Aaron A. Wyn (May 22, 1898 – November 3, 1967), born Aaron Weinstein, was an American publisher. Wyn's father was Jacob Weinstein, born in 1864 in Russia. His mother, Rebecca Weinstein, was born in 1865 in Russia. The Weinsteins married in 1883 in Russia and had four children, two of whom died young. The family came to America in 1891, where Jacob worked as a cigar packer. Six more children were born in New York City. Jacob became a naturalized alien citizen in 1913. After graduating in June 1916 from public high school in the Bronx, Aaron took on the name "Aaron A. Wyn, and it was under this name that he enrolled as a Freshman at City College of New York (C.C.N.Y.) in the fall of 1916. Wyn did not finish college, but in 1919 he got work as a proof reader in the printing industry. By 1930 he was editing

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazin ...

s for

Harold Hersey Harold Brainerd Hersey (April 11, 1893March 1956) was an American pulp editor and publisher, publishing several volumes of poetry. His pulp industry observations were published in hardback as ''Pulpwood Editor'' (1937). Early life He was born on ...

Magazine Publishers A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinat ...

, in associates with Warren A. Angel. When Hersey departed the company in the summer of 1929, Wyn, after a brief interlude from Harold S. Goldsmith, took charge of the company. Hersey's swastika logo was dropped to be replaced by an ace of spades playing card symbol. Wyn's company took on the brand names

Ace Magazines Ace Magazines was a comic book and pulp-magazine publishing company headed by Aaron A. Wyn and his wife Rose Wyn. The Wyns had been publishing pulp fiction under the Periodical House and A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers names since 1928, and p ...

, Periodical House, and A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers. Assisted by his wife, Rose Schiffman Wyn, whom he had married in 1926, he produced titles such as '' Detective-Dragnet'' (later changed to '' Ten Detective Aces''), ''

Western Trails ''Western Trails'' is a 1938 American Western film directed by George Waggner and written by Norton S. Parker. The film stars Bob Baker, Marjorie Reynolds, John Ridgely, Carlyle Moore Jr., Forrest Taylor, Franco Corsaro and Bob Burns. The fil ...

'', ''

Secret Agent X ''Secret Agent X'' was the title of a U.S. pulp magazine published by A. A. Wyn's Ace Magazines, and the name of the main character featured in the magazine. The magazine ran for 41 issues between February 1934 and March 1939. The ''Secret Age ...

'', and '' Love Fiction Monthly''. Wyn also published comics between 1940 and 1956 under the

Ace Comics ''Ace Comics'' was a comic book series published by David McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title reprinted syndicated newspaper strips owned by King Features Syndicate, followi ...

name. Some of these were edited by Rose Wyn. Titles included ''Super-Mystery Comics,'' ''Four Favorites,'' ''Crime Must Pay the Penalty,'' and ''Baffling Mysteries''. Wyn branched out into book publishing in 1945. He founded

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by A. A. Wyn, Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mystery fiction, mysteries and western (genre), westerns, and soon branched out int ...

, which specialized in genre

paperback book A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...

s, in 1952. Wyn was famous for paying his authors as little as he could get away with, which prompted

David McDaniel David Edward McDaniel (16 June 1939 – 1 November 1977) was an American science fiction author, who also wrote spy fiction, including several novels based upon the television series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' Biography David McDaniel w ...

to encode a comment on Wyn into one of his ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...

'' novelizations, ''The Monster Wheel Affair''. The first letters of each chapter's title in the book's table of contents, when lined up, spell out "A.A. Wyn is a tightwad".Heitland, ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book'', p. 161. Wyn remained an observant

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

all of his life. In 1966 he contributed $50,000 to the New York Federation of Reformed Synagogues in support of a Counseling Center for Teenage Drug Addicts.

References

External links

* http://www.pulpartists.com/Wyn.html * Heitland, Jon. (1987). ''The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book: The Behind-The-Scenes Story of a Television Classic''. New York: St. Martin's Press. . * Tuck, Donald H. (1978). ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 2'', 471, Chicago: Advent: Publishers, Inc. . * American pulp magazine publishers (people) American paperback book publishers (people) 1898 births 1967 deaths {{US-publish-bio-stub