The Silmarillion — Clowes Book Club (1977)

Book clubs have had a complicated and ambivalent relationship with UK publishers and booksellers. Most book trade literature commenting on this era (late twentieth century) eschew the notion of book clubs as ‘publishers’, more commonly referring to them in the context of distribution. The PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION's updated 1985 ‘Regulations for the Conduct of Book Clubs’ defined a book club as ‘an organisation that sells books to its registered members’.[1] However, more recent academia has recognised the publishing role many book clubs fulfilled in respect to their own ‘rebadged’ editions, conceding that some were unquestionably ‘publisher-distributors’.[2] Certainly, the common view was that book clubs were a separate market sitting outside the normal book trade.

BOOK CLUB ASSOCIATES (BCA) were established in 1966 as a partnership between the American publisher DOUBLEDAY and the UK bookseller W. H. SMITH. At this time THE REPRINT SOCIETY—a book club organisation established in 1939 (and entirely owned by a group of British publishers)—was acquired by BCA, and with it the WORLD BOOKS book club. BCA also, at this point, established their own LITERARY GUILD book club, modelled closely after its American namesake.[3]

The PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION (PA) and the BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION agreed to the principle of simultaneous publication by book clubs—as opposed to ‘delayed reprinting’—in 1968.[4] This practise is largely accepted as having been introduced to the UK by BCA; DOUBLEDAY having had longstanding book club operations in America where simultaneous clubs already existed.[5] With both the LITERARY GUILD (‘simultaneous club’) and WORLD BOOKS (‘reprint club’) clubs BCA were quick to establish themselves as the biggest book club operation in the UK by the mid-1970s. By 1978 BCA was running eighteen separate clubs.[6][†]

The PA had first issued Book Club Regulations as early as 1939; these largely defined how book clubs operated within the NET BOOK AGREEMENT i.e. how book clubs were allowed to supply net books below net price. The regulations were revised in 1974 and 1975—and brought together (and further revised) in 1985—to cover the operation of reprint and simultaneous book clubs respectively.[7] Competition between book clubs was further regulated through the Book Club Concordant of 1985; this attempted to regulate exclusive and non-exclusive licensing, and was designed to protect smaller book club organisations.

Before 1968 a book club could offer a ‘club edition’ not less than nine months after the first publication of the trade edition; usually manufacturing the copies themselves. After the introduction of simultaneous publication this stipulation seems to have been maintained (for reprint clubs) with one exception: WORLD BOOKS book club (run by BCA) was allowed to issue ‘new titles in cheaper, reduced format book club editions some six months or so after first publication’.[8] Simultaneous book clubs could offer books straight away to members, but not as a premium.

The Silmarillion (1977): GA&U / GA&U / BCA / BCA

Book club editions—including those issued by simultaneous clubs—had to be clearly distinguishable from the trade edition; the book club imprint was to be carried on the binding and jacket (see above), and on title and copyright pages. There was one notable exception to this. Under book club regulations, trade copies could be distributed to book clubs ‘in the exceptional cases where there proves to be an inadequate supply of such copies bearing the book club imprint’. This could be up to 20% of the original book club order. The regulations clearly imply the use of already bound trade copies.[9] One would, admittedly, expect to find this dilemma at publication (or post-publication), not in the planned pre-publication stage of manufacturing of copies. This may provide an explanation for one of the (many) Clowes variants of The Silmarillion.

Some book club editions—particularly those issued by reprint clubs—were often further distinguishable from the trade edition. These exhibited alternative bindings, different paper, and reduced formats; illustrations could also be omitted or reproduced without colour.

 BCA jackets 1978 / 1977 — BCA books 1978 / 1977

In a 1975 article on book clubs Which? magazine interestingly observed that ‘the bindings on the specially produced club editions were not sewn. Instead the pages were glued in (like most paperbacks)’.[10] The 1978 BCA edition of The Silmarillion is a clear example of this, with its smaller size and poorer quality (my opinion) paper; the page-block is made up from single leaves, is entirely glued, and lacks both signatures and (therefore) sewing. It is essentially a perfect-bound paperback-style binding in a case.

 BCA 1977 (closed/open) — BCA 1978 (closed/open)

It would seem reasonable to suggest that the relatively inferior quality of some of these books—in addition to their reprint nature—has contributed to the stigma that (anecdotally) surrounds book club editions amongst collectors generally. 

Simultaneous clubs usually acquired copies direct from the publisher, running off copies at the same time as the trade edition. This pooled printing allowed for increased print runs which reduced the unit cost for the publisher. As well as printing cost savings, book clubs also advertised extensively; another benefit to the publisher, at no cost.[11]

BCA 1977 title page — BCA 1977 copyright page

The Clowes Book Club is the first book club variant—dare I call it an issue?—of The Silmarillion; printed by WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS for BCA, second state text, and sold through BCA's LITERARY GUILD club, priced at £3.50.[12][‡] The Clowes Book Club is undoubtedly contemporaneous—from a printing perspective—with the Clowes Intermediate Second State and Clowes Methuen variants in the larger family of CLOWES printed copies; all three variants are textually identical (second state), having the same errors present (or corrected), the only difference in printed matter being the altered copyright and title page(s).

These three Clowes variants stand alone—as far as I'm aware—in being the only copies exhibiting second state text. I define these as separate variants as they are nominally printed by (or more correctly for) different publishers—GA&U, BCA, and METHUEN PUBLICATIONS—even if the sheets were likely printed at the same time. (The Clowes Methuen is obviously further differentiated by having a special non-trade binding; for more detail see my previous post here.)

In Descriptive Bibliography (St Paul's Bibliographies / Oak Knoll Books, 1993) Hammond & Anderson state that each printer was ‘working in blocks of 50,000 copies’, but also that a later impression included ‘75,000 for the book club’. It is my understanding, that at point of writing (in 1992 or earlier), Hammond & Anderson weren't aware that book club copies had been printed by two separate printers (see below). In any event, it seems reasonable to suggest—acknowledging the prominent/primary nature of CLOWES as printer of The Silmarillion generally—that 50,000 copies were printed by CLOWES for BCA at some point immediately after the printing of the Clowes First State. The large print runs for The Silmarillion—even taking into account the division of volume between four separate printers—meant that possible savings through pooled printing were lost; economy of scale was largely exhausted at print runs of over 15,000 copies.[13]

CLOWES sent a copy of The Silmarillion—a ‘binding dummy’ or binding example of sorts—to BCA on 26th August 1977. On the front pastedown there are details of the job number, binding materials, blocking style, etc. The copy is textually complete (second state) and includes both maps; it lacks an original jacket, possibly as received. BCA retained the copy for file. The August date does not provide a terminus post quem for the correction of the Ulmo (p. 352) error—creating the second state of the text—however it does indicate that by late August this error had been identified, and was corrected in copies then being printed. CLOWES were evidently still printing copies of The Silmarillion into early September. Publication was 15th September 1977.

BCA file copy (S.167)

Another consideration that further complicates analysis of book club print run information—and something I have never seen mentioned or discussed anywhere—is that BCA also operated book clubs outside the UK, including in countries that would normally be discussed in the context of GA&U's own ‘export’ markets e.g. Australia and New Zealand.[14] It is not, therefore, inconceivable that BCA distributed UK printed copies of The Silmarillion to overseas markets at publication time.  

UNWIN BROTHERS also produced a separate BCA impression. I will cover the Unwin Brothers Book Club variant—and another ‘hybrid’ CLOWES printed BCA variant—in a separate write-up.

NOTES:

† In the late 1980s BCA would fall under the control of multi-national media giant BERTELSMANN (who themselves had entered the UK book club market in 1977 with LEISURE CIRCLE). BERTELSMANN retained ownership of BCA until 2008. After several changes of ownership BCA finally disappeared from the UK book market in 2012 after parent company THE WEBB GROUP entered administration.

‡ Sutherland (Fiction and the Fiction Industry, p. 190) states: ‘Effectively the only simultaneous fiction clubs in 1976 were the Literary Guild, the Mystery Guild and the New Fiction Society’ (run by BCA, BCA, and National Book League & Arts Council of Great Britain respectively); and ‘...Literary Guild emerged as the country's single large simultaneous club’.

REFERENCES:

1. THE MONOPOLIES AND MERGERS COMMISSION. Book Club Associates and Leisure Circle. A Report on the merger situation. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, [Presented to Parliament] January 1988, Appendix 3.2.

2. NORRICK-RÜHL, Corinna. Book Clubs and Book Commerce [from ‘Elements in Publishing and Book Culture’ series]. Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 5.

3. SUTHERLAND, J. A. Fiction and the Fiction Industry. The Athlone Press (University of London), 1978, p. 190.

4. FEATHER, John. History of British Publishing. Routledge, 1991, p. 191.

5. THE MONOPOLIES AND MERGERS COMMISSION. Book Club Associates and Leisure Circle, p. 8.

6. POWELL, John. ‘Why so few specialist bookclubs?’. New Scientist. 19 October 1978, pp. 205–206.

7. OWEN, Lynette. Selling Rights. A publisher's guide to success. Blueprint, 1991, p. 103.

8. THE MONOPOLIES AND MERGERS COMMISSION. Book Club Associates and Leisure Circle, p. 19.

9. THE MONOPOLIES AND MERGERS COMMISSION. Book Club Associates and Leisure Circle, p. 57.

10. [N.A.]. ‘Book Clubs’. Which? [magazine]. June 1975, p. 169.

11. OWEN, Lynette. Selling Rights, p. 109.

12. [N.A.]. ‘Society News’. Amon Hen. The Bulletin of The Tolkien Society. The Tolkien Society, Issue 29, October 1977, p. 16.

13. THE MONOPOLIES AND MERGERS COMMISSION. Book Club Associates and Leisure Circle, p. 20.

14. OWEN, Lynette. Selling Rights, p. 113.

 

Also on SILMARILLION MINUTIAE

❆ The Silmarillion — Clowes Methuen (1977)

❆ The Silmarillion — Clowes Dummy (1977)