Size: 4.75″ x 7″

The Q Books consisted of twelve paperbound reprints issued by Faber and Faber in 1942 and 1943. I’ve found no advertising for the series or mention of the series in contemporary periodicals. The titles are all from Faber & Faber’s back catalog.

Like Penguin and related pre-WW2 paperbound series, the Q Books had dust jackets. The jacket (and cover) designs were common to the series with nonfiction in blue and fiction in orange. A large Q on the front cover framed the book title and author. The series name and price (2/-) is at the bottom of the jacket front. The spine includes the title and author and “Faber Q Books.” The front jacket flap describes the book and additional books by the author. This is a copy of J.W. Dunne’s An Experiment with Time.

The back of the jacket repeats the text and design from the front of the jacket. The rear jacket flap lists the 12 titles, non-fiction, and fiction, in the series.

Titles in the series include:

Phyllis Bottome, Masks and Faces
Maurice Collis, Trials In Burma
J.W. Dunne, An Experiment With Time
Neil M. Gunn, Highland River
Liddell Hart, The Way To Win Wars
C.E.M. Joad, Guide To Modern Thought
J. Llewelyn Rhys, The Flying Shadow
Frank Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die
Sigfried Sassoon, Memoirs Of A Fox-Hunting Man
George Sava, The Healing Knife
A.G. Street, The Gentleman Of The Party
Henry Williamson, The Beautiful Years

 

The book covers repeat the design on the jacket in the same color:

The half title page follows the cover. The bindings are stapled.

Additional titles by the same author face the title page.

The copyright page includes a long list of printings of the title from the original publication. The book is published under wartime standards.

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