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| Parent company | Perfect Film and Chemical (1968–1970) Fawcett Publications (1970–1977) CBS (1977–1982) Warner Books (1982–1996) Time Warner Book Group (1996–2006) Hachette Book Group USA (2006–) |
|---|---|
| Status | Dormant |
| Founded | 1942 |
| Founder | Leo Margulies Ned Pines |
| Fiction genres | Mystery |
| Imprints | Questar |
Popular Library is a New Yorkpaperback book company established in 1942 byLeo Margulies andNed Pines, who at the time were majorpulp magazine and newspaper publishers.[1] The company's logo of a pine tree was a tribute to Pines, and another Popular Library signature visual was a reduced black-and-white copy of the front cover on the title page.
A native ofMalden, Massachusetts, Pines became the president ofPines Publications in 1928 and continued to lead the company until 1961. He was the president of Popular Library from 1942 to 1966 and its chairman from 1966 to 1968. Retiring in 1971, he continued to work as a consultant.
Popular Library was founded in 1942 as a detective-story reprintpaperback book company. Popular expanded to publish most genres.[2] In February 1962, the company announced it was issuing apublic offering of 127,500common shares at $8 a share, through Sutro Bros. & Company. Ned Pines was retaining 318,000 shares representing 68.3 percent of the 466,000 shares outstanding.[3]Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation purchased Popular Library in 1968.[4] The company, which also had theCurtis Books imprint,[citation needed] was sold in 1970 toFawcett Publications.[5]Popular won the Carey Thomas Award in 1976 for distinguished fiction in mass-market publishing under editorial director Patrick O'Connor.[2] In 1977,CBS Publications purchased Popular Library and Fawcett Books. CBS then renewed the copyright of theStandard/Better/Nedor/Popular 1950s pulps library and the variousCaptain Marvel titles.[5]
In 1982, CBS Publications sold off Popular Library toWarner Communications.[5] In April 1985,Warner Books relaunched Popular Library starting out with five other books plus the reprint ofQuestion of Upbringing continuing each month with the follow volumes fromA Dance to the Music of Time series byAnthony Powell. In addition, two books would be issued per month from Popular's new imprint, Questar, for science fiction.[2]
Although Popular Library embraced all genres, it was notable for publishing a wide variety ofmystery authors.[2] The line-up of Popular Library novelists includedMary Roberts Rinehart,John Dickson Carr,Anthony Powell,P. D. James,Harper Lee, Helen Van Slyke,Margaret Atwood,Margaret Drabble,Jean Rhys,Ann Beattie,Taylor Caldwell,Anne Tyler,[2]Craig Rice,Cornell Woolrich,[1] Sam Cherry,Octavus Roy Cohen,Mignon G. Eberhart,Ernest Haycox,Rufus King,Arthur Miller andJohn Steinbeck.[citation needed] Popular Library’s first 100 covers were all by the same artists,H. Lawrence Hoffman[1] and Sol Immerman. The cover art became more eye-catching and vivid with the addition of illustratorsRudolph Belarski,Earle K. Bergey and Rafael DeSoto.[1] John Erskine'sThe Private Life of Helen of Troy is an early Popular Library title with conspicuous cover art and blurb ("Her lust caused the Trojan War") which made it eagerly sought by collectors.
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