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| Parent company | Random House, a subsidiary ofPenguin Random House |
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| Founded | 1952; 73 years ago (1952) |
| Founder | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City,New York |
| Official website | www |
Ballantine Books is a major American bookpublisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerateBertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 byIan Ballantine with his wife,Betty Ballantine.[1] Ballantine was acquired byRandom House in 1973,[2] which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains part of that company.
Ballantine's original logo was a pair of mirrored letter Bs back to back, later changing to two Bs stacked to form an elaborate gate.[3] The firm's early editors wereStanley Kauffmann andBernard Shir-Cliff.[4]
FollowingFawcett Publications' controversial 1950 introduction of Gold Medalpaperback originals rather than reprints, Lion Books, Avon and Ace also decided to publish originals. In 1952, Ian Ballantine, a founder ofBantam Books, announced that he would "offer trade publishers a plan for simultaneous publishing of original titles in two editions, ahardcover 'regular' edition for bookstore sale, and a paper-cover, 'newsstand' size, low-priced edition for mass market sale."[5]
When the first Ballantine Book,Cameron Hawley'sExecutive Suite, was published in 1952, the publishing industry saw that the simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions were obvious successes.[5]Houghton Mifflin published the $3.00[a] hardcover at the same time Ballantine distributed its 35¢[b] 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 toMGM,Robert Wise directed the1954 film, nominated for four Academy Awards.[7]
On the heels of that kind of sales and publicity, other Ballantine titles were seen inspinner racks across the country.Executive Suite was followed byHal Ellson'sThe Golden Spike (#2), Stanley Baron'sAll My Enemies (#3),Luke Short'sSaddle by Starlight (#4, also with Houghton Mifflin), Ruth Park'sThe Witch's Thorn (#5, also with Houghton Mifflin), Emile Danoen'sTides of Tide (#6),Frank Bonham'sBlood on the Land (#7),Al Capp'sThe World of Li'l Abner (#8, with Farrar, Straus & Young) and LaSelle Gilman'sThe Red Gate (#9).
During the early 1950s, Ballantine attracted attention as one of the leading publishers of paperbackscience fiction andfantasy, beginning withThe Space Merchants (#21). The Frederik Pohl andC. M. Kornbluth novel had first appeared inGalaxy Science Fiction under the titleGravy Planet. Kauffman scored when he acquired and editedRay Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451 (originally inGalaxy as a shorter version, "The Firemen").[4]
Ballantine's science fiction line also included the unusualStar Science Fiction Stories. With cover paintings byRichard Powers, this innovative anthology series offered new fiction rather than reprints. Edited byFrederik Pohl, 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 withAce Books for the rights to reprint the works ofJ. R. R. Tolkien andEdgar Rice Burroughs in paperback form. Ballantine prevailed in the struggle for the Tolkien work, with their editions of Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings 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 admiredLord 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."[4]
In 1969,Lin Carter edited theBallantine Adult Fantasy series, which brought a number of rare titles back into print, as well as launchingKatherine Kurtz'sDeryni series. During the mid-1970s, Ballantine published theStar Trek Logs, a ten-volume series ofAlan Dean Foster adaptations of the animatedStar Trek. In 1968, Ballantine published a non-fiction book related toStar Trek,The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield andGene Roddenberry.
In 1976, Ballantine published thenovelization of a forthcomingscience fiction film,Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker byGeorge Lucas (ghostwritten byAlan Dean Foster). The book, like the filmStar Wars 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.[8][9]
Ballantine Books has been a frequent winner of theLocus Award for Best Publisher, winning the inaugural award and winning a further 12 awards.[10]
After publishingThe World of Li'l Abner, Ballantine introducedShel Silverstein in 1956 with hisGrab Your Socks! collection of cartoons fromPacific Stars and Stripes.
As an editor at Ballantine during the 1950s and 1960s, Bernard Shir-Cliff handled theZacherley anthologies, the paperback ofHunter Thompson'sHell's Angels,Harvey Kurtzman'sThe Mad Reader and other earlyMad paperbacks. He made four contributions toMad 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 byRobert Benchley,Art Buchwald,Tom Lehrer, John Lardner,Shepherd Mead,Ogden Nash,S. J. Perelman, Frank Sullivan,James Thurber and others. The 154-page paperback was illustrated with cartoons byKelly Freas who also did the front cover.[citation needed]
Another contributor to both Ballantine and the Kurtzman magazines was the cartoonist-authorRoger 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 thecatchphrase "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 inFancyclopedia II (1959).[11]
Ballantine has also been the publisher of books featuringJim Davis' comic stripGarfield since 1980.
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