Stackpole Books is a trade publishing company in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. 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 P ...

, 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. Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

, a decorated general in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

who received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. 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 and John Fante and autobiographies by Benny Goodman and Huey Long. 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 (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 state ...

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. 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 * (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 h ...

'' by Roark Bradford * (M639) ''Unexpected Night'' by Elizabeth Daly * (M640) ''An April Afternoon'' by Philip Wylie * (M641) ''Family Affair'' by Ione Sandberg Shriber * (M642) ''The Rynox Murder Mystery'' by Philip MacDonald * (M643) ''Cartoons'' by

George Price George Price may refer to: * George Price (footballer) (c. 1878–1938), footballer * George Price (cartoonist) (1901–1995), American cartoonist * George Cadle Price (1919–2011), prime minister of Belize * George E. Price (1848–1938), member ...

* (M644) ''Embarrassment of Riches'' by Marjorie Fischer * (M645) ''Murder in Mink'' by Robert George Dean * (M646) ''The Love Nest and Other Stories'' by Ring Lardner * (M647) ''Inquest'' by Percival Wilde * (M648) ''One Foot in Heaven'' by Hartzell Spence * (M649) ''The Navy Colt'' by Frank Gruber * (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 Charles Gordon Booth (February 12, 1896 – May 22, 1949) was a British-born writer who settled in America and wrote several classic Hollywood stories, including ''The General Died at Dawn'' (1936) and '' Sundown'' (1941). He won an Academy A ...

* (M652) '' This Gun for Hire'' 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 Elizabeth Daly * (M654) ''On Ice'' by Robert George Dean * (M655) ''The Mighty Blockhead'' by Frank Gruber * (M656) ''A Saki Sampler'' by

H. H. Munro Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultur ...

* (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