This guest post is from Steve Ammidown! You may remember hearing him recently on Episode 618. The Romance Reader’s Handbook with Steve Ammidown, where we discussed another piece of romance history, The Romance Reader’s Handbook. Today, he’s talking about romance memorabilia and ephemera – there’s so much, y’all. We love talking about and seeing all the different collections, and as an archivist and librarian, Steve has a very thorough background in both! Welcome, Steve!

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I love me some ephemera. The sort of promo items that are either one of a kind or pass by in a flash, whose very existence becomes a rumor in the months and years that follow. It’s my mom’s fault, really. She still has the program from my very first stage appearance with a local children’s theatre company. Over the years I’ve collected baseball cards, ticket stubs, and even backstage door signs from bands who played at the performing arts center I worked at as a teen. It came as little surprise to those who knew me, then, when I finally settled in my late 30s on a career as an archivist. A professional collector if there ever was one!

In 2016, I got a job at a popular culture library in northwest Ohio that was filled to the brim with ephemera. It was practically heaven. The library’s collection of romance fiction was second to none, and so was its ephemera.

A Nora Roberts tissue box? Yes, please.

A poster from Fabio’s first Romantic Times Booklover’s Convention? There was more than one!

A copy of the original Loveswept sampler from the launch of the line? You bet.

Unlike comics or Star Wars memorabilia, though, romance ephemera was not well documented. No one talked about Barbara Cartland’s board game [or puzzles!] with the same reverent tone as the original Dungeons & Dragons rule books, or that Boba Fett that shot rockets.

Having learned a lot about romance’s fan culture, I knew there was a gap there that was begging to be addressed. I began documenting the library’s collection on social media, and the response was fantastic. The mix of shock at an item’s existence and fond memories from people who once held it became a great way to connect romance readers across generations.

After leaving the library in 2020, I couldn’t shake my love for the romance community and its strange and wonderful ephemera. I began collecting odd items on my own, like the lenticular cover for the original edition of Mickee Madden’s Everlastin’ time travel romance, or the early 2000s romance manga published in the US by Harlequin and Dark Horse Manga.

And this is where I learned what a treasure trove eBay offers the romance collector. Not only can you find one-off covers and signed editions, you can find original cover art, book marks, and even Fabio Garbage Pail Kids card among a million other strange romance-related items.

And yes, even the occasional Nora Roberts tissue box.

This isn’t the kind of stuff that I want to keep to myself, though. I approached Sarah with the idea for this column so you too can share in the weirdness, and maybe find your own.

[Ed. note: like I was going to say no to more weird romance history stuff. HA.]

It seems most appropriate to start with the publisher who has been tempting its readers with weird items for 50 some-odd years, Harlequin. Over the decades, Harlequin has offered its readers any number of odd not-book items as enticements for their loyal readers. Subscribers could receive steak knives, records of love songs, or fine leatherbound editions. Some items (like the steak knives) were sent free to new subscribers to Harlequin’s Reader Service, while others, like today’s item, were sold separately.

The text on the sleeve pictured reads, “THIS SAMPLE IS YOURS FREE, offered exclusively to New Harlequin Book Club members. We hope you continue to receive Harlequin Romance Novels by home subscription. If you wish to order more steak knives, please send $3.00 for each knife plus 75€ postage and handling to Harlequin Reader Service, 2504 W. Southern Ave., Tempe, AZ. 85282. N.Y. and AZ. residents must add appropriate Sales Tax. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Your order will be sent under separate cover.”

At the end of 1982, Kathryn Cranmer made her debut as a Harlequin author with Passionate Enemies, a second chance romance between Liz Ramirez and her estranged “proud Spaniard” husband Francisco. The cover is pretty standard Harlequin Romance fare for the time- his hand is on her shoulder, embracing her, as their other hands are clasped together.

In their infinite wisdom, someone at Harlequin decided the book needed something extra, so they partnered with a company called MSR Imports to produce this music box/statuette. It’s… something.

While the book’s cover models appear to be on the older side, their ceramic doppelgangers seem considerably younger. In fact, the positions of their hands might be the only real resemblance to the cover! Her dress is far more demure, and his sportcoat appears to be blue instead of brown. But if you squint from a fair distance, it’s a dead ringer!

Sadly, I’ve not been able to find a recording of the music.

These pop up on eBay fairly regularly, usually in the $20-40 range. They’re usually described as “Harlequin music box” or “Passionate Enemies music box”. The key when searching is to imagine what someone who’d have no idea what a thing was might describe it. The one featured here was $25 at the time of writing, which seems reasonable for the figurine collectors out there in search of an odd addition to their collections.

The ceramic statue speaks to Harlequin’s understanding of its readers in the early 1980s: they saw them as older women and housewives with aspirations of fanciness, who often saw expensive ceramic figurines in the fancy jewelry stores in the mall and be thrilled by the idea of owning their own and its attachment to romance.

It’s worth noting that as per usual for the time, there was a different Mills & Boon cover for the overseas edition of Passionate Enemies.

It’s hard not to think it would’ve made for a very different figurine, what with the man lighting the woman’s cigarette and all!

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Thanks, Steve! I cannot wait to find out what ephemera you bring to us next! What fun memorabilia have you spotted on eBay?