Avon Publications was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. As of 2010, it is an imprint of HarperCollins, publishing primarily romance novels.

History[link]

Avon Books was founded in 1941 by the American News Corporation (ANC) to create a rival to Pocket Books. They hired brother and sister Joseph Myers and Edna Myers Williams to establish the company. ANC bought out J.S. Ogilvie Publications, a pulp magazine publisher partly owned by both the Myers, and renamed it "Avon Publications". They also got into comic books. "The early Avons were somewhat similar in appearance to the existing paperbacks of Pocket Books, resulting in an immediate and largely ineffective lawsuit by that company. Despite this superficial similarity, though, from early on Myers differentiated Avon by placing an emphasis on popular appeal rather than loftier concepts of literary merit."^[1] The first 40 titles were not numbered. First editions of the first dozen or so have front and rear endpapers with an illustration of a globe. The emphasis on "popular appeal" led Avon to publish ghost stories, sexually-suggestive love stories, fantasy novels and science fiction in its early years, which were far removed in audience appeal from the somewhat more literary Pocket competition.

As well as normal-sized paperbacks, Avon published digest-format paperbacks (the size and shape of the present-day Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine) in series. These included Murder Mystery Monthly, Modern Short Story Monthly and Avon Fantasy Readers. Many authors highly prized by present-day collectors were published in these editions, including A. Merritt, James M. Cain, H. P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler and Robert E. Howard.

In 1953, Avon Books sold books in the price range of 25¢ to 50¢ (for the Avon "G" series, the "G" standing for "Giant") and were selling more than 20 million copies a year. Their books were characterized by Time Magazine as "westerns, whodunits and the kind of boy-meets-girl story that can be illustrated by a ripe cheesecake jacket." ^[2] At around this time, Avon also began to publish under other imprints, including Eton (1951–1953), Novel Library, Broadway and Diversey. Avon's 35-cent "T" series, introduced in 1953, also had strong mass-market appeal and contains many outstanding examples of the then-popular juvenile delinquent story. The T series also contained many movie tie-in editions and the stand-bys of mysteries and science fiction.

Avon was bought by the Hearst Corporation in 1959.^[3]

In 1972, Avon launched the modern romance genre with the publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower, the first single-title romance novel to be published as an original paperback.^{[citation needed]} The novel went on to sell 2.35 million copies.^[4] Avon followed its release with the 1974 publication of Woodiwiss's second novel, The Wolf and the Dove and two sexy novels by newcomer Rosemary Rogers, Sweet Savage Love and Dark Fires. The latter sold two million copies in its first three months of release. By 1975, Publishers Weekly had reported that the "Avon originals" had sold a combined 8 million copies.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, the News Corporation bought out Hearst's book division, and merged Avon with HarperCollins.^{[citation needed]} Avon's hardcover and non-romance paperback lines were moved to sister company Morrow, leaving Avon as solely a romance publisher.

Avon Comics[link]

From at least 1945 through the mid-1950s, Avon published comic books. Its titles included horror fiction, science fiction, Westerns, romance comics, war comics and funny-animal comics. Most titles lasted only a few issues, with the six longest-running detailed in the complete list below:

• All True Detective
• Atomic Spy Cases
• Attack On Planet Mars
• Avon Fantasy - An Earth Man On Venus
• Bachelor's Diary
• Badmen of the West
• Badmen of Tombstone
• Behind Prison Bars
• Betty and Her Steady
• The Blackhawk Indian Tomahawk War
• Blazing Six Guns
• Boy Detective
• Buddies in the U.S. Army
• Butch Cassidy
• Campus Romance
• Captain Silver's Log of the Sea Hound
• Captain Steve Savage (1950 and 1954 series)
• Chief Crazy Horse
• Chief Victorio's Apache Massacre
• City of the Living Dead
• Complete Romance
• Cow Puncher
• Custer's Last Fight
• The Dalton Boys
• Davy Crockett
• Diary of Horror
• Eerie (1947 series) and Eerie (17 issues, 1951–53)
• Escape from Devil's Island
• Famous Gangsters
• Fighting Daniel Boone
• Fighting Davy Crockett
• Fighting Indians of the Wild West! (plus 1952 annual)
• Fighting Undersea Commandos
• Flying Saucers (1950 and 1952 series)
• For a Night of Love
• Frontier Romances
• Funnies Annual
• Funny Tunes
• Gangsters and Gun Molls
• Geronimo
• Going Steady with Betty
• Jesse James (24 issues plus 1952 annual, 1950–56; no issues #10-14 published)
• King of the Bad Men of Deadwood
• King Solomon's Mines
• Kit Carson
• Last of The Comanches
• Little Jack Frost
• The Mask of Dr. Fu Manchu
• The Masked Bandit
• Merry Mouse
• Molly O'Day
• Murderous Gangsters
• Night of Mystery
• Out of This World
• Out of This World Adventures
• Outlaws of the Wild West
• Pancho Villa
• Parole Breakers
• Penny
• Peter Rabbit Comics (#1-6, 1947–1949) and Peter Rabbit (#7-34, 1950–56)
• Peter Rabbit Easter Parade (one-shot)
• Peter Rabbit Jumbo Book (one-shot)
• Phantom Witch Doctor
• Pixie Puzzle Rocket To Adventureland (one-shot)
• Police Line-Up
• Prison Break!
• Prison Riot
• Realistic Romances
• Red Mountain featuring Quantrell's Raiders
• Robotmen of the Lost Planet
• Rocket to the Moon"
• Romantic Love (1949 and 1954 series)
• The Saint (12 issues, 1947–1952)
• The Savage Raids of Chief Geronimo
• Sea Hound
• Secret Diary of Eerie Adventures
• Sensational Police Cases
• Sheriff Bob Dixon's Chuck Wagon
• Sideshow
• Slave Girl Comics
• Space Comics
• Space Detective
• Space Mouse
• Space Thrillers
• Sparkling Love
• Spotty the Pup
• Strange Worlds (22 issues, 1950–1952, 1954–1955)
• Super Pup
• Teddy Roosevelt and His Rough Riders
• Television Puppet Show
• U.S. Marines in Action
• U.S. Paratroops
• U.S. Tank Commandos
• Undersea Fighting Commandos
• The Underworld Story'
• The Unknown Man
• War Dogs of the U.S. Army
• Western Bandits
• White Chief of the Pawnee Indians
• White Princess of the Jungle
• Wild Bill Hickock (28 issues, 1949–1956)
• Witchcraft
• With the U.S. Paratroops Behind Enemy Lines

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Avon Publications

• Official website

Look up Avon or avon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Avon may refer to:

Places[link]

Rivers[link]

• River Avon (disambiguation) or Avon River, various rivers
• Avon Water, a river in Scotland
• Afon, the Welsh word for river, often anglicised to 'avon'

Australia[link]

• Avon, South Australia
• Avon, Victoria

Canada[link]

• Avon, New Brunswick, in the province of New Brunswick
• Avon, Ontario, in the province of Ontario
• Black Avon, Nova Scotia, in the province of Nova Scotia
• New Avon, New Brunswick, in the province of New Brunswick
• Avon Valley,Nova Scotia, in the province of Nova Scotia

France[link]

• Avon, Seine-et-Marne, a commune in the département of Seine-et-Marne, part of Communauté de communes de Fontainebleau-Avon
• Avon, Deux-Sèvres, a commune in the département of Deux-Sèvres
• Avon-la-Pèze, a commune in the département of Aube
• Avon-les-Roches, a commune in the département of Indre-et-Loire

United Kingdom[link]

• Avon (county), a former county of England
• Avon, Hampshire, village

United States[link]

• Avon, Alabama
• Avon, California (disambiguation)
  • Avon, Butte County, California
  • Avon, Contra Costa County, California
• Avon, Colorado
• Avon, Connecticut
• Avon, Illinois
• Avon, Indiana
• Avon, Iowa
• Avon, Maine
• Avon, Massachusetts
• Avon, Minnesota, a city
• Avon, Mississippi
• Avon, Montana, a town
• Avon (town), New York
  • Avon (village), New York, within the town
• Avon, North Carolina
• Avon, Ohio, a city
• Avon, Pennsylvania, a town
• Avon, South Dakota, a city
• Avon, Utah, a town
• Avon, Wisconsin, a town
• Avon, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
• Avon, Rock County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
• Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, a borough
• Avon Lake, Ohio, a city
• Avon Park, Florida, a city
• Avon Township (disambiguation)

Businesses and brands[link]

• Avon (publishers), an imprint of the publisher HarperCollins
• Avon Buses, a bus operating company in Wirral, England
• Avon Inflatables, a manufacturer of inflatable boats, RIBs and marine safety equipment
• Avon Products, a manufacturer of various cosmetics and personal care products
• Avon Rubber, a manufacturer of rubber products
• Avon Tyres, a UK car, motorcycle and racing-tyre manufacturer, owned by the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company
• The Rolls-Royce Avon, a jet engine

People[link]

• John Avon (born 1961), illustrator
• Anthony Eden (1897–1977), Earl of Avon
• Avon Cobourne (born 1979), American football player
• Avon Honey (born 1947)
• Avon Long (1910–1984)
• Avon Riley (born 1958), former American football linebacker
• Avon Williams (1921–1993), Tennessee State Senator, 1972–1992

Characters[link]

• Kerr Avon, a character in the Blake's 7 science-fiction television series
• Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon in the novel These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
• Avon Barksdale, a character in the HBO show The Wire

Other[link]

• Avon (game), a mainframe text game
• Avon (song), a song by Queens of the Stone Age
• "Avon 1," a song by Female from A Bugged Out Mix
• Electoral district of Avon, a former electorate of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
• Avon (ship)
• Avon (New Zealand electorate)

See also[link]

• Aberavon
• Avondale (disambiguation)
• Avonmore (disambiguation)
• Craigavon
• Blaenavon
• Cwmavon (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.