Kurt Enoch (22 November 1895 – 15 February 1982) was a German-born publisher who co-founded
Albatross Books in Germany and
Penguin Books Inc. and
New American Library
The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...
in the United States, bringing high-quality
paperback
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, ...
fiction and non-fiction to the mass market in those countries.
Early life
Kurt Enoch was born in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, postal ...
, then part of the
German Empire, on 22 November 1895. He was the son of Otto Enoch (1860–1934), an entrepreneur and publisher, and his wife, Rosa. His parents were from a liberal Jewish background and encouraged their son to study literature and devote himself to his education.
After graduating from school and working as a volunteer in the Gselliussche Buchhandlung, a bookshop in Berlin, the First World War began and he joined the German army and was sent to the Western front on 27 November 1915.
Gebrüder Enoch Verlag
Returning from the war in December 1918, Kurt Enoch began to help in the family business, which comprised a printing company named Gebrüder Enoch Verlag (English, "Enoch Brothers Press"), a book and magazine distribution enterprise and a publishing company.
[Michaela Ullmann]
"Kurt Enoch - Refugee and Paperback Pioneer"
in: ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 5, edited by R. Daniel Wadhwani. German Historical Institute. Last modified 31 March 2016. He progressively came to realize that he was mainly interested in the profession of publishing rather than in printing. For this reason his father decided that the focus of the family business should henceforth be publishing and that the printing plant should be sold.
Kurt Enoch completed a doctorate at the
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...
and took over the family business from his father, whose health was declining. He strived for a national profile for the publishing business by seeking out important writers and talented new writers and adding foreign translations and books about other parts of the world to the catalogue.
Albatross Books
In 1932 Enoch joined the English translator John Holroyd-Reece and the German publisher Max Christian Wegner to found a publishing house with the name
Albatross Books in Hamburg and launched a paperback book series named the Albatross Modern Continental Library.
Similarly to the long established
Tauchnitz Editions
Tauchnitz was the name of a family of German printers and publishers. They published English language literature for distribution on the European continent outside Great Britain, including initial serial publications of novels by Charles Dickens. ...
, this new series published inexpensive English-language reprints of American and British authors and sold them in all parts of the world except the British Empire. The list included highbrow authors (such as
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
,
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
and
D.H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
), middlebrow authors (such as
Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year w ...
) and lowbrow writing (including
detective fiction).
[Duncan Fallowell]
"The books the Nazis didn’t burn"
''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', 13 May 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
However, the Albatross Modern Continental Library stood out in the marketplace "with an eye for design and colour", which included the introduction of colour-coding for different categories of books "in the form of fully saturated covers: red for crime, blue for romance, yellow for literary novels and essays, purple for biography and history, green for travel, orange for short stories",
improved typography and modern editorial policies.
These bright and modern looking volumes sold in vast numbers.
The series was soon outselling Tauchnitz Editions and in 1934 Albatross Books assumed editorial control of Tauchnitz.
Enoch would act as the sole distributor for the series.
Flight from Germany and France
The coming to power of the National Socialists meant that Enoch with his Jewish background found it increasingly difficult to work as a publisher in Germany. For that reason he transferred his shares in the company to his business partner Christian Wegner. He also arranged for the distribution of Albatross titles outside Germany to be handled through a newly founded firm that would be located in Paris and headed by himself.
When war broke out in 1939, Enoch was briefly interned in France. With the German occupation of France, he realized he had to give up his publishing company and flee, and he managed to obtain entry visas for himself, his wife and his two daughters to the United States. They fled across the Pyrenees and through Spain and Portugal and finally arrived in the United States on 12 October 1940.
Penguin Books Inc.
After his arrival in the U.S., Enoch quickly set about getting in touch with colleagues in the American publishing world, including
Fred Melcher of
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
, "
Ben Huebsch of
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
,
Charles Scribner of the
Scribner family house and
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...
of
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 ...
".
Unlike certain other German emigre publishers in the United States including
Kurt and Helen Wolff who concentrated on publishing European classics and works from writers recently exiled from Nazi-ruled countries,
Enoch eagerly sought available opportunities in the existing American market. He noted that there was limited access to books outside the larger cities of the United States, a gap that the firm
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.
History
Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing ...
was attempting to fill with inexpensive "mass market" fiction paperbacks. Enoch believed there was an untapped opportunity to publish paperbacks of non-fiction, of more sophisticated fiction, and of the classics.
Enoch suggested to the British publisher
Allen Lane that Penguin Books should move from just having an American sales agency for its British publications to setting up as a publisher in the United States. Lane agreed and Penguin Books Inc. was established with Enoch as vice-president and Lane and
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 ...
as business partners.
The new firm was profitable but profits were small. At the end of the Second World War Ballantine wanted to take the Penguin Inc. list down-market and compete with mass market publishers like Pocket Books. When he was rebuffed, he left and went to set up
Bantam Books, leaving Enoch in charge of Penguin.
Then Allen Lane, unannounced, brought in
Victor Weybright Victor Weybright (1903-1978) was an American writer and publisher.
He was educated at Hull House and the University of Chicago.
During World War II he worked in London for the United States Office of War Information.
After the war Weybright was b ...
to work in an executive role in Penguin Inc. "In fact Weybright had the impression that he was being brought in to run it." After some initial wariness, Enoch and Weybright came to respect each other's talent and work well with each other as partners in Penguin's American branch.
In spite of the firm's increasing success, Lane was not satisfied: he disliked "Enoch's and Weybright's cover pictures and editorial choices" which violated his "more puritanical standards and personal taste"
and his desire that Penguin Inc. be a mirror image of Penguin in the United Kingdom.
New American Library
In 1948, after two years of acrimonious relations with Lane, Enoch and Weybright bought out the Penguin equity in the company (except for the Penguin and Pelican trademarks which they surrendered) and renamed it as
The New American Library Library of World Literature (which would be more commonly referred to over the years as the New American Library or NAL in short).
[Beth E. Luey]
"New American Library"
''The Oxford Companion to the Book''. Retrieved on 25 August 2017.
Enoch was president of NAL until 1960. Under his watch it published reprints of literary value, paperback editions of classics, and non-fiction for general readers and for classroom use
and a number of prestigious book series including Signet Books, Signet Classics and Mentor Books.
In 1960 Enoch and Weybright sold the New American Library to the
Times Mirror Company
The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000.
History
It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
of Los Angeles. Enoch joined the Times Mirror Board of Directors.
Martin Levin, president of the
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
, summed up the achievements of the New American Library under the tutelage of Enoch, as follows:
New American Library was a brilliant concept well ahead of its time. Kurt Enoch brought his special skills to this line of books. He demonstrated that the classics, from Shakespeare to '1984,' and Mickey Spillane, William Styron and James Bond, could all live comfortably on one publishing list. His special pride was that this company flourishes today as it did when he was its first president.["Kurt Enoch, 86: Pioneer in Paperback Publishing"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', 17 February 1982. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
Life after the NAL
After selling NAL, Enoch remained active in public life, supporting the importance reading and publishing.
In 1962 Enoch and five other American booksellers visited the Soviet Union as part of a U.S. State Department cultural exchange program.
He served on the American Book Publishers Council, the National Book Committee and the Franklin Book Program. He wrote numerous articles on the "paperback revolution" and its importance in providing millions of ordinary citizens with access to quality books with tough and independent thinking at a modest and affordable price.
Retirement
In 1967 Enoch retired from the Times Mirror Book Division. In 1968 he opened a business in New York City specializing in publishing.
He died on 15 February 1982 while on holidays in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
.
Personal life
Enoch married Hertha Rehse Frischmann in late 1921. They had two daughters, Ruth and Mirjam (later known as Miriam).
In 1934 Hertha passed away from tuberculosis. He married Margaret "Marga" M. Heinemann in early 1937.
He became a naturalized American citizen in 1948.
Kurt Enoch’s petition for naturalization (5 April 1948)
immigrantentrepreneurship.org. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
References
Essays and articles by Kurt Enoch
* Kurt Enoch, "The Paper-Bound Book: Twentieth-Century Publishing Phenomenon", in: ''The Library Quarterly
''The Library Quarterly'' is a quarterly double-anonymous peer-reviewed academic journal covering library science, including historical, sociological, statistical, bibliographical, managerial, psychological, and educational aspects of the fiel ...
'', Volume XXIV, July 1954. "An evaluation of the economic organization, editorial problems, and social role of paper-bound publishing. With a list of paperback publishers, and famous authors, important books, anthologies and reference works available in this form."
* Kurt Enoch, contrib., ''Book Publishing in the U.S.S.R.: reports of the Delegations of U.S. Book Publishers Visiting the U.S.S.R.: October 21-November 4, 1970 ndAugust 20-September 17, 1962.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1971. ''Delegation of U.S. Book Publishers 1962:'' Curtis G. Benjamin, ''Kurt Enoch'', Robert W. Frase, Storer B. Lunt, M. R. Robinson, W. B. Wiley. ''Delegation 1970:'' Robert L. Bernstein, Mark S. Carroll, Robert W. Frase, Edward J. McCabe Jr., W. Bradford Wiley.
* Kurt Enoch, "Paperback Revolution Described", ''Austin Statesman
The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett.
The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...
'', 22 August 1963.
Further reading
* Richard Abel and William Gordon Graham, eds., ''Immigrant Publishers: The Impact of Expatriate Publishers in Britain and America in the 20th Century'', New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers, 2009; Routledge, 2017.
* Jeremy Lewis, ''Penguin Special: The Life and Times of Allen Lane'', New York, Penguin Books, 2005.
* J. E. Morpurgo, ''Allen Lane, King Penguin: A Biography'', London, Hutchinson, 1979.
*Al Silverman, ''The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors and Authors'', New York, Truman Talley Books/St. Martin's Press, 2008.
* Michele K. Troy, "Behind the Scenes at the Albatross Press: A Modern Press for Modern Times", in: John Spiers, ed., ''The Culture of the Publisher's Series, Volume One: Authors, Publishers and Taste'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
* Michele K. Troy, ''Strange Bird: The Albatross Press and the Third Reich''. Yale University Press, 2017.
External links
Strange Bird: The Albatross Press and the Third Reich
- Michele K. Troy discusses the Albatross Press and Kurt Enoch at the Library of Congress.
The Albatross Continental Library
- Jules Burt on his collection of vintage 1930s paperbacks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enoch, Kurt
1895 births
1982 deaths
German book publishers (people)
American book publishers (people)
Penguin Books people
Businesspeople from Hamburg
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States