In the past I have compiled an annual tally of the number of copies of Victor Canning's books offered for sale by dealers on the ABE network. I shall not do this again since, with the availability of the Farrago and other reprints as e-books and p-o-d, the supply of Victor Canning titles has now become in effect infinite.
First editions in good condition remain difficult to find and items to cherish.
Below is a summary of the results of my searches for "Victor Canning" on 15th May 2007 and 20 September 2012. This gave an idea of the relative scarcity of different titles. The total returned was 4,666 and 3,997 on those days, but that includes translations and a small number of other books written by joint authors whose names include "Victor" and "Canning". The total was 3,477 on 12 December 2017 and 2,910 on 28 October 2022, but I did not tally individual titles on those occasions.
(Where a book was sold under a different title in the USA, both figures are given. Otherwise British and American editions are amalgamated. I have generally excluded translations.)
| Mr Finchley discovers his England (17/32) US-Mr Finchley's holiday (1/1) |
18/33 | The dragon tree (89/84) US-Captives of Mora Island (11/8) | 100/92 | The Satan sampler | 101/73 | ||
| Polycarp’s progress | 9/9 | The burning eye | 48/33 | Fall from grace | 85/75 | ||
| Fly away Paul | 1/5 | A delivery of Furies | 151/136 | Boy on platform one (4/6) US-Memory boy (45/28) | 49/34 | ||
| Matthew Silverman | 3/1 | Black flamingo | 84/90 | Vanishing point | 80/55 | ||
| Mr Finchley goes to Paris | 1/13 | The limbo line | 162/135 | Raven’s wind | 48/70 | ||
| Fountain Inn | 1/4 | The Scorpio letters | 121/113 | Birds of a feather | 67/54 | ||
| Mr Finchley takes the road | 0/4 | The whip hand | 193/191 | Table number seven | 15/17 | ||
| Green battlefield | 4/6 | Doubled in diamonds | 83/53 | Young man on a bicycle | 6/9 | ||
| The chasm | 102/89 | The python project | 164/117 | Delay on Turtle | 3/6 | ||
| Panther’s moon | 169/126 | The melting man | 146/130 | The runaways | 80/82 | ||
| The golden salamander | 108/111 | Queen’s pawn | 116/104 | Flight of the grey goose | 61/47 | ||
| A forest of eyes | 48/51 | The great affair | 77/69 | The painted tent | 27/32 | ||
| Venetian bird (43/35) Bird of Prey (90/79) | 133/114 | Firecrest | 94/58 | Smiler trilogy | 3/17 | ||
| House of the seven flies | 164/142 | The Rainbird pattern | 119/98 | The crimson chalice (including trilogy) | 94/70 | ||
| Man from the Turkish Slave | 51/50 | Finger of Saturn | 194/152 | Circle of the gods | 28/25 | ||
| Castle Minerva (88/66) US-A handful of silver (63/50) | 151/116 | The mask of memory | 180/129 | The immortal wound | 14/16 | ||
| His Bones are coral (8/6) US-Twist of the knife (16/12) & The shark run (6/3) |
30/21 | The Kingsford mark | 119/76 | Everyman’s England | 4/45 | ||
| The hidden face (61/66) US-Burden of proof (45/34) | 106/100 | The doomsday carrier | 133/94 | The Minerva Club | -/12 | ||
| The Manasco Road (74/66) US-The forbidden road (8/7) | 82/73 | Birdcage | 80/64 | Comedies and Whimsies | -/9 |