more details on the Press page →  here

1- 4 original hardcovers 1964 - 1980 Blanvalet-Verlag
5- 6 original hardcovers Herbig-Verlag
 

original hardcovers Deutscher Bücherbund 1964 - 65

 

book #1&2

without cover

 Büchergilde Gutenberg 1971 special edition for Frankfurt Vienna, Zürich

 

book #1&2

book #3

book #4

book #5

book #6

rororo first paperpack editions of the Catherine books in Germany 1972 - 1989

 

Book # 1 & 2

Book #3

Book #4

Book #5

Book #6

Book #7

Blanvalet - for Bertelsmann-Verlag 1970 - 1980
 

Kaiser -Verlag hardcovers 1983 - strange, for the above beautiful covers I could not found anywhere the missing three book covers, even though at the time these editions were printed, all of the Catherine adventure's were published ! Big question, where is at least the cover for book 4?

book #1&2

book #3

book #4

book #5

book #6

rororo paperpack (Verlag Rowohlt - 1983 book 6 missing in these editions
On the book cover we see the English actress 'Vanessa Redgrave' in her role of 'Mary Queen of Scots'. This is indeed an odd choice !
'

Hardcover Lingen -Verlag 1985 - book 6 missing in these editions
photos with 'Olga Georges-Picot' from the 1968 movie 'Catherine, il suffit d'un amour'
 

Goldmann Verlag paperback 1 -  4 1988 -  book 5 & 6 missing in these editions
Pawel Moewig -Verlag 1988 only book 6 ?
 

Naumann Gobel  1990 - for Austria only book 5 & 6 found on the Net
Ullstein paperbacks 1995 - only book 5 & 6 cover found on the Net

 

While searching for book covers of Catherine on the Net, I stumbled on Der Spiegel edition of 1963, who brought a long article about Anne Golon and her success with 'Angelique'. On  the last paragraph, they introduced a  certain French newcomer called Juliette Benzoni and her book Eine Liebe ist genug (One love is enough)

Lothar Blanvalet promised each reader who would send back the gift coupon, which was in the new Angélique book - that they would receive not only an autograph of Anne Golon - but also two chapters from Eine Liebe ist genug !

Original booklet from 1964 introducing 'Catherine' to German readers.



Original Telegram by BLANVALET - see Press page for this

 

Some thoughts about the German Catherine books...

The Catherine books were also very popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The very first publication by Blanvalet Verlag was beautifully designed. However,  I cannot understand, why they chose to publish the first two Catherine books in one edition, instead of two (as everyone else did !). It explains why there are 6 and not 7 German editions of Catherine.  Since I read the Catherine Novels also in French, I can confirm that BLANVALET that the first Catherine adventure is abridged in German...!

I have added for Austria, Germany and Switzerland the exact same book covers. Blanvalet Verlag was the first to publish the Catherine books in 1964 and it was always Hans Nicklisch and Egon Strohm who translated the books for Blanvalet. There were many book clubs, be that in Germany, Austria or Switzerland to whom Blanvalet sold the rights.

After more than fifty years it is now very difficult to determine which cover belonged to what country - also because there are at times inconsistent information by private sellers.

* we are now 10 years (2017) later after I launched this website and to my great joy I can confirm that England is re-issuing the Catherine Series.




Update May 2017
Here is an article I translated from French where we learn that GERMANY also belonged to the nine countries who bought the rights to publish Catherine - even though the book was not yet available in the bookshops in FRANCE !

Translated article from 1963

I quote from the above translated article:
« She carried the story to Editions de Trévise, who accepted it straightaway and communicated it immediately to nine foreign Publishers. (Holland, England, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Spain and Turkey). The latter, enthusiastic, cabled their agreement at once.

 

In the German Hardcover editions (and many other foreign editions) we see above these two beautiful photos of Juliette Benzoni. The one on the left was done by the acclaimed late writer photographer Jerry Bauer (1934 - 2010) The photo on the right side by another world famous photographer Sam Lévin. The 'Lévin photo' was Juliette's official Autograph card. Sometimes we can buy them on Ebay - if we are lucky...  the third photo was photographed while I visited the author the first time in Saint-Mandé. photo©claudiacompagnonigibb Saint-Mandé 31.10.2009 © 2008 - 2023 Linda Compagnoni Walther Website approved by Juliette Benzoni in 2009 non profit site All rights reserved