What the Proletariat Didn’t Read: Sidney M. Biddell’s “Mystery League” (1930-1933) or a Book Publisher’s Quest for Popular Magazine Readers
Officially launched in June 1930, the Mystery League series, which was contemporary with the most famous Doubleday Doran Crime Club in the United States, Le Masque in France, and Il Giallo Mondadori in Italy, ranked among the most beautifully designed editions of crime fiction hardbacks. It was also...
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| Vydáno v: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/belphegor, |
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| Hlavní autor: | |
| Médium: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jazyk: | Anglais |
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Belphégor
2025
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| On-line přístup: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Shrnutí: | Officially launched in June 1930, the Mystery League series, which was contemporary with the most famous Doubleday Doran Crime Club in the United States, Le Masque in France, and Il Giallo Mondadori in Italy, ranked among the most beautifully designed editions of crime fiction hardbacks. It was also one of the cheapest at the “almost unbelievable price of 50 cents” per copy. Relying on the clientele, network and distribution powers of the United Cigar Stores Company, American publisher Sidney M. Biddell had managed to put the mystery novel “within the reach of every book lover’s purse” for three years before his firm took another direction in September 1933. American working-class magazine readers were simply not prepared to buy books. Retracing the history of the ill-fated Mystery League, this article aims to add to the collective understanding of 1930s popular taste, and to give the man behind the launch of the democratic hardcover mystery the recognition and credit that he deserves. |
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