Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books, a major U.S. sf publishing company, was founded in 1952 by Ian and Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998.
From the start, Ballantine was one of the leading publishers of paperback sf, publishing both novels and short sf such as the respected Star Science Fiction series edited by Frederik Pohl. In the early ’60s, Ballantine published J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in paperback, a work which would sell tens of millions of copies. In 1969, Lin Carter launched the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which brought many rare fantasies back into print. During the mid-1970s, Ballantine published the first Star Trek books using writers such as Alan Dean Foster.
Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Del Rey Books[edit]
In 1977, Ballantine set up Del Rey Books as a science fiction and fantasy imprint under the editorship of Lester del Rey and his wife, Judy-Lynn Benjamin del Rey, to rival Donald A. Wollheim's launch of specialist science fiction publisher DAW Books.
It published much distinguished SF and fantasy, but is also responsible for unleashing a the flood of mediocre Tolkien Imitators on the field.
Today, Ballantine and Del Rey are known as Ballantine Del Rey.
Ballantine Adult Fantasy[edit]
The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of Ballantine with Lin Carter as editor.
Launched in 1969, the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature which were out of print or only found in back issues of pulp magazines. The series included works by authors such as James Branch Cabell, Lord Dunsany, Ernest Bramah, Hope Mirrlees, and William Morris.
The series lasted until 1974.
| Publisher | 1952— |
| This is a publisher page, referring to science fiction book and prozine publishers. |
