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Lion |
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Martin Goodman, who owned a pulp magazine and comic empire that included Marvel Comics, started Lion Books in 1949. His first several paperbacks were Red Circle Books (Goodman also published Red Circle Magazine), but the Lion name and famous Lion colophon soon graced the cover on all of his books. Book numbers 1 through 7, plus 12 & 13, were Red Circle Books. 8 & 11, and 14 through 233 made up the original Lion series. There were two distinct series. Lion’s standard sized 25¢ book was printed until 1955. Beginning in 1954, Lion began printing Lion Library (35¢ LL series, tall-format) and Lion Books (25¢ LB series, which included both tall and standard format), in combined sequential order. Lion cover art was first-rate, and many covers and titles were overtly provocative. This alone would make Lions popular with today’s collectors. But several authors who had modest beginnings with Lion became exceedingly collectible, among them David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and Robert Bloch. These factors seem to combine to make Lion one of the most sought-after labels among collectors today. Significant back-cover art also became prevalent in the early fifties, and followed the Lion Library series until the end. New American Library bought Lion, and all its rights, in the summer of 1957. Several Lion titles were reprinted under the Signet label. Many thanks to contributors of Lion cover art. Fred Meyerriecks sent me scans of his entire Lion collection.
This page was updated in December 2012
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