Ballantine Books is a major American book

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains part of that company. Ballantine's original logo was a pair of mirrored letter Bs back to back, later changing to two Bs stacked to form an elaborate gate. The firm's early editors were Stanley Kauffmann and Bernard Shir-Cliff.

History

Following Fawcett Publications' controversial 1950 introduction of Gold Medal

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

originals rather than reprints, Lion Books, Avon and Ace also decided to publish originals. In 1952, Ian Ballantine, a founder of Bantam Books, announced that he would "offer trade publishers a plan for simultaneous publishing of original titles in two editions, a

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...

'regular' edition for bookstore sale, and a paper-cover, 'newsstand' size, low-priced edition for mass market sale." When the first Ballantine Book, Cameron Hawley's ''Executive Suite'', was published in 1952, the publishing industry saw that the simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions were obvious successes.

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

published the $3.00 hardcover at the same time Ballantine distributed its 35¢ paperback. By February 1953, Ballantine had sold 375,000 copies and was preparing to print 100,000 more. Houghton Mifflin sold 22,000 hardback copies in its first printing. Ballantine's sales soon totaled 470,000 copies. Instead of hurting hardback sales as some predicted, the paperback edition instead gave the book more publicity. After the film rights were sold to

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, Robert Wise directed the 1954 film, nominated for four Academy Awards. On the heels of that kind of sales and publicity, other Ballantine titles were seen in spinner racks across the country. ''Executive Suite'' was followed by Hal Ellson's ''The Golden Spike'' (#2), Stanley Baron's ''All My Enemies'' (#3), Luke Short's ''Saddle by Starlight'' (#4, also with Houghton Mifflin), Ruth Park's ''The Witch's Thorn'' (#5, also with Houghton Mifflin), Emile Danoen's ''Tides of Tide'' (#6), Frank Bonham's ''Blood on the Land'' (#7), Al Capp's ''The World of Li'l Abner'' (#8, with Farrar, Straus & Young) and LaSelle Gilman's ''The Red Gate'' (#9).

Science fiction and fantasy books

During the early 1950s, Ballantine attracted attention as one of the leading publishers of paperback

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, beginning with '' The Space Merchants'' (#21). The Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth novel had first appeared in '' Galaxy Science Fiction'' under the title ''Gravy Planet''. Kauffman scored when he acquired and edited

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

's ''

Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 Dystopian fiction, dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It presents a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" Book burning, burn any that are found. The novel follows in the ...

'' (originally in ''Galaxy'' as a shorter version, "The Firemen"). Ballantine's science fiction line also included the unusual '' Star Science Fiction Stories''. With cover paintings by Richard Powers, this innovative anthology series offered new fiction rather than reprints. Edited by Frederik Pohl, it attracted readers by successfully combining the formats of both magazines and paperbacks. In the early 1960s, the company engaged in a well-known rivalry with Ace Books for the rights to reprint the works of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

and

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

in paperback form. Ballantine prevailed in the struggle for the Tolkien work, with their editions of Tolkien's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' including a message on the back cover from Tolkien himself urging consumers to buy Ballantine's version and boycott "unauthorized editions" (i.e. the version from Ace Books). A separate Canadian edition of the books was published with different front cover art work. Tolkien asked for (and received) permission to add the back cover message. Betty Ballantine recalled: "And we did put a little statement on the back covers saying that Ace was not paying royalties to Professor Tolkien, and everybody who admired ''Lord of the Rings'' should only buy our paperback edition. Well, everybody got behind us. There was literally no publication that did not carry some kind of outraged article. And of course, the whole science fiction fraternity got behind the book; this was their meat and drink." In 1969, Lin Carter edited the

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of American publisher Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 (presumably in response to the growing popularity of Tolkien's works), the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature which ...

, which brought a number of rare titles back into print, as well as launching Katherine Kurtz's ''Deryni'' series. During the mid-1970s, Ballantine published the ''Star Trek Logs'', a ten-volume series of Alan Dean Foster adaptations of the animated ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

''. In 1968, Ballantine published a non-fiction book related to ''

'', ''The Making of Star Trek'' by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. In 1976, Ballantine published the

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

of a forthcoming

film, '' Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker'' by George Lucas ( ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster). The book, like the film ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' released the following year, was an enormous success and sold out its initial print run. In the first three months, Ballantine sold 3.5 million copies.

Cartoons, comics and humor books

After publishing ''The World of Li'l Abner'', Ballantine introduced Shel Silverstein in 1956 with his ''Grab Your Socks!'' collection of cartoons from '' Pacific Stars and Stripes''. As an editor at Ballantine during the 1950s and 1960s, Bernard Shir-Cliff handled the Zacherley anthologies, the paperback of Hunter Thompson's '' Hell's Angels'',

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ...

's ''The Mad Reader'' and other early '' Mad'' paperbacks. He made four contributions to ''Mad'' and other magazines edited by Kurtzman. In 1956, Shir-Cliff edited a humor anthology, ''The Wild Reader'', for Ballantine, including essays, poems and satirical pieces by Robert Benchley, Art Buchwald, Tom Lehrer, John Lardner, Shepherd Mead, Ogden Nash, S. J. Perelman, Frank Sullivan, James Thurber and others. The 154-page paperback was illustrated with cartoons by

Kelly Freas Frank Kelly Freas (August 27, 1922 – January 2, 2005) was an American people, American artist known for his work in science fiction and fantasy, with a career spanning more than 50 years. He was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists" ...

who also did the front cover. Another contributor to both Ballantine and the Kurtzman magazines was the cartoonist-author Roger Price. He did two humor books for Ballantine. ''I'm for Me First'' (1954) details Herman Clabbercutt's plan to launch a revolutionary political party known as the "I'm for Me First" Party. ''In One Head and Out the Other'' (1954) popularized the catchphrase "I had one grunch, but the eggplant over there." The nonsense non sequitur was immediately adopted by science fiction fandom, appearing occasionally in fanzines, as noted in ''Fancyclopedia II'' (1959). Ballantine has also been the publisher of books featuring Jim Davis' comic strip '' Garfield'' since 1980.

Ballantine authors

* Steve Berry * Allison Brennan * Suzanne Brockmann * Terry Brooks * Harriet Brown * Jack L Chalker * Meg Waite Clayton * Bill Dedman * Carol S. Dweck * Julie Garwood * Tess Gerritsen * Emily Giffin * Tommy Hilfiger * Linda Howard * Charlie Huston * Jonathan Kellerman * Demetria Martinez * C. Wright Mills * Anne Perry * Elizabeth Rosner * Jeff Shaara * Angus Wells

Book series

* Ballantine Books * Ballantine's Classic Library of Science Fiction * Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Car * Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II (published in U.K. as: The Pan/Ballantine Illustrated History of World War II); later retitled as: Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century * Ballantine Walden Edition * Beagle Books * Comstock Editions * Mockingbird Books * The Pan/Ballantine Illustrated History of the First World War

Imprints

* Ballantine Books * Ballantine Reader's Circle * Comstock Editions * Del Rey * Del Rey/LucasBooks * Fawcett * Ivy * Mockingbird Books * One World * Presidio Press * Wellspring

Explanatory footnotes

References

External links

*
Finding aid to Ian and Betty Ballantine Books and Business Records at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

at bookscans.com

{{Authority control American speculative fiction publishers Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1952 Random House Fantasy book publishers Science fiction publishers Ballantine family