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Golden Press edition Tintin: Cover number query?

sponsz
Member
#1 · Posted: 28 Nov 2010 08:53
Golden press edited only 6 titles.
On the front cover, left above, by each book, you find a number.
For instance by Crab n° 369:195. Do all the Crab covers has the same N°?
MrCutts
Member
#2 · Posted: 29 Nov 2010 11:41
sponz. I found a photo on a second hand book website of a Golden Press Crab book. I zoomed in on the number but because the image is small once zoomed the image goes fuzzy. I couldn't really read the number properly. It looks like 369:195 but then again the 6 looks a bit like a zero on the image. It might look like a zero because of the style and size of the font.

I have a Secret of the Unicorn Golden Press book and the number on the cover is 370:195 if that's of any interest to you? I also looked at an image of the Golden Press Ottokar book and that looks to have the number 368:195 but it's very hard to tell because the image I looked at is so small. I've no idea what the numbers represent but I would imagine the numbers are just catalogue numbers as ISBN numbers weren't in use when it was published. Interestingly in my Golden Press Unicorn book there is a code (A 195195) printed at the very bottom of the front endpapers just under the portrait of Haddock wearing his country gentlemens outfit and monocle.
sponsz
Member
#3 · Posted: 30 Nov 2010 15:04
Thanks MrCUTTS
sponsz
Member
#4 · Posted: 30 Nov 2010 20:00
Here wat Claude a Belgian friend wrote me :
Unfortunately,I haven't The Crab,in Golden Press.
I only have Explorers of the Moon,nr 373.195 and Red Rackham's Treasure nr 371.195
MrCutts
Member
#5 · Posted: 1 Dec 2010 15:37
Red Rackham's number 371:195 makes sense if Secret of The Unicorn is 370:195. From what I have read on this site about Golden Press books King Ottokar's Sceptre was the first book to be printed then followed by Crab with the Golden Claws.

So if Crab is 369:195 it makes sense that as Ottokar was published before Crab then it would be numbered 368:195. The numbers appear to be in sequence until they reach the last book to be published which was Explorers on the Moon.

I think the numbers on the covers must run like this:
368:195 - Ottokar
369:195 - Crab
370:195 - Unicorn
371:195 - Red Rackham's Treasure
372:195 - Destination Moon
373:195 - Explorers

These numbers may have been a catalogue number and meant something to the publisher, but what exactly I have no idea.
To answer your original question, in my opinion from the evidence that is building up, it is very likely that all Golden Press Crab books have the same number on the cover.
sponsz
Member
#6 · Posted: 4 Dec 2010 18:54
I asked someone who is still working for Casterman Belgium, and he didn't know either on what this numeration is based.
He confirmed that all the books have the same numeration as MrCutts presumed
368:195 - Ottokar
369:195 - Crab
370:195 - Unicorn
371:195 - Red Rackham's Treasure
372:195 - Destination Moon
373:195 - Explorers
Each title has always the same number
MrCutts
Member
#7 · Posted: 5 Dec 2010 22:57
I was correct with my assumptions. That's gratifying :o)
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#8 · Posted: 10 Dec 2010 12:22
The Western Publishing Company (who owned Golden Press, Little Golden Books, and lots of other subsidiaries) did have a quite confusing numbering system. The numbers are often quite arbitrary, usually relating only to a particular series, or publishing division. There's a book/price guide to help identify them, if anyone's interested, called Collecting Little Golden Books which helps explain some of the numbering they used.

From what I read about numbering system; I believe the first part of the number (368, 369, etc.) refers to the Golden Press catalogue number, and the 195 relates to the suggested retail price for the book (the GP Tintin books were all $1.95 at the time).

The number which MrCutts mentioned, found on the inside cover bottom left (A195195), also related to the suggested retail price. The letter indicated which edition it was, as in some other Western Publishing Co. books (so, A= 1st edition, B= 2nd edition, etc.)

I don't believe there ever were second (or any other) editions printed of the GP Tintin titles. If anyone has seen a 'B195195' on the inside cover I'd be interested to know.
sponsz
Member
#9 · Posted: 12 Dec 2010 13:16
Thanks Harrock n roll for this information.
I put this also on the French Tintin site Objectif Tintin

Here is the link. [Broken link removed]
MrCutts
Member
#10 · Posted: 15 Dec 2010 02:02
That's very interesting. Especially the 'A' number. I also thank you Harrock.
$1.95. Amazing. If only I had a time machine :o)
From the information I have gathered I think they only printed the books once.
The 1950's were a bad time for American comics due to the fact adults didn't want kids reading them. They thought that they were a bad influence on children.
I'm only guessing but maybe Tintin got caught up in the backlash against comic books. Whatever happened they didn't sell very well. Perhaps it was the content.
In my opinion Tintin is very European. When I read Tintin books when I was a child I believed the characters were in Britain.
It's very hard to read the Golden Press edition of The Secret of 'The Unicorn'. On the first page they talk about purchasing the ship in dollars and then later on Haddock talks about his ancestor as living in reign of King Louie. Which is probably what it says in the French book.

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