Ryerson Paperbacks

Ryerson Press advertised the launch of its quality paperback reprint series, Ryerson Paperbacks, in the November-December 1966 issue of English Canada’s book-trade journal Quill and Quire.  The advertisement listed the first ten books in the series, an eclectic mix of non-fiction titles that ran the gamut: from J.A. Lower’s Canada: An Outline History through G.F.O. Smith’s The Man Robert Burns and Desmond Pacey’s Ten Canadian Poets to J.E. Smyth’s The Basis of Accounting. By 1970, the series would exceed thirty titles, and contain a blend of non-fiction, journalism, and fiction drawn from the firm’s backlist, with Canadiana dominating its offerings.

In introducing the reprint series, Ryerson emulated earlier initiatives by several Toronto-based publishers, including: the New Canadian Library and the Carleton Library, launched respectively in 1958 and 1963 by McClelland and Stewart; Clarke Irwin’s Canadian Paperbacks, commenced in 1964; and Oxford in Canada Paperbacks, initiated in 1965. Quality paperbacks had been a phenomenon in English-language book publishing in North America since the 1950s, when it became clear that the educational sector provided a viable market for more serious works produced in paperbound editions. Although most publishers produced these works in “pocket-book” size, Ryerson diverged, issuing its paperback series in an 20.32 cm x 15.87 cm format; while still smaller than the dimensions of a standard hardback, Ryerson Paperbacks stood out physically from their Canadian competitors in the quality-paperback field.

In issuing its titles for the series in 1967, Ryerson kept the release rate at ten, but incorporated some fiction titles for the first time, including Hugh Hood’s Flying a Red Kite and an English-language translation of Yves Thériault’s Agaguk. In 1968, a year in which only eight titles appeared, two authors dominated: Hugh Garner, with three titles – Silence on the Shore, Storm Below, and Hugh Garner’s Best Stories – and four by journalist Gregory Clark – War Stories, Hi There!, Greg’s Choice, and The Best of Gregory Clark. The reprints issued in the next two years dwindled severely and focussed on non-fiction. J.E. Smyth’s The Accounting Model, which appeared in 1970, may have been the final title in the series. This work was a revised and updated version of Smyth’s earlier The Basis of Accounting, which had numbered among the earliest releases in the series back in 1966.

List of Ryerson Paperbacks