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.
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.
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]
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 publishededit
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 Classicsedit
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]
Authorsedit
Authors originally published exclusively or significantly by Bantam include:
^Cader, Michael (2010-04-13). "Ballantine and Bantam Dell Come Together Under McGuire". Publishers Lunch. 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
^. randomhousebooks.com. 2015-02-28. Archived from the original on 2015-02-28. Retrieved 2023-11-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^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 ...
^"Curtis Sells Stake in 3 Book Concerns". The New York Times. 1964-02-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
^"Grosset & Dunlap, Publisher, Acquired by National General". The New York Times. 1968-03-15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
^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.
^"Italians Buy Bantam". The New York Times. 1974-11-29. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
^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.
^"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.
^Brooke, James (1985-07-02). "LISTENED TO ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
^Tagliabue, John (1984-07-23). "German Publisher Widens U.s. Role". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
^Andrews, Edmund L. (March 29, 1998). "The World: Bertelsmann Swallows Random House; American Pop Culture, Foreign-Owned". The New York Times. 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
^Random House Company History, from Fundinguniverse.com 4 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
^Carvajal, Doreen (1999-05-28). "Bertelsmann Is Reorganizing Random House". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. 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
^"Massive Reorganization at Random House: Steve Rubin, Irwyn Applebaum Step Down; Doubleday and Bantam Divisions Dismantled". Observer. 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
^"Ballantine and Bantam Dell Come Together Under McGuire". Publishers Lunch. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
^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.
^Lodge, Sally (Jan 18, 2007). . Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
^Aljean Harmetz (August 25, 1981). "Choose Your Own Adventure and Make Your Own Ending". The New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
^"Lewiston Morning Tribune - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
^Melville, Herman (1981). Walcutt, Charles Child (ed.). Moby-Dick (Bantam Classics ed.). Bantam. pp. viii–xii, 549–593. ISBN0553213113.
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For the U K publishing house see Bantam Press 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 amp 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 Bantam BooksParent companyRandom HouseFounded1945 79 years ago 1945 FounderWalter B Pitkin Jr Sidney B KramerIan BallantineBetty BallantineCountry of originUnited StatesHeadquarters locationNew York City New York U S ImprintsSpectraSkylarkOfficial websitewww wbr randomhousebooks wbr com wbr imprint wbr bantam books wbr 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 Contents 1 History 2 Books published 2 1 Bantam Classics 3 Authors 4 Books originally published by Bantam 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory editThe 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 In 1964 Grosset amp Dunlap acquired full ownership of Bantam from Curtis 4 In 1968 Grosset amp 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 amp 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 editBantam 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 amp Space imprint and editions of Shakespeare Bantam Classics edit 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 editAuthors originally published exclusively or significantly by Bantam include Maya Angelou Isaac Asimov Jean Auel Louis L Amour Ray Bradbury Ernest Callenbach Alan Campbell Philip K Dick S S Van Dine James Dobson Stephen R Donaldson Ian Fleming Frederick Forsyth Lisa Gardner Richard Dawkins David Gemmell Elizabeth George William Gibson John Glenn Daniel Goleman Graham Greene John Grisham Laurell K Hamilton Thomas Harris Stephen Hawking Mo Hayder Hermann Hesse Tracy Hickman Tami Hoag Robin Hobb Kay Hooper Iris Johansen Shmuel Katz Dean Koontz Emilie Loring Lois Lowry Robert Ludlum Duncan Lunan William March Shirley MacLaine George R R Martin Malachi Martin Anne McCaffrey Andy McDermott Terence McKenna Farley Mowat Joseph Murphy Michael Palmer Robert M Pirsig Daniel Quinn Tom Robbins Jane Roberts Alan Rodgers J D Salinger Alice Schroeder H Norman Schwarzkopf Jerry Seinfeld Adam Smith Lori Nelson Spielman John Steinbeck Danielle Steel Neal Stephenson Bruce Sterling Rex Stout William Tenn Margaret Weis Elie Wiesel Victor VillasenorBooks originally published by Bantam editOccult America Mitch Horowitz The Female Man Joanna Russ Spock Must Die James Blish Ishmael Daniel Quinn The Gap Cycle Stephen R Donaldson The Saddle Club series Time Machine series Out on a Limb Shirley MacLaine Blackmark Skinny Legs and All Jitterbug Perfume Still Life with Woodpecker The Further Adventures of The Joker Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji Interstellar Pig Talking Straight A Brief History of Time Flags of Our Fathers The Wolf of Wall Street Halloween by Curtis Richards pseudonym used by author Dennis Etchison Hannah s Gift Lessons from a Life Fully LivedSee also edit nbsp Novels portalRafael Palacios early book jacket artist at BantamReferences edit 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 Our Imprints randomhousebooks com 2015 02 28 Archived from the original on 2015 02 28 Retrieved 2023 11 07 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link 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 Curtis Sells Stake in 3 Book Concerns The New York Times 1964 02 13 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2019 01 20 Grosset amp Dunlap Publisher Acquired by National General The New York Times 1968 03 15 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2019 01 20 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 Italians Buy Bantam The New York Times 1974 11 29 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2019 01 20 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 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 Brooke James 1985 07 02 LISTENED TO ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2023 02 21 Tagliabue John 1984 07 23 German Publisher Widens U s Role The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2019 01 20 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 Random House Company History from Fundinguniverse com Archived 4 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 13 2008 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 Massive Reorganization at Random House Steve Rubin Irwyn Applebaum Step Down Doubleday and Bantam Divisions Dismantled Observer 2008 12 03 Retrieved 2019 10 14 Ballantine and Bantam Dell Come Together Under McGuire Publishers Lunch 2010 04 13 Retrieved 2019 01 20 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 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 Aljean Harmetz August 25 1981 Choose Your Own Adventure and Make Your Own Ending The New York Times Retrieved September 12 2022 Lewiston Morning Tribune Google News Archive Search News google com Retrieved 28 December 2018 Melville Herman 1981 Walcutt Charles Child ed Moby Dick Bantam Classics ed Bantam pp viii xii 549 593 ISBN 0553213113 External links editOfficial websiteBantam Books at Memory Alpha Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bantam Books amp oldid 1191936033, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
