Stackpole Books is a trade

publishing company 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 ...

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mechanicsburg is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The borough is eight miles (13 km) west of Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 8,981. ...

. It was founded by E. J. Stackpole Jr. in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

, in 1930 and was moved to its current headquarters in 1993. Stackpole publishes nonfiction books in the areas of crafts, outdoors, regional and travel, military history, and military reference. The current CEO is M. David Detweiler, and the Publisher and Editorial Director is Judith Schnell.

History

The publishing company that became Stackpole Books has its origins with the Harrisburg newspaper ''Evening Telegraph'', which was founded in the early 19th century. In 1901, controlling interest in the Telegraph Press was acquired by E. J. Stackpole Sr. The business was carried on by Stackpole's son, Edward James Stackpole Jr., a decorated general in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

who received the

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to ...

, the

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

, and three

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

s. In 1930, the National Service Publishing Company of Washington, D.C., which had been established in 1921, was acquired by Telegraph. Renamed Military Service Publishing Company, it published textbooks for the military services, including ''Army Officer’s Guide'', which is still in print in an updated edition by Stackpole Books. Also in 1930, E. J. Stackpole Jr. and his brother Albert Stackpole began a trade company called Stackpole Sons, with additional offices in New York City. Stackpole Sons published books starting in 1936 on a variety of subjects, including fiction by

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To N ...

and

John Fante John Fante (April 8, 1909 – May 8, 1983) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel ''Ask the Dust'' (1939) about the life of Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in Depre ...

and autobiographies by

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

and

Huey Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

. Both Military Service Publishing Company and Stackpole Sons were divisions of Telegraph Press. A brief merger of Stackpole Sons with the Heck Company in the 1940s resulted in the short-lived Stackpole & Heck. After the union dissolved, the trade division became the Stackpole Company. During World War II, Military Services Publishing Company produced small, inexpensive paperback reprints of fiction titles for soldiers. About twice the size of

Armed Services Editions Armed Services Editions (ASEs) were small paperback books of fiction and nonfiction that were distributed in the American military during World War II. From 1943 to 1947, some 122 million copies of more than 1,300 ASE titles were distributed to ...

(ASEs), these books were still small enough to carry easily in military uniform cargo pockets. These "Superior Reprints" complemented the ASE titles and leaned toward mystery and detective fiction. Like the ASEs, these books were entertaining and noncontroversial in content; but, unlike the ASEs, they were not free to the soldiers. In the 1950s, Stackpole developed a strong emphasis on nonfiction books, especially outdoors and history titles. In outdoors, the house published several successful and well-regarded works by wilderness survivalist

Bradford Angier Bradford Angier (May 13, 1910 – March 3, 1997) was an American wilderness survivalist and proponent of back-to-earth living. He authored more than 35 books on how to survive in the wild and how to live minimalisticly off the land. In 1947 A ...

, including ''Feasting Free on Wild Edibles'', ''Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants'', ''Field Guide to Medicinal Wild Plants'', and ''Looking for Gold'', all of which are still in print today in new editions. E. J. Stackpole Jr. himself was an esteemed author of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

history; his popular titles for the house are ''They Met at Gettysburg'', ''The Fredericksburg Campaign'', ''Chancellorsville'', and ''Sheridan in the Shenandoah''. In 1959, Stackpole and Military Service merged into a single company, Stackpole Books. In recent years, the house has continued publishing in military reference, history, and outdoors. In the latter category, Stackpole has been especially noted for their books on

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

. New lines include crafts and regional and travel. In 2015, Stackpole Books was bought by Rowman & Littlefield. Stackpole Magazines were sold to Ampry Publishing in 2016.

Superior Reprints

Military Services Publishing Company produced a series of paperback books called "Superior Reprints" in 1944 and 1945. Twenty-one titles were published in this series, consecutively numbered from M637 to M657. Each book was priced at 25¢. The complete series of Superior Reprints consists of: * (M637) ''White Magic'' by

Faith Baldwin Faith Baldwin (October 1, 1893 – March 18, 1978) was an American writer of romance novels and other forms of fiction,

* (M638) ''

Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun ''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun'' is a collection of pseudo-African American folk tales written by white author Roark Bradford and published in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1928. It was compared to the tales about Uncle Remus and had ...

'' by

Roark Bradford Roark Whitney Wickliffe Bradford (August 21, 1896, Lauderdale County, Tennessee — November 13, 1948, New Orleans, Louisiana) was an American short story writer and novelist. Life He attended University of California, Berkeley, and served as ...

* (M639) ''Unexpected Night'' by

Elizabeth Daly Elizabeth T. Daly (October 15, 1878 – September 2, 1967) was an American writer of mystery novels whose main character, Henry Gamadge, was a bookish author, bibliophile, and amateur detective. A writer of light verse and prose for ''Life'', '' ...

* (M640) ''An April Afternoon'' by

Philip Wylie Philip Gordon Wylie (May 12, 1902 – October 25, 1971) was an American writer of works ranging from pulp science fiction, mysteries, social diatribes and satire to ecology and the threat of nuclear holocaust. Early life and career Born in Beve ...

* (M641) ''Family Affair'' by Ione Sandberg Shriber * (M642) ''The Rynox Murder Mystery'' by

Philip MacDonald Philip MacDonald (5 November 1900 – 10 December 1980) was a British-born writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for Thriller (genre), thrillers. Life and work MacDonald was born in London, the son of author Ronald MacDonald and actress ...

* (M643) ''Cartoons'' by George Price * (M644) ''Embarrassment of Riches'' by Marjorie Fischer * (M645) ''Murder in Mink'' by

Robert George Dean Robert George Dean (died 1989) was an American author of detective fiction. He also worked as a journalist, and as an ambulance driver during World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was ...

* (M646) ''The Love Nest and Other Stories'' by

Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...

* (M647) ''Inquest'' by

Percival Wilde Percival Wilde (New York City, March 1, 1887 – September 19, 1953) was an American author and playwright who wrote novels and numerous short stories and one-act plays. He also authored a textbook on the theater arts. Native to New York City, ...

* (M648) ''One Foot in Heaven'' by

Hartzell Spence John Hartzell Spence (February 15, 1908 – May 9, 2001) was an American writer and founding editor of ''Yank, the Army Weekly'', a weekly magazine published by the United States military during World War II. He is credited with coining the ...

* (M649) ''The Navy Colt'' by

Frank Gruber Frank Gruber (born February 2, 1904, Elmer, Minnesota, died December 9, 1969, Santa Monica, California) was an American writer. He was a writer of stories for pulp fiction magazines. He also wrote dozens of novels, mostly Westerns and detect ...

* (M650) '' The Informer'' by

Liam O'Flaherty Liam O'Flaherty ( ; 28 August 1896 – 7 September 1984) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their ...

* (M651) ''Mr. Angel Comes Aboard'' by Charles G. Booth * (M652) ''

This Gun for Hire ''This Gun for Hire'' is a 1942 American film noir crime film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Veronica Lake, Robert Preston (actor), Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, and Alan Ladd. It is based on the 1936 novel ''A Gun for Sale'' by Graham Gr ...

'' by

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

* (M653) ''The House Without the Door'' by

* (M654) ''On Ice'' by

* (M655) ''The Mighty Blockhead'' by

* (M656) ''A Saki Sampler'' by H. H. Munro * (M657) ''Good Night, Sheriff'' by Harrison R. Steeves

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.stackpolebooks.com Book publishing companies based in Pennsylvania Companies based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Publishing companies established in 1930 1930 establishments in Pennsylvania