Gerald Howe Ltd. (London, UK)
Series dates: 1933
Size: 4.75″ x 7.25″
Updated 7/29/2024
Gerald Howe Ltd. was established in 1926 by author Gerald Bullett and publishing industry employee Garfield Howe. The firm issued a modest list of titles with a literary bent. The most famous of their books is P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins (1934). The firm issued books until 1940. Gerald Howe Ltd. was acquired by The Bodley Head in 1941.
 |
The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record, Volume 125, July 24, 1926. |
 |
The Publishers Weekly, Volume 110, November 13, 1926 |
 |
The Bookseller and the Stationery Trades’ Journal, February 18, 1927. |
Apparently, the book published by the Gerald Howe Ltd in 1934 titled Of the Making of CXXV Books – A Publisher’s Bibliography is a history and bibliography of Gerald Howe Ltd. I’m not clear what how “CXXV Books” relates to the publisher Gerald Howe Ltd.
The Soho Library reissued selected Gerald Howe titles in a smaller, cheaper format. The series was above average in design and quality compared to similar reprint series of the era. The series also has some interesting details, such as titles using cut down, unbound pages of original edition books, and adding a Soho Library jacket to a title from a different firm series, that reflect the creative and thrifty nature of the publisher.
Series title dates are as early as 1927, but I believe all the series titles were issued in 1933. In at least one instance, series titles were cut down from the original first editions, rebound, and sold as the Soho Library (thus preserving the first edition dates). An example is Sackville-West’s Aphra Behn: A Life of The Incomparable Astrea (source), first issued by Gerald Howe in 1927. In another instance, a title (Lady Hester Stanhope), issued in the series in 1933, seems to have been a re-jacketed copy from Gerald Howe’s Representative Women series (seen on abebooks.com). The company was very thrifty in repurposing existing books for this series and may have been under a bit of financial stress.
Advertisements for the series (below) from the Times Literary Supplement appeared in March 1933 (left; 2 titles), and 4 additional titles were added in May (center). An advertisement including many Gerald Howe Ltd. titles, including the last two Soho Library titles (and 2 earlier titles), appears in a December 7, 1933 advertisement (right). This advertisement mentions “Book Tokens.”
“The term “book token” was first coined in the 1920s by Harold Raymond, an English publisher who noticed that for Christmas his friends had received a collective total of only three books out of 119 total gifts. He felt that some sort of coupon could be used to take the risk out of giving books as gifts. Book tokens were first officially distributed in November of 1932, just in time for the holidays.” (source)
Thus, more or less, a gift card for books from the 1930s.
 |
 |
 |
| Times Literary Supplement, March 30, 1933. | Times Literary Supplement, May 4, 1933. | Times Literary Supplement, December 7, 1933. |
Dust jackets for the series are common in design, with an elaborate pattern covering the jacket’s front, spine, and back. Typography is added for each specific title. The jacket spine includes the series name (rather than the publisher) at the base. The series name is repeated on the front of the jacket, along with the title, author, and illustrator. A few phrases about the book are printed over the design. The front jacket flap includes a description of the book from, likely, a review of the original edition (1927). The price is 3’6 net.
The rear of the jacket includes all 8 titles from the series. The back jacket flap is blank.
Titles in the Soho Library are listed below. I’ve tried to construct a printing history of the titles, including reprints of the original Gerald Howe Ltd. titles in other series, US printings, and later printings.
“The latest and not the least charming of pocket editions” Week-End Review
The series numbers are not evident on the books themselves, nor in advertisements, but appear in WorldCat for several titles. They correspond to the list of titles below (taken from the book itself).
FRANK SWINNERTON
Authors and the Book Trade. With a new Preface. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1932; #1 in the Soho Library, 1933. Reprinted with a new preface with a 1933 date. Additional editions: US: Knopf, 1932; UK: Hutchinson & Co, 1935; US: Books for Libraries Press, 1970.
V. SACKVILLE-WEST
Aphra Behn: A Life of The Incomparable Astrea. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1927; #2 in the Soho Library, 1933. Additional Gerald Howe Ltd. edition, 1937. Soho Library edition cut down from 1927 first edition stock. Additional editions: US: Viking, 1928; US: Russell & Russell, 1970; US: Viking Press, 1970; Italy: Novecento, 1990; US: Palgrave, 2002.
MONTAGU SLATER (ed.)
Two Classic Melodramas: Maria Marten & Sweeney Todd. With Introductions. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1928; #3 in the Soho Library, 1933. Soho Library edition reprinted with 1933 date. Another odd edition was published in 1937, consisting of the Sweeney Todd half of the book. This title indicates a 1937 date and is paginated 85-159 and is the same size as the Soho Library series. One copy indicates Barnstormer Plays, #2. Barnstormer Plays was another Gerald Howe series. The first series title was Maria Marten, the other half of the Slater edited book. This series may have started as chopped up versions of the original edition (or Soho Library edition) of the Slater text. Versions of these individual plays under the Barnstormer Plays series name have the original 1928 publication date, and that’s the first year this series was advertised. I’ve seen a paper copy of the Sweeney Todd Barnstormer Plays title, and I’m assuming other Howe tiles in this series were also paperbound. Copies of the Maria Marten play under the series name were also published by the Baker International Play Bureau (Boston, US) with a 1934 date, and John Lane | The Bodley Head with the same date. Lane acquired Gerald Howe in 1941, so that title was likely a reprint (with the original date) after 1941. Lane issued additional titles with publication dates of 1943, 1946, 1951, 1953, 1957, and 1960.
C. K. MUNRO
The True Woman: A Handbook for Husbands and Others. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1932. #4 in the Soho Library in 1933. I cannot find a copy of this book with a 1933 date, so it may have been reprinted from original plates or cut down from the original edition for the Soho Library edition.
UMBERTO NOTARI
The Three Thieves. An Italian best-seller, satirical and exciting. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1930; #5 in the Soho Library, 1933. I cannot find a copy of this book with a 1933 date, so it may have been reprinted from original plates or cut down from the original edition for the Soho Library edition.
MARTIN ARMSTRONG
Lady Hester Stanhope. A book of travel and feminine courage. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1927, issued in the Gerald Howe Ltd. series Representative Women and dated 1928; #6 in the Soho Library, 1933. A copy of this book for sale on abebooks.com has a Soho Library jacket, but the book indicates it is part of the Gerald Howe Ltd. series Representative Women. Thus, the Soho Library title was likely a rejacketed copy of the reprint in the Representative Women series. I’ve also seen a 1927 dated title indicating the Soho Library, and it’s possible this is cut down from 1st edition leftovers. Additional editions: US: Viking Press issued this title as part of the Representative Women series in 1928. UK: Cedric Chivers, 1970.
DORIS LANGLEY MOORE
The Technique of the Love Affair. A famous and provocative essay. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1928, reprint 1930; #7 in the Soho Library, 1933. A copy with a 1933 date and the Soho Library indicated can be found on WorldCat. Additional editions: US: Simon and Schuster, 1928; UK: Rich & Cowan, 1936; US: Knickerbocker Pub. Co. (New York), 1946; US: Pantheon, 1999; UK: Random House, 1999; US: Castle Books (Edison NJ), 2002.
P. A. DE ALARCÓN
The Three-Cornered Hat. Translated by Martin Armstrong. With Illustrations by Norman Tealby. Original Gerald Howe Ltd. edition 1927; #8 in the Soho Library, 1933. Additional editions: US: Simon and Schuster, 1928; US: Limited Editions Club (Los Angeles), 1959.
The bindings are red cloth with gold typography and decorations. The Soho Library colophon is debossed on the front cover.
Blank endpapers:
A Soho Library colophon:
A list of titles in the series faces the half-title page:
The first of two title pages, with an illustration facing an extended title page (but no publisher information).
The title page with information on the translator and illustrator.
“This edition first printed 1927”
“Reprinted in the Soho Library 1933”
“Printed in England”
“All Rights Reserved”
“Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., London, N.W. 1”
