Someone on this list probably knows better than I do. The
small format Black
Lizard books (mostly reprints--Goodis, Thompson, Willeford,
etc.), the
anthologies, and a few hardback originals were published by
Black Lizard, an
imprint of Creative Arts in Berkeley, California. Barry
Gifford made a lot
(all?) of the title selections, working with Don Ellis, the
publisher.
(Again, this is the lore as I understand it, but I may be
wrong here and
there.) The line was sold to Vintage, which reissued in the
arty, pricey
trade-size format, and dropped most of Berkeley Black
Lizard's titles (they
did more than 80 books, I think). I think Vintage mostly
wanted to get the
reprint rights to the Jim Thompson titles, which were about
to take off again.
Black Lizard still exists at Vintage, I guess. They've
rotated some titles
into the series. For instance, they had reprinted Crumley as
Vintage
Contemporaries. Now the cover proclaims them "Vintage Crime,"
with the black
lizard graphic (but no "Black Lizard" name); the interior
still lists the book
as a "Vintage Contemporary" (something to do with having the
pages printed,
but making new covers with higher prices?). Can anybody add
to this account?
Doug Levin
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