Vanguard Library Edition - 1952

It's been a quite a while (see previous post) since I picked up a "new" edition of The Razor's Edge, but it wasn't for lack of trying!

I would check in on eBay every month or so, never finding anything. Then, about a month ago, I found this heretofore unknown-to-me edition hailing from England. The Vanguard Library was a series of six books (including such classics as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory) published in 1952 in hardcover.

As you can see, the cover has nothing to do with the book's contents; they clearly preferred a generic cover that was more about the Vanguard name than the books themselves. The back cover barely even describes the book, interested more in giving us the life story of Somerset Maugham.

Mandarin Books Edition - 1995

I was in the mood to read The Razor's Edge again, so of course I went looking for a "new" edition!

Not finding anything on eBay, I decided to try eBay.co.uk, figuring maybe there was a British edition that might be for sale. Turns out I was right!

This cover is pretty decent; its a painting called Spanish Woman, but it could certainly fill in as the scene of Isabel as she leaves Larry's apartment, having just decided they won't be getting married--that sad, wistful look on the woman's face seems more than appropriate.

The back cover description is new, and does a fairly good job representing the book--mentioning the major characters, but putting Larry front and center.

Thrilled to add another edition to my collection!

Pocket Books Edition - 1971

I was absentmindedly surfing through eBay, when I got the ides to look for "new" editions of The Razor's Edge, reasonably sure I wasn't going to find one. And yet...

I guess this edition's cover would rank the most laughably wrongheaded, trying so hard as it does to make the novel and its characters seem contemporary. Remove the text and it kind of reminds me of those "bumper cards" you'd see on The Tonight Show coming back from commercials.

Now I have an excuse to read the book again!

Screen Romances #210 - November 1946

Now here's an unusual version of The Razor's Edge!

Screen Romances was not your standard movie/gossip mag of the 1940s, which usually were a series of commercials for different movies, with some articles on the stars giving the reader some tiny glimpse into their "real" lives.

No, Screen Romances surprised me, and here's why: on page 37, there's an article on The Razor's Edge movie. Here are a few pages of it (click on the page directly below to see a readable version):

What's odd about this magazine's movie articles is that they're not about the movies, exactly: they're more novel-like summations of the plot, written in prose style. So in the couple of pages on The Razor's Edge, you've got a prose version of a movie adaptation of an original novel. Weird!

I love that I found this very obscure piece of Razor's Edge arcana; and for only a few bucks. I wonder what other movie magazines with RE content might be out there...

Armed Services Edition - 1944

This is my all-time favorite edition of The Razor's Edge: one made especially for the Armed Services!

For anyone not familiar with these, Armed Services Editions were specially-made books for servicemen in WW II, reformatted so they could be more easily carried in a G.I.'s back pocket.

As the cover indicates, these are the complete books, not abridgments. Dozens, if not hundreds, of titles were produced. The first forty titles are listed on the inside back cover, and a quick glance at the titles tells me The Razor's Edge was by far the most famous book so chosen for this series.

I was stunned when I saw this for sale on eBay; I had no idea this existed and couldn't believe its survived all these decades. But while this copy is pretty weather beaten, its still complete and readable. I can't imagine what it must have been like, reading about Larry Darrell and his quest for The Absolute while sitting in some filthy foxhole, wondering if you were going to live through the day.

This is the last copy of The Razor's Edge I have in my collection (I wanted to save the best for last), but I have other versions of the story in other formats I still plan to talk about, so keep an eye out for future posts coming soon!

Hebrew Language Edition - 1940s

This is probably hands down the strangest version of The Razor's Edge in my collection, a version of the book printed in Palestine and entirely in Hebrew!

I found this on eBay for just a few bucks, and I couldn't resist buying it. This was certainly the moment my collecting of this book kicked into another gear, because I wasn't able to read this one--I simply wanted to own it.

Except for the words "Printed in Palestine" on page three, there is no other English in this edition, so I have no idea when it was printed. Considering what a huge hit the book was when it first came out, I'm betting this edition hails from the late 1940s. But of course I can't be sure...

Penguin Books Edition - 1984

Another edition with a fairly generic cover, though the subject seems more Larry Darrell-ish to me than some of the others.

The back cover description mentions more of the book's characters than any other edition: Gray and Suzanne Rouvier, for instance.