Sax Rohmer's Orient Editions

28 July  2000


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The distinctive "Orient" editions were published by the  P. F. Collier & Son Corporation "By Special Arrangement with Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc." They were uniform in appearence with a design blind-stamped into each cover. The design depicted an oriental face centered in a spider's web with the words "Mystery," "Love" and "Intrique." A spider dangled from the web.

The spines were printed in gold and bore a smaller version of the web design.  They were sold in plain white dust wrappers with a hole cut out on the spine to allow the title to show. The only dates included were the copyright dates.

The order of publication and dates of publication (1930s) are not known. Curiously, The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu is not known to have been included. The various titles may have been printed in two or more batches.

Thaddeus Tyszka has an original Collier's shipping box containing six different titles. The box is blank on all sides but one, and that one has a large label on it with 4 rows of text:

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Sax Rohmer
Six Volumes
Bound In Black Cloth
P. F. Collier & Son Company


The box contained the following titles:

Daughter of Fu Manchu
The Mask of Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu's Bride
The Emperor of America
The Day the World Ended
Yu'an Hee See Laughs

The other known titles are listed below:

The Trail of Fu Manchu
President Fu Manchu
The Drums of Fu Manchu
Brood of the Witch Queen
Yellow Shadows
She Who Sleeps
The Bat Flies Low
White Velvet
Grey Face
The Return of Fu Manchu*

* "The Return of Fu Manchu" was reported by a collector, but we have never seen a copy and can not confirm its existence.


Go to The Page of Fu Manchu

Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 Lawrence Knapp. All rights reserved.

Scarab drawn by Sax Rohmer