Bantam Books

Last updated

Bantam Books
BantamBooksLogo.png
Parent company Random House
Founded1945;79 years ago (1945)
Founder
Country of origin United States
Headquarters location New York City, New York, U.S.
Imprints Spectra
Skylark
Official website www.randomhousebooks.com/imprint/bantam-books/ OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

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. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine, with funding from Grosset & Dunlap and Curtis Publishing Company. It has since been purchased several times by companies including National General, Carl Lindner's American Financial and, most recently, Bertelsmann, which in 1986 purchased what had grown to become the Bantam Doubleday Dell publishing group. Bertelsmann purchased Random House in 1998, and in 1999 merged the Bantam and Dell imprints (amongst other mergers within the sprawling publishing house) to become the Bantam Dell publishing imprint. In 2010, the Bantam Dell division was consolidated with Ballantine Books (founded in 1952 by Bantam co-founders Ian and Betty Ballantine) to form the Ballantine Bantam Dell group within Random House. [1] By no later than February 2015, Bantam Books had re-emerged as a stand-alone imprint within Random House; [2] as of 2023, it continues to publish as the Bantam imprint, again grouped in a renamed Ballantine division within Random House.

Contents

Bantam began as a mass market publisher, mostly of reprints of hardcover books, with some original paperbacks as well. It expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions.

History

The company was failing when Oscar Dystel, who had previously worked at Esquire and as editor on Coronet magazine was hired in 1954 to manage it. By the end of the next year the company was profitable. Dystel retired as chairman in 1980. By that time Bantam was the largest publisher of paperbacks, had over 15% of the market, and exceeded US$100 million in sales. [3]

The company was involved in an important Supreme Court case, Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan in 1963. Bantam Books was prevented from distributing some of its publications in Rhode Island by a state commission called the Rhode Island Commission to Encourage Morality in Youth. The commission, headed by the Rhode Island Attorney General, would essentially blacklist books and magazines it deemed "objectionable" for sale, threatening distributors with publicity and reputational harm. Bantam Books sued, arguing this commission violated freedom of press protections and amounted to illegal censorship without due process. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Bantam Books, deciding that the commission's blacklisting practice constituted an unlawful prior restraint on free expression in violation of the First Amendment. The Court held that any system of prior censorship on publications "strikes at the very foundation of freedom of expression" and cannot be enforced unless regulated by precise rules with procedural safeguards. This was an influential decision reinforcing First Amendment protections against government censorship of published materials.

In 1964, Grosset & Dunlap acquired full ownership of Bantam from Curtis. [4] In 1968, Grosset & Dunlap was acquired by conglomerate National General, run by Gene Klein. [5] National General was acquired by American Financial Group in 1973. [6] American Financial sold Bantam to the Italian firm IFI in 1974. [7] Bertelsmann acquired half of Bantam in 1977 and assumed full ownership in 1980. [8] [9] IN 1986, Bantam began publishing audiobooks. [10] In 1986, Bertelsmann acquired Doubleday & Company and created the holding Bantam Doubleday Dell. [11] In 1998, Bertelsmann acquired Random House from Advance Publications; Random House became the name of the overall holding company of the various publishing imprints. [12] [13] In 1999, Bertelsmann merged some of the many publishing units it held in Random House, including a merger of Bantam with Dell Publishing, forming the Bantam Dell publishing imprint. [14] Bantam Dell became part of the Random House publishing group in 2008. [15] Ballantine Books was merged with Bantam Dell in 2010. [16] In 2013, Random House merged with Penguin to form Penguin Random House. [17]

Books published

Bantam has published the entire original run of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series of children's books, [18] [19] as well as the first original novels based upon the Star Trek franchise, publishing about a dozen such books between 1970 and 1982, when the license was taken over by Pocket Books. Bantam also published a dozen volumes of short story adaptations of scripts from Star Trek: The Original Series. Bantam was the former American paperback publisher of The Guinness Book of Records . Another series was "Bantam War Book" from the 1970s to the 1990s, with the majority of books from World War II, but also from Vietnam, Korea and other conflicts.

Other series include Bantam Classics, the Bantam Spectra science fiction imprint, the juvenile Skylark imprint, the Bantam Air & Space imprint, and editions of Shakespeare.

Bantam Classics

The series was started in 1958. It reprints mostly public domain, unabridged classic books, intended to increase backlist sales and reintroduce the works to new audiences. More than a hundred books have been released in the series. [20]

Like competing editions, some Bantam Classics are printed with an introduction from a literary critic, and in the case of Moby Dick, with a selection of critical essays on the novel appended as well. [21]

Authors

Authors originally published exclusively or significantly by Bantam include:

Books originally published by Bantam

See also

Related Research Articles

Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the following decades, a series of acquisitions made it into one of the largest publishers in the United States. In 2013, it was merged with Penguin Group to form Penguin Random House, which is owned by the Germany-based media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Penguin Random House uses its brand for Random House Publishing Group and Random House Children's Books, as well as several imprints.

Doubleday is an American publishing company. It was founded as the Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897. By 1947, it was the largest book publisher in the United States. It published the work of mostly U.S. authors under a number of imprints and distributed them through its own stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballantine Books</span> American book publisher (1952–)

Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains part of that company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hutchinson Heinemann</span> British book and magazine publisher

Hutchinson Heinemann is a British publishing firm founded in 1887. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate.

Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initially owning 53% of the joint venture, and Pearson PLC initially owning the remaining 47%. Since 18 December 2019, Penguin Random House has been wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon & Schuster</span> American publishing company

Simon & Schuster LLC is an American publishing company owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster is considered one of the 'Big Five' English language publishers. As of 2017, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publisher in the United States, publishing 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dell Comics</span> American comic book publisher

Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium. In 1953, Dell claimed to be the world's largest comics publisher, selling 26 million copies each month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred A. Knopf</span> American publishing house

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in addition to leading American literary trends. It was acquired by Random House in 1960, and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group division of Penguin Random House which is owned by the German conglomerate Bertelsmann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. P. Dutton</span> Former American book publishing company

E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group.

Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.

The New American Library 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 publishes trade and hardcover titles. It is currently an imprint of Penguin Random House; it was announced in 2015 that the imprint would publish only nonfiction titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. P. Putnam's Sons</span> American book publisher

G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vintage Books</span> American publishing imprint

Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random House merged with Bantam Doubleday Dell, Doubleday's Anchor Books trade paperback line was added to the same division as Vintage. Following Random House's merger with Penguin, Vintage UK was transferred to Penguin UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dial Press</span> American publishing company

The Dial Press is a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh.

Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000, two employees and one magazine title, I Confess, and soon began turning out dozens of pulp magazines, which included penny-a-word detective stories, articles about films, and romance books.

Transworld is a British publishing house in Ealing, London that is a division of Penguin Random House, one of the world's largest mass media groups. It was established in 1950 as the British division of American company Bantam Books. It publishes fiction and nonfiction titles by various best-selling authors including Val Wood under several different imprints. Hardbacks are published under the Doubleday imprint, whereas paperbacks are published under the Black Swan or Corgi imprint. The Bantam Press imprint publishes both Hardbacks and Prestige softcovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway Books</span> American book publisher

Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., released its first list in Fall, 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquired Random House in 1998 and merged Broadway into a combined group with Doubleday the next year. Random House reorganized again in 2008, with Doubleday moving to Knopf and Broadway moving to its current home at Crown. Broadway's general-interest publishing was combined with Crown in 2010. Broadway became the paperback publisher for the Crown imprint in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Random House of Canada</span> Canadian book distributor

Random House of Canada was the Canadian distributor for Random House, Inc. from 1944 until 2013. On July 1, 2013, it amalgamated with Penguin Canada to become Penguin Random House Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penguin Random House</span> Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company

Penguin Random House LLC is a British-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was originally founded in 1935 and Random House was founded in 1927. It has more than 300 publishing imprints. Along with Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House is considered one of the 'Big Five' English language publishers.

Bernard J. Geis was an American editor and publisher who founded the now-defunct Bernard Geis Associates, which published and promoted several best-sellers in the 1960s and 70s, including Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls and Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl and David Wilkerson's The Cross and the Switchblade.

References

  1. ↑ Cader, Michael (2010-04-13). "Ballantine and Bantam Dell Come Together Under McGuire". Publishers Lunch. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-07. consolidating the Ballantine and Bantam Dell lines into a new Ballantine Bantam Dell group. Libby McGuire will run the merged division as svp, publisher, and Bantam Dell evp
  2. ↑ "Our Imprints". randomhousebooks.com. 2015-02-28. Archived from the original on 2015-02-28. Retrieved 2023-11-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ↑ Martin, Douglas (May 29, 2014). "Oscar Dystel, Who Saved Bantam Books, Dies at 101". The New York Times . p. B19. Retrieved May 29, 2014. ... combined sharp editorial judgments, shrewd marketing and attention-grabbing covers to propel Bantam Books from the brink of collapse to pre-eminence in paperback publishing after World War II ...
  4. ↑ "Curtis Sells Stake in 3 Book Concerns". The New York Times. 1964-02-13. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  5. ↑ "Grosset & Dunlap, Publisher, Acquired by National General". The New York Times. 1968-03-15. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  6. ↑ Wilcke, Gerd (1973-11-08). "$32.7-Million Deal Completed By British Unit of Sterling Drug". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  7. ↑ "Italians Buy Bantam". The New York Times. 1974-11-29. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  8. ↑ Mitgang, Herbert (1977-09-08). "Bertelsmann Group Buys Control Of Bantam Books From Italians". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  9. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; Arab Investors Fail In Bank Group Bid Bertelsmann Buys All of Bantam Books Kodak Sees Stability In Silver Markets American Financial Votes Incentive Plan 2d Cavenham Letter On Diamond Merger Itel in Debt Accord Engelhard Hints Hunt Oil Land Swap COMPANY BRIEFS". The New York Times. 1980-05-08. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  10. ↑ Brooke, James (1985-07-02). "LISTENED TO ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  11. ↑ Tagliabue, John (1984-07-23). "German Publisher Widens U.s. Role". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  12. ↑ Andrews, Edmund L. (March 29, 1998). "The World: Bertelsmann Swallows Random House; American Pop Culture, Foreign-Owned" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2011-02-14. Retrieved August 22, 2014. Bertelsmann… [B]efore acquiring Random House… in 1986 bought Bantam Doubleday Dell, the country's fifth-largest commercial book publisher
  13. ↑ Random House Company History, from Fundinguniverse.com Archived 4 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved April 13, 2008.
  14. ↑ Carvajal, Doreen (1999-05-28). "Bertelsmann Is Reorganizing Random House" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2019-01-20. to merge eight of its publishing units into four groups or divisions, including a combination of Bantam Books… and Dell Publishing
  15. ↑ "Massive Reorganization at Random House: Steve Rubin, Irwyn Applebaum Step Down; Doubleday and Bantam Divisions Dismantled". Observer. 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  16. ↑ "Ballantine and Bantam Dell Come Together Under McGuire". Publishers Lunch. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
  17. ↑ Bosman, Julie (2013-07-01). "Penguin and Random House Merge, Saying Change Will Come Slowly". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  18. ↑ Lodge, Sally (Jan 18, 2007). "Chooseco Embarks on Its Own Adventure". Publishers Weekly . Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
  19. ↑ Aljean Harmetz (August 25, 1981). "Choose Your Own Adventure and Make Your Own Ending". The New York Times . Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Lewiston Morning Tribune - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  21. ↑ Melville, Herman (1981). Walcutt, Charles Child (ed.). Moby-Dick (Bantam Classics ed.). Bantam. pp. viii–xii, 549–593. ISBN   0553213113.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.