--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Vorzimmer <jvorzimmer@...>
wrote:
> I'm not even
> sure what the letter designations mean. I do know that the letter D
> stood for double on those books that were "double size", I don't know
> what the R, S, T, and K just before the catalog numbers mean.
Those letters are price codes. Books without a prefix were 25 cents.
An s or G prefix means 35 cents, k 40 cents, L 45 cents, d 50 cents, R
60 cents, T 75 cents, M 95 cents, P $1.25, Q $1.50. (X and C came
later, for even higher prices.) The capitalization of the prefixes is
inconsistent, except that G and L are always capitalized. This scheme
is constant for all the old Gold Medals, except that:
1. 184, 192, 198, and 338 are marked "Gold Medal Giant", and have 35
cent cover prices and no letter prefix. (G205, G207, and G212 -- the
only G prefixes -- are also marked "Gold Medal Giant".) The s prefix
was first used on s312, and invariably for 35-cent books beginning with
s339.
2. s1354 (the 2nd printing of John D. MacDonald's SLAM THE BIG DOOR) is
cover-priced 50 cents. (I think this must indicate a last-minute change
of mind about what the price should be.)
3. Canadian printings always use the same numbering (including the
prefix) as the American printings, but are usually priced higher. When
American printings were to be sold in Canada, the price-markup was done
sometimes by printing the Canadian price on the cover of the American
printing, and sometimes by affixing a round yellow sticker saying "Gold
35c Medal" over the printed (American) cover price.
4. British printings were numbered without any reference to the
American/Canadian printings; as far as I know they never used the letter
prefixes.
Fawcett Crest books had an identical prefixing scheme to the Fawcett
Gold Medals; I don't know whether there were any Crest exceptions. All
the Fawcett Red Seals were sold at 35 cents.
-- John Woolley
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