Fantasy Press was an American publishing house specialising in fantasy and science fiction titles. Established in 1946 by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach in Reading, Pennsylvania , it was most notable for publishing the works of authors such as Robert A. Heinlein and E. E. Smith . One of its more notable offerings was the Lensman series .
41-600: Among its books was Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing (1947), which was the first book about modern SF and contained essays by John W. Campbell, Jr. , Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt and others. Lloyd Arthur Eshbach ordered a copy of Skylark of Space from its publisher, the Buffalo Book Company, in 1945 or 1946. Like many of Buffalo's customers, Eshbach was frustrated by Buffalo's delays in publishing and lack of marketing, an area that Eschbach had some expertise in, from his job as
82-652: A copywriter for Glidden . He wrote to the Buffalo Book Company offering suggestions as to how they could better market their books. Thus started a correspondence between Eshbach and Tom Hadley, of Buffalo and later of the Hadley Publishing Company. Eshbach, who was working as an ad copywriter for the Glidden Company, did all of his work for Hadley as a gesture of good will with no payment. He withdrew when he saw that Hadley's ventures were going nowhere and customers were growing dissatisfied with
123-629: A favor to Martin Greenberg over at Gnome Press, Eshbach utilized his position as director of the Church Center Press in 1961 to assist in the production of two of the last Gnome Press titles, Invaders from the Infinite , by John W. Campbell, Jr ., and The Vortex Blaster , by Edward E. Smith - both titles which Eshbach had held the rights to but had transferred to Gnome. As part of his agreement with Greenberg, Eshbach also produced
164-709: A limited run (about one hundred copies of the Campbell book, and 300 of the Smith) of each title on better-quality book paper under the Fantasy Press logo, which have since become among the most sought-after titles in the Fantasy Press line. Eshbach had remaining in storage as much as 20,000 unbound sheets for nearly every one of his company's 46 titles (excluding Polaris Press). He sold small quantities of these to Martin Greenberg over at Gnome Press, which Greenberg cheaply bound and sold through his Pick-A-Book operation. But
205-714: A reader for Gnome Press in the 1950s, and also had two of her novels, Plague Ship and Sargasso of Space , published by the company under the pseudonym "Andrew North". Controversy surrounds the Gnome Press editions of Robert E. Howard's "Conan" stories. Though it placed the material in print for the first time since its original appearance in Weird Tales , the seven volumes it published also included one not written by Howard ( The Return of Conan ) and one of non-Conan Howard stories rewritten as Conan by L. Sprague de Camp ( Tales of Conan ). The works Gnome published in
246-440: A way of generating pre-publication capital for new titles, Eshbach hatched the idea of offering special signed editions to those who placed pre-publication orders for new books through the mail. These special editions contained a "limitation leaf" - a page bound or tipped in after the title page - stating that only so many copies of a given book were numbered and signed by the book's author, along with an inscription by or signature of
287-399: Is different from Wikidata Articles with Internet Archive links Gnome Press Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company active 1948 – 1962 and primarily known for fantasy and science fiction , many later regarded as classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan. Gnome was important in
328-496: The Hydra Club ; Kyle was also a Futurian . Greenberg had previously been a partner of specialty press New Collectors Group, which had published The Black Wheel . The address was Gnome Press, Inc., 80 E. 11th St. New York 3, N.Y. Kyle contributed less and less to the press as other business interests took up more of his time. Greenberg should not be confused with later SF anthologist Martin H. Greenberg , nor his company with
369-662: The Internet Archive Of Worlds Beyond title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Of_Worlds_Beyond&oldid=1227983155 " Categories : 1947 non-fiction books 1947 anthologies Essay anthologies Science fiction studies Books about writing Fantasy Press books Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
410-717: The Conan series are Conan the Conqueror (1950), The Sword of Conan (1952), The Coming of Conan (1953), King Conan (1953), Conan the Barbarian (1954), Tales of Conan (1955), and The Return of Conan (1957). The worst selling book in Gnome Press history was 1955's new novel Reprieve from Paradise by H. Chandler Elliott . Many of Gnome's titles were reprinted in England by Boardman Books . As Gnome Press started to publish new books, Greenberg and Kyle set up
451-487: The Fantasy Book Club), an early form of direct-mail sales that formed the basic idea for Doubleday's more successful Science Fiction Book Club. Most of the Gnome Press books were hardcover, but some few titles saw later paperback editions as Greenberg experimented, using his remaining stock of unbound sheets, with several titles bound in inexpensive paper covers as a test to see if such an effort could help to keep
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#1732797360136492-568: The Fantasy Book Club, a subscription service designed to sell Gnome publications and books from other publishers at a discount. They also produced calendars featuring the black and white fantasy art of Hannes Bok and Edd Cartier. In the waning years of the company (1955 – 1961), Gnome Press bought small quantities of unbound signatures from the defunct specialty publisher Fantasy Press and had them cheaply bound to be sold through its Pick-A-Book operation (a later, revised incarnation of
533-799: The Science Fiction Story", by A. E. van Vogt "Humor in Science Fiction", by L. Sprague de Camp "The Epic of Space", by E. E. Smith, Ph.D. "The Science of Science Fiction Writing", by John W. Campbell, Jr. References [ edit ] Chalker, Jack L. ; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 . Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. pp. 4, 235. Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy . Chicago: Advent . p. 160. ISBN 0-911682-20-1 . External links [ edit ] Of Worlds Beyond at
574-624: The Stars . The latter was followed by such other theme anthologies as Journey to Infinity , The Robot and the Man , Travellers of Space , All About the Future , and a book of articles about the future as seen from a science fictional point of view, Coming Attractions . The press also published many of Robert A. Heinlein's classics, and Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras . Andre Norton worked as
615-400: The author as a reward for ordering. Many fans that ordered multiple books from the same author found themselves receiving warm inscriptions as the writer came to know them by name. The normal press run for a Fantasy Press title was about 3,000 copies; in each edition anywhere from 250 to 500 copies would contain the limitation leaf. Today, these signed editions fetch two to four times (or more in
656-421: The books), Eshbach used the mailing list to start Fantasy Press. He approached E. E. Smith to obtain the rights to Spacehounds of IPC . Smith was enthusiastic and Spacehounds of IPC became the first title published by the new press. Eshbach had seen the success of Hadley's poorly produced ' Skylark of Space and knew that a well done volume of E.E. Smith would probably be a strong seller. Spacehounds of IPC
697-462: The books. Eshbach eventually bought out his partners and operated the press for several years on his own. Ultimately, Fantasy Press was under-capitalized and sales declined in the face of competition from the mainstream publishers. Eshbach wrote his authors and reverted the rights to their books while he took a job with a religious publishing house in Myerstown, Pennsylvania . Good titles were not
738-469: The bulk of these sheets were sold to Donald M. Grant , himself a publisher of mostly fantasy books, who bound quantities of each of them for sale. As the bindings used by both Grant and Greenberg were in most cases different from the originals, this practice created a bewildering number of "variants" that sometimes have collectors today shaking their heads. Grant was still finding unbound sheets in his warehouse twenty years later and binding them for sale, so it
779-422: The case of authors like Robert Heinlein) the value of an unsigned edition, and are highly sought after by collectors. And the practice of the limited/signed edition is a standard offering among specialty publishers today. Fantasy Press folded after 1955, a victim of the glut of science fiction books and magazines on the market by that time. What had been a relatively empty playing field in 1946 or 1947, when many of
820-779: The company afloat. But with his Pick-A-Book hardcover titles already going for as little as $ 1.00 per book, the experiment did not save enough money to be profitable and was dropped (and these few paperbound titles are among the scarcest of Gnome Press collectibles today). Gnome Press did not have much capital or access to distribution facilities, and relied on selling its books directly to fans by mail. According to Filmfax , Greenberg couldn't keep top science fiction and fantasy writers, who wanted more money and went over to bigger publishers like Doubleday . The larger publishers had more money, marketing and distribution outlets (the ability to sell wholesale to bookstores). Financial mismanagement also cut into Gnome's ability to retain authors. The company
861-402: The company, but after a few years, Eshbach began using popular science fiction magazine artists as well....Eshbach was an intelligent businessman and knew how to produce a book that would sell. His choices for publication were well thought out. In a brilliant stroke, he contracted for the entire Lensman series by E. E. Smith. Smith completely revised an early non-related novel, Triplanetary , into
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#1732797360136902-430: The era. In some cases, Gnome was the first to collect in book form narratives that were first published as separate stories, with Robert E. Howard 's Conan series (published in six books from 1950 – 1955) and Isaac Asimov 's Foundation series (published in three books from 1951 – 1953), The company was founded in 1948 by Martin Greenberg and David A. Kyle , New York science fiction fans and members of
943-413: The fall of the "big three" science fiction specialty houses - Fantasy Press, Gnome Press , and Shasta Publishers , although Gnome and Shasta managed to hang on for a few years more by sheer force of will. Eshbach knew when to call it quits before the house totally burned to the ground, and reverted rights for all of his books to his authors - as he had no money to pay them with - and formally retreated from
984-469: The fan publishers began operations, had become by the mid-1950s a free-for-all, as the mainstream book publishers, seeing the initial successes of the specialty houses, jumped into the fray full-force, bringing with them considerable capitalization and extensive distribution networks with which the fan publishers could scarcely compete. This period also saw the rise of inexpensive paperback publishing, with titles often becoming available in paperback at one-tenth
1025-410: The first edition Editor Lloyd Arthur Eshbach Cover artist A. J. Donnell Language English Subject Essays Publisher Fantasy Press Publication date 1947 Publication place United States Media type Print ( Hardback ) Pages 96 pp OCLC 573641 Of Worlds Beyond is a collection of essays about
1066-456: The imprint Greenberg: Publisher, a separate firm established in 1924 and producing some science fiction between 1950 and 1958. There was no association between the two publishers, despite a common assumption among some fans. Gnome Press concentrated on authors who were at the height of their popularity writing for Astounding Science Fiction , the American leading science fiction magazine of
1107-507: The imprint in order to publish books he felt did not quite fit under the Fantasy Press imprint. Ultimately, only two titles were ever issued under the Polaris Press imprint. Of Worlds Beyond Collection of essays on writing science fiction This article is about the 1947 book. For other uses, see World Beyond (disambiguation) . Of Worlds Beyond [REDACTED] Dust-jacket from
1148-444: The introductory novel of the series. He then wrote an entirely new novel, First Lensman , to tie the first novel in with the four adventures of Kimball Kinneson which had originally made up the rest of the series. The six Lensman books were among the best selling of all the Fantasy Press titles. Lloyd Eshbach established many features for his Fantasy Press that are accepted today as commonplace by collectors of specialty press books. As
1189-409: The only thing going for Eshbach. He knew how to produce an attractive book and did so. All of the Fantasy Press books featured attractive bindings and dustjackets. The paper was of good quality and the typeface was clear and readable. Eshbach believed in illustrated books and all of his publications featured interior illustrations. At first, most of the art was done by A.J. Donnell, one of the founders of
1230-402: The price of a hardcover, before the specialty house had time to sell out its own edition. Readers became wise to the fact that if they just waited for six months or a year before buying, they could get the book in paperback on the cheap. The collector's market by itself was simply not large enough at that time to support the specialty presses without general reader sales added in. This era heralded
1271-506: The publisher. While never an employee of Hadley, Eshbach helped him with his marketing efforts and as a result ended up with a copy of the mailing list of Hadley's customers. Eshbach jokingly suggested to several of his co-workers that they could probably do as well with a publishing company of their own, and to his surprise, the men agreed. With two of his co-workers from Glidden (A.J. Donnell as illustrator and Lyman H. Houck as bookkeeper) and one other friend of theirs (Herb MacGregor shipping
Fantasy Press - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-402: The rights to their books so they could go to other, more lucrative deals. Martin Greenberg continued to cut costs at Gnome Press, through smaller editions, cheaper paper, and various promotions to sell back inventory. He was ultimately forced to close due to financial troubles, and Gnome folded in 1962 due to a long drawn-out lawsuit, leaving Arkham House the only American viable small press in
1353-427: The science fiction and fantasy field. When Gnome Press went out of business, it was $ 100,000 in debt. Greenberg died in the fall of 2013, and Kyle in the fall of 2016. Gnome Press publications are collected, and many of the books in well used condition can be inexpensively obtained (as of 2015 Amazon.com was offering several in the $ 10–$ 20 range). Other items are expensive. The calendars are particularly scarce. Among
1394-532: The stage of fan publishing. In 1955, Fantasy Press bombed with Under the Triple Suns , a new novel by Stanton Coblentz . Never one to give in completely, Eshbach continued to experiment whenever his funding allowed. In 1956 he took 500 sets of the remaining unbound sheets for three of his titles and had them bound in paper covers as part of the Fantasy Press "Golden Science Fiction Library", which he then marketed (mostly at conventions) for $ 1.00 apiece. And, as
1435-548: The techniques of writing science fiction , edited by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach . It was first published in 1947 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 1,262 copies. It has been reprinted by Advent in 1964 and by Dobson in 1965. Contents [ edit ] Introduction, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction", by Robert A. Heinlein "Writing a Science Novel", by Dr. Eric Temple Bell "The Logic of Fantasy", by Jack Williamson "Complication in
1476-760: The time. Authors published by Gnome included Poul Anderson , Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, L. Sprague de Camp , Gordon R. Dickson , Robert A. Heinlein, C. L. Moore , Clifford D. Simak , and A. E. Van Vogt . Gnome's early books were well-printed and featured jacket work by Edd Cartier . Gnome editions featured illustrative material (cover art, illustrations, maps and designs) from science fiction artists such as Ric Binkley , Hannes Bok , Chesley Bonestell , Edd Cartier, Lionel Dillon , Frances E. Dunn , Ed Emshwiller , Frank Kelly Freas , James Gibson , Harry Harrison , Mel Hunter , David Kyle , Stan Mack , Murray Tinkelman , L. Robert Tschirky , Walter I. Van der Poel, Jr. , and Wallace Wood . Gnome Press's first book
1517-466: The transitional period between the genre's publication mainly in magazines up to the 1940s to mainly paperback books in the 1960s, but the company proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction. In its heyday, Gnome published many major American SF authors of
1558-479: Was The Carnelian Cube by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp, an original novel originally contracted by the New Collectors Group. It was the first to publish Isaac Asimov's I, Robot and Foundation Trilogy, brought Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories back from pulp obscurity, first published Arthur C. Clarke , and introduced science fiction's first themed anthology, Men Against
1599-413: Was extremely successful and sold several thousand copies. Eshbach immediately went out and got contracts for other books he thought would do well. Fantasy Press swiftly became the most successful and important of the fledgling science fiction small presses. Eshbach acquiring the stories, A.J. Donnell as illustrator, Lyman Houck (an accountant friend and fellow Mason) as bookkeeper, and Herb MacGregor shipping
1640-426: Was not unusual to see "brand new" copies of Fantasy Press books for sale into the mid and even late 1980s, as much as thirty years after the company had ceased operations. Eshbach also sold Grant a fair quantity of flat dust jackets for Fantasy Press books, some of which are still available on the collector's market today. Polaris Press was a subsidiary imprint of Fantasy Press that was created in 1952. Eschbach created
1681-543: Was notorious for not paying its writers royalties due, which is ultimately what led to its failure. Author Isaac Asimov claimed he was never paid for the publication of the Foundation books, and called Greenberg "an outright crook". In his biography, I. Asimov: A Memoir , Asimov provides a short chapter on his own frustrating interactions with Gnome Press, as well as some good detail on its publisher, Martin Greenberg. Asimov and other authors were able eventually to get back