Avon is a New York paperback house founded in 1941 and now a HarperCollins romance imprint. Look for "First Avon Printing" with a number line that includes 1; the statement alone stays on later printings.
Avon Books is a publisher based in New York City, founded in 1941. We track 413 editions it published between 1947 and 2022, 373 of them first editions across 413 books. How Avon Books marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Avon Books
Avon Books is a New York paperback publisher set up in 1941 by the American News Company as a rival to Pocket Books. It is now a romance imprint of HarperCollins.
To create it, the American News Company bought J. S. Ogilvie Publications, a firm in which the Meyers family held a stake; Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams are named as Avon's founders. Early Avon published paperbacks, digest series and comics for a broad popular market, with ghost stories, fantasy and science fiction prominent on the list.
The Hearst Corporation bought Avon in 1959. In April 1972 it published Kathleen E. Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower as a paperback original with a first printing of 500,000 copies. It was the first single-title romance to appear first as a paperback, and by 1978 it had gone through 40 printings and sold more than 4.5 million copies. The book set the course for Avon's long run as a romance house.
In 1999 News Corporation bought Hearst's book business. Avon's hardcover and non-romance paperback lines passed to William Morrow, and Avon continued as a romance list within HarperCollins, adding the Avon Red erotica imprint in 2006.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Avon Books's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Avon Books first editions
What to look for
1940s to 1960s
Avon was a paperback house. Its edition of a book that first came out in hardback from another publisher is a later edition; the Avon firsts that collectors want are its paperback originals.
1970s
Copyright pages of this period carry a line of the form "First Avon Printing, [month], [year]". With no later printings listed, dealers take it as marking a first printing; a 1970 paperback original anthology reads "First Avon Printing, December, 1970".
The line is not removed on later printings. A later copy of a 1971 Avon novel still says "First Avon Books Printing: November 1971", but its number line starts at 15, making it a fifteenth printing from the mid 1980s or after.
The Flame and the Flower (April 1972) was a paperback original, so its first Avon printing is the true first edition. It went through dozens of printings, so look for later printing notices.
1980s to 1990s
Books of this period have a number line beneath the "First Avon Printing" line. The lowest number present is the printing, so a first printing shows the 1.
The "First Avon Printing" line and a 1 in the number line also appear on Avon reissues of books first published by other houses. These mark only the first Avon printing, a "first thus"; check the copyright page for an earlier copyright date.
From 2000
From 1999 Avon became a romance list within HarperCollins, so its later books are mostly romance. Read the number line in the same way.
1940s to 1960s - Avon was a paperback house. Its edition of a book that first came out in hardback from another publisher is a later edition; the Avon firsts that collectors want are its paperback originals. 1970s - Copyright pages of this period carry a line of the form "First Avon Printing, [month], [year]". With no later printings listed, dealers take it as marking a first printing; a 1970 pape
How many Avon Books books does MyVolumes track?
We track 413 editions published by Avon Books, 373 of them first editions, across 413 books.
