Ballantine Books is a major book

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

located in the United States, founded in 1952 by

Ian Ballantine Ian Keith Ballantine (February 15, 1916 – March 9, 1995) was an American publisher who founded and published the paperback line of Ballantine Books from 1952 to 1974 with his wife, Betty Ballantine. The Ballantines were both inducted by the ...

with his wife,

Betty Ballantine Betty Ballantine (born Elizabeth Jones; September 25, 1919 – February 12, 2019) was an American publisher, editor, and writer. She was born during the Raj to a British colonial family. After her marriage to Ian Ballantine in 1939, she moved ...

. It was acquired by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 1973, which in turn was acquired by

Bertelsmann Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...

in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's original logo was a pair of mirrored letter Bs back to back, while its current logo is two Bs stacked to form an elaborate gate. The firm's early editors were Stanley Kauffmann and

Bernard Shir-Cliff Bernard W. Shir-Cliff (November 7, 1924-February 28, 2017) was an editor for Ballantine Books, Contemporary Books, Warner Books and other publishers, who also translated books and later became a well-known literary agent. As a senior editor at Warn ...

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, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

originals rather than reprints, Lion Books, Avon and Ace also decided to publish originals. In 1952, Ian Ballantine, a founder of

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

, 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 case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...

'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 Cameron Hawley (September 19, 1905 – February 9, 1969) was an American writer of fiction from Howard, South Dakota. Much of Hawley's output concerned the pressures of modern life, particularly in a business setting. He published numerous nov ...

'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 , ''asteriskos'', "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 voc ...

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 and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, 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 A spinner rack is a rotating merchandise display, usually placed on a retailer's floor or counter. Often used to display magazines, paperbacks, greeting cards, postcards, hats, or seeds, the spinner rack is closely associated with the comic book ind ...

across the country. ''Executive Suite'' was followed by

Hal Ellson Harold "Hal" Ellson (1910 – October 31, 1994 in Brooklyn)
in ''

's ''The Golden Spike'' (#2), Stanley Baron's ''All My Enemies'' (#3),

Luke Short Luke Lamar Short (January22, 1854September8, 1893) was an American Old West gunfighter, cowboy, U.S. Army scout, dispatch rider, gambler, boxing promoter, and saloon owner. He survived numerous gunfights, the most famous of which were agains ...

'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 Frank Bonham (February 25, 1914 – December 16, 1988) was an author of Westerns and young adult novels. Bonham wrote 48 novels, as well as TV scripts. Bonham was born in Los Angeles. He was a UCLA graduate. Bonham was known for his works f ...

's ''Blood on the Land'' (#7),

Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (wi ...

'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 (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

, beginning with ''

The Space Merchants ''The Space Merchants'' is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Originally published in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' magazine as a serial entitled ''Gravy Planet'', the novel was first published as ...

'' (#21). The Frederik Pohl and

C. M. Kornbluth Cyril M. Kornbluth (July 2, 1923 – March 21, 1958) was an American science fiction author and a member of the Futurians. He used a variety of pen-names, including Cecil Corwin, S. D. Gottesman, Edward J. Bellin, Kenneth Falconer, W ...

novel had first appeared in ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'' 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 modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

's ''

Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, ''Fahrenheit 451'' presents an American society where books have been personified and outlawed and "firemen" burn any that ar ...

'' (originally in ''Galaxy'' as a shorter version, "The Firemen"). Ballantine's science fiction line also included the unusual ''

Star Science Fiction Stories A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...

''. With cover paintings by

Richard Powers Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel ''The Echo Maker'' won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction.Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...

, 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 Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first scienc ...

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 philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

and

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

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 high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' 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 Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. L ...

edited the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, 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 Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghos ...

adaptations of the animated ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

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

'', ''The Making of Star Trek'' by Stephen E. Whitfield and

Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', its sequel spin-off series ''Star Trek: The Animated Series,'' and ''Sta ...

. 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 ...

of a forthcoming

film, '' Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker'' by

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

(

ghostwritten ''Ghostwritten'' is the first novel published by English author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, B ...

). The book, like the film ''

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

'' 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 ''Stars and Stripes'' is a daily American military newspaper reporting on matters concerning the members of the United States Armed Forces and their communities, with an emphasis on those serving outside the United States. It operates from insi ...

''. As an editor at Ballantine during the 1950s and 1960s, Bernard Shir-Cliff handled the

Zacherley John Zacherle ( ; sometimes credited as John Zacherley; September 26, 1918 – October 27, 2016) was an American television host, radio personality, singer, and voice actor. He was best known for his long career as a television horror host, oft ...

anthologies, the paperback of Hunter Thompson's '' Hell's Angels'', Harvey Kurtzman'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 Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thro ...

, Art Buchwald, Tom Lehrer, John Lardner, Shepherd Mead,

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's best ...

, 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 science fiction and fantasy artist with a career spanning more than 50 years. He was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists" and he was the second artist inducted b ...

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).Eney, Dick. ''Fancyclopedia II''. Bladensburg, Maryland: Operation Crifanac, 1959. Ballantine has also been the publisher of books featuring Jim Davis' comic strip '' Garfield'' since 1980.

Ballantine authors

* Steve Berry *

Allison Brennan Allison Brennan (born September 29, 1969) is an American best-selling writer of romantic novel, romantic Thriller (genre), thriller novels. Her first book was published in 2005. Biography Brennan was born in San Carlos, California. In 1987, she ...

* Suzanne Brockmann *

Terry Brooks Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 ''New York Times'' bestsellers during his writing career, and has ...

* Harriet Brown * Jack L Chalker *

Meg Waite Clayton Meg Waite Clayton (born January 1, 1959 in Washington, D.C.) is an American novelist. Biography A graduate of University of Michigan Law School, Clayton also earned bachelor's degrees in History and Psychology from the University of Michigan. ...

Bill Dedman Bill Dedman (born 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, an investigative reporter for ''Newsday'', and co-author of the biography of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark, '' Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and ...

Carol S. Dweck Carol Susan Dweck (born October 17, 1946) is an American psychologist. She is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Dweck is known for her work on motivation and mindset. She was on the faculty at Columbia ...

Julie Garwood Julie Garwood (born 1944 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American writer of over twenty-seven romance novels in both the historical and suspense subgenres. Over thirty-five million copies of her books are in print, and she has had at least 24 ...

* Tess Gerritsen *

Emily Giffin Emily Fisk Giffin (born March 20, 1972) is an American author of several novels commonly categorized as chick lit. Her notable works include '' Something Borrowed'', ''Heart of the Matter'' and ''The One and Only''. Early life Emily Giffin ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

Linda Howard Linda S. Howington (born August 3, 1950 in Alabama, United States) is an American best-selling romance/suspense author under her pseudonym Linda Howard. Biography She began to write at nine years old, and wrote for twenty years for her own en ...

Charlie Huston Charlie Huston is a novelist and TV writer. His twelve novels span several genres from crime to horror to science fiction. His books have been published in English by Ballentine, Del Rey, Mulholland and Orion, and translated into nine other lang ...

* Jonathan Kellerman *

Demetria Martinez Demetria Martinez is an American activist, poet, and novelist. Early life She was born on July 10, 1960, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a graduate of Princeton University with BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International A ...

C. Wright Mills Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American Sociology, sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills published widely in both popular and intellectual journ ...

* Anne Perry *

Elizabeth Rosner Elizabeth Rosner is an American novelist, nonfiction author, essayist, and poet. She is author of three novels and a poetry collection. ''The Speed of Light'' was translated into nine languages and won several awards in the US and in Europe, in ...

Jeff Shaara Jeffrey M. "Jeff" Shaara (born February 21, 1952) is an American novelist and the son of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara. Biography Jeffrey Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. He graduated f ...

Angus Wells Angus Wells (26 March 1943 – 11 April 2006) was a British people, British writer of genre fiction, including fantasy and westerns. Wells wrote under numerous pseudonyms, including Andrew Quiller (with Kenneth Bulmer and Laurence James), James A. ...

References

External links