When and why did The Big Two discontinue putting months on their covers?

[DrNewGod]

Know something weird that I miss? Publishers putting a Month of Release on their covers as well as a number.

I've been rereading a lot of titles from the early 1960s forward, trying to experience not only the stories and art, but what the publishers seemed like at given points in time. Those Month labels made that way easier to keep things in order.

Anybody know when and why the Big Two stopped doing that?

[MRP]

Not sure of the when but the why is that the month on the cover was the date vendors were supposed to pull them off the shelves and return them (hence being dated 2-3 months in advance) and since books are no longer sold as returnable outside the direct market, there is no need to mark the books with a month to let sellers know when to pull them off the racks. It should still be in the indicia if you are looking to keep track of it, but it no longer has a purpose on the cover and had been mostly vestigial for a long while anyways.

-M

[DrNewGod]

Not sure of the when but the why is that the month on the cover was the date vendors were supposed to pull them off the shelves and return them (hence being dated 2-3 months in advance) and since books are no longer sold as returnable outside the direct market, there is no need to mark the books with a month to let sellers know when to pull them off the racks. It should still be in the indicia if you are looking to keep track of it, but it no longer has a purpose on the cover and had been mostly vestigial for a long while anyways.

-M

I did not know that. That's neat info; thanks.