Harlequin would eventually move its headquarters from Winnipeg to Toronto in 1969 and purchased Mills and Boon two years later. How's that for a sub-genre? But that was because many of the books from Mills and Boon were written with doctor and nurse plots. Throughout the 1950s, Harlequin specialized not just in romance, but "medical" romance. With that, the Harlequin company was founded in 1949. They wanted to pivot the company exclusively to romance. So she and Palmour went to Richard with an idea. In particular, they purchased romance novels from a British publisher called Mills and Boon.īonnycastle's wife Mary began editing the books and noticed those romance novels were becoming their best-sellers.
To keep the printing company busy during the war years, Richard and his manger Ruth Palmour began buying the reprint rights to a variety of out-of-print books and republished them for Canadian readers. After 20 years, he went to work for - and eventually became the owner of - a company called Advocate Printers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Richard Bonnycastle was born in 1903 and eventually became the Chief Fur Trader for the Hudson's Bay Company. Harlequin Romance was started by a Hudson's Bay Company fur trader. Hope you’ll join us for the 2020 edition of Brand Envy. We’ll talk about a romance novel company that was started by a fur trader, an empire created by a cartoonist and a certain dairy product with its very own spokes-angel. Under the Influence 0:57 Clip - Brand Envy 2020 This week, it’s our annual Brand Envy episode, where I tell the stories behind some of the brands I admire.