Worldwide
Worldwide is the imprint of Worldwide Library, a Harlequin division known for Super Bolan action paperbacks from 1983 and the Worldwide Mystery line.
- Editions tracked
- 24
- First editions
- 12
- Books
- 23
- Years
- 1981 to 1996
About Worldwide
Worldwide is the imprint name used by Worldwide Library, a division of the Canadian paperback publisher Harlequin Enterprises, for action-adventure, single-title and mystery paperbacks from the 1980s onward.
Harlequin was founded in Winnipeg in 1949 by Richard Bonnycastle as a paperback reprint house and has been based in Toronto since 1969. Worldwide Library uses the same publisher ISBN prefix as Harlequin. It was created in the 1980s to tap the growing market for single-title novels, and that original line stopped publishing in 1988.
The Worldwide name carried on through Harlequin's action list. In 1980 Don Pendleton sold the rights to his vigilante hero Mack Bolan to Gold Eagle, another Harlequin division, and in 1983 Worldwide Library began the longer Super Bolan novels, which reached 178 books by 2015. Gold Eagle's post-apocalyptic Deathlands series, written under the house name "James Axler", began in June 1986. Gold Eagle closed in 2015, the year the last Deathlands print novel appeared. Harlequin also publishes mysteries under the name Worldwide Mystery. Torstar owned Harlequin from 1981 until News Corp bought it in 2014, and Harlequin is now a division of HarperCollins.
We have not yet written the guide to Worldwide's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Worldwide marked its firsts? Tell us.
Published by Worldwide
Frequently asked questions
How many Worldwide books does MyVolumes track?
We track 24 editions published by Worldwide, 12 of them first editions, across 23 books.
Where these facts come from
- Worldwide Library, Romance Wiki (University of Birmingham) (romancewiki.bham.ac.uk)
- Harlequin Enterprises, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Mack Bolan, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Deathlands, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 19 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.