Gallimard, the publishers of Série Noire, and the successive directors of the collection created a few parallel series.

Until recently, it was mainly to re-issue the best and the most popular titles from the Série Noire catalog.
Except for Série Blême and Super Noire (both launched by Marcel Duhamel) intended for original publications, and confused by the readers as just something identical to the main collection, most of the parallel series were in other printing formats and aimed to the paperback market.
Poche Noire and Carré Noir were amongst the most successful paperback series for the re-issues, and allowed access to the best HB/Noir novels for many years.

Today, under Patrick Raynal leadership, there is a new parallel collection: 'La Noire'. This series aimed to be more selective in the choice of the authors, carries a price tag of first publication.
Reprints of the classics and of the successful authors of Série Noire occur now also in the mainstream literature paperback collections controlled by Gallimard, such as Folio, or in Bourgois' 10/18 series.

---

COVERS OF PARALLEL SERIES

Verne Chute- SB7 Série Blême had a short life (1949 to 1951)as the readers confused it with Série Noire	James M. Cain- CN442 Re-issues of old SN and complete series of James Hadley Chase works in Carré Noir paperbacks.	Harry Crews in La Noire New collection of unpublished HB/Noir works in French translations.

---

E.Borgers
freeweb@rocketmail.com

_{Copyright © 1997, E.Borgers for texts and setup.
See front page of WEBORGERS - Hard-Boiled Mysteries for complete disclaimer.
Most recent revision: 25 May 1997}