A. A. Wyn (born Aaron Abraham Weinstein, May 22, 1898 – November 3, 1967) was an American publisher.

Biography

Wyn was born as Aaron Abraham Weinstein in New York City. Wyn's father was Jacob Weinstein, born in 1864 in Russia. His mother, Rebecca Weinstein, was born in 1865 in Russia. The Weinsteins were both of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

ancestry and married in 1883 in Russia and had four children, two of whom died young. The family migrated 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 The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

(C.C.N.Y.) in the fall of 1916. Wyn did not finish college, but in 1919 he got work as a proofreader 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 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

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 Hersey was bo ...

's Magazine Publishers, in association 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, 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 fi ...

'', ''

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 A ...

'', and ''

Love Fiction Monthly Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good hab ...

''. 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, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

s, in 1952. Wyn was famous for paying his authors as little as he could get away with, which prompted David McDaniel 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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, p ...

'' 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 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

* 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 Jews from New York (state) {{US-publish-bio-stub