Tuesday 30 March 2010

The Way We Were Part II

Here and here I commented on 7 of the 11 largest and most successful American paperback publishers from 1939 to 1955. Here are the final four. Interesting to note that of the 11 originals, nine exist as imprints. One has disappeared via a name change and one has been shut down.

New American Library of World Literature, Inc. was created when two executives of the American arm of Penguin, Kurt Enoch and Victor Weybright, acquired Penguin’s interest in its American subsidiary. NAL began two imprints in 1948, Signet for fiction and Mentor for non-fiction. Today Signet is an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., the American operating company of the Penguin Group which is owned by Pearson PLC. Pearson PLC ranked first in the publishing world with sales of € 4.55 billion in 2006.


Signet 756 front and back (1949)
[the first signet was 610 then 660 on]

Almat Publishing Corporation, founded by Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Hunter in 1949, published Pyramid Books. Sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1974, it was renamed Jove in 1977. Today Jove is an imprint of The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., the American operating company of the Penguin Group which is owned by Pearson PLC.


Pyramid 32 front and back (1951)
[the first Pyramid was 11]

Fawcett Publications, Inc. published its first books under the Gold Medal imprint in early 1950.  Today Fawcett is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., which is owned by Bertelsmann AG. Random House ranked fifth in the publishing world in 2006 with sales of € 1.83 billion.


Gold Medal 226 front and back (1952)
[the first Gold Medal was 101]

Berkley Publishing Corporation, founded by former Avon Books executives Charles Bryne and Frederic Klein, released its first books on March 15, 1955. Today Berkley is an imprint of The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., the American operating company of the Penguin Group which is owned by Pearson PLC.


Berkeley 101 front and back (1955)
[this is the first Berkeley - there are no 1-100]

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