The Colors of the Day

The early 1950s saw the emergence of a new type of book on the American market: the “mass market paperback, a small, usually non-illustrated, and inexpensive bookbinding format. They are commonly released after the hardback edition, and often sold in non-traditional bookselling locations such as airports and supermarkets, as well as in traditional bookstores” (Wikipedia).

The three main series were those issued by The New American Library (Signet Book), Random House (Signet Classic) and Simon & Schuster (Pocket Book), the latter also offering its “Cardinal” editions, in single or double volumes (“Giant Cardinal”).

The Colors of the Day is the first of Gary’s books to receive this treatment; his first published book, The Company of Men, had only appeared in a softcover edition not intended for this “pocket” market.

In all, eleven titles were published in this pocket-book format, the equivalent of the French livre de poche.

The other titles, though translated in the United States, never appeared in this format: Hissing Tales, Europa, The Enchanters, Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid, Momo, King Solomon, Hocus Bogus and The Kites — the last two with translations dating only from 2010 and 2017 respectively. Direct Flight to Allah [Les Têtes de Stéphanie] exists only in an English edition, with no American equivalent.

Finally, several of Romain Gary’s works remain untranslated to this day: Tulipe, L’Homme à la colombe, Johnnie Cœur, Pour Sganarelle, Les Trésors de la mer Rouge, La Nuit sera calme, Gros-Câlin, Clair de femme, La Bonne Moitié and Les Clowns lyriques.

Lastly, Vie et mort d’Émile Ajar has no separate English edition, but appears as an appendix in the two most recent translated editions of texts published under the name Ajar: King Solomon and Hocus Bogus.