Board of Directors for the Council on Books in Wartime

The Board of Directors of the Council on Books in Wartime included some of the most important American publishers of the decade. The long list of various publishers and booksellers illustrates just how much the industry was committed to doing their bit for the war effort. Many of these names and companies are still familiar today.

1943 Board Members 

William Warder Norton (Chairman of the Board), founder of W. W. Norton & Company
John Farrar (Vice-Chairman), co-founder of Farrar & Rinehart (after WWII he co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
F. S. Crofts (Treasurer), F. S. Crofts & Co.
Malcolm Johnson, Doubleday, Doran & Co.
Nicholas Wreden, The Scribner Book Store
Pat Beaird, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press
David S. Beasley, The University Press
Clarence B. Boutell, G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Martin M. Foss, McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Donald P. Geddes, Columbia University Press 
Franklin F. Hopper, New York Public Library
Howard C. Lewis, Dodd, Mead & Co.
Alfred R. McIntyre, Little, Brown, and Company
F. L. Reed, Grosset & Dunlap
S. Spencer Scott (became Treasurer in October 1943), Harcourt, Brace & Co.
Richard L. Simon, co-founder of Simon & Schuster
Meredith Wood, The Book-of-the-Month Club (a man, despite the name)
Stanley P. Hunnewell, Book Publishers Bureau
Robert M. Coles, American Booksellers Association
Janet Lumb, executive secretary
  

1944 Board Members

William Warder Norton (Chairman), founder of W. W. Norton & Company
Richard L. Simon (Vice-Chairman), co-founder of Simon & Schuster 
S. Spencer Scott (Treasurer), Harcourt, Brace & Co.
Pat Beaird, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press
Marshall A. Best, The Viking Press
A. J. Blanton, The Macmillan Co.
Bennet A. Cerf, co-founder of Random House
Robert F. De Graff, Pocket Books
C. Halliwell Duell, Duell, Sloan & Pearce
Benedict Freud, Gimbel Brothers Bookstore
George A. Hecht, Doubleday, Doran Book Shops
Curtice N. Hitchcock, Reynald & Hitchcock
Franklin F. Hopper, New York Public Library
Henry Hoyns, Harper & Brothers
Malcolm Johnson, Doubleday, Doran & Co.
Josephine Kimball, Young Books (one of only two woman on the board)
Joseph W. Lippincott, J. B. Lippincott Co.
Elliot B Macrae, E. P. Dutton & Co.
Alfred R. McIntyre, Little, Brown, and Company
Stanley M. Rinehart, Farrar & Rinehart
William Sloane, Henry Holt & Co.
Datus C. Smith, Jr, Princeton University Press
James S. Thompson, Whittlesey House
Richard J. Walsh, The John Day Co.
Meredith Wood, The Book-of-the-Month Club (a man, despite the name)
Mrs. Robert M. Coles, The American Booksellers Association (one of only two woman on the board)
Carl H. Milam, American Library Association

1945 Board Members

William Warder Norton (Chairman), founder of W. W. Norton & Company
Richard L. Simon (Vice-Chairman), co-founder of Simon & Schuster
S. Spencer Scott (Treasurer), Harcourt, Brace & Co.
Marshall A. Best, The Viking Press
Marion Beacon, Vassar Book Shop
Pat Beaird, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press
A. J. Blanton, The Macmillan Co.
Robert F. De Graff, Pocket Books
C. Halliwell Duell, Duell, Sloan & Pearce
George A. Hecht, Doubleday, Doran Book Shops
Franklin F. Hopper, New York Public Library
Malcolm Johnson, Doubleday, Doran & Co.
Hugh Kelly, Whittlesey House
Alfred A. Knopf, founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Henry Laughlin, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Joseph W. Lippincott, J. B. Lippincott Co.
Frank S. MacGregor, Harper & Brothers
Elliot B Macrae, E. P. Dutton & Co.
Joseph A. Margolies, Brentano’s
Alfred R. McIntyre, Little, Brown, and Company
Charles G. Proffitt, Columbia University Press
Stanley M. Rinehart, Farrar & Rinehart
William Sloane, Henry Holt & Co.
Richard J. Walsh, The John Day Co.
Meredith Wood, The Book-of-the-Month Club
Mrs. Robert M. Coles, The American Booksellers Association
Carl H. Milham, American Library Association

Anatomy of an Armed Services Edition book

Reprinted editions of books popular in the civilian market, The Armed Services Editions were donated to GIs fighting overseas in World War II. The design of these books was driven by a need for minimal size and minimal cost.

The ASEs were sent overseas in supply ships that carried essential military supplies. Small books meant more copies could fit into a shipment, more paper could be used for the military’s massive record keeping, and a soldier could more easily carry one on his person. The US government paid for all publication costs. As a contribution to the war effort printers reduced their fees, while authors and their publishers agreed to forgo royalties. But with millions of books to be published, the government wanted the most economical printing solution.

An example of two ASE books before trimming. From collector Brian Anderson.

Trim Size:

The Army’s graphic arts specialist in the Special Services Division, H. Stahley Thompson, proposed printing books in pairs on magazine/catalog size paper, binding, then trimming them apart horizontally. Many mail order catalogs were discontinued during the war years, so this left the equipment open to use. These roll-fed letterpress rotary presses were ideal for the ASE’s large print runs (50,000 per title).

Presses used to publish magazines like Reader’s Digest (5½ x 7¾ inches) could produce two books, each 5½ x 3⅞ inches. This was the size used for ASE books up to 320 pages. Books up to 512 pages were 6½ x 4½, which was half of a larger magazine or catalog.

5½ x 3⅞ inch ASE book from my collection.

Cover Design:

Illustrator/designer Sol Immerman was hired to create the covers of the Armed Services Editions. Sol ran a book design studio in Manhattan, and he was part-time art director at Pocket Books. His ASE book covers are interesting in that they were treated more like advertisements than actual book cover designs. The paperback cover depicted a photo of the hardcover’s jacket design with its title type treatment repeated to the side. The jacket photos were black and white, while the paperbacks’ background colors varied throughout the series. Sol earned $10 for each cover he designed. Unfortunately, I don’t know what his usual rate was.

Cover of an Overseas Edition.

Although I have not seen documentation explaining the ASE’s approach to cover design, I can use my own experience as a book cover designer offer some educated guesses. Following a simple template, these covers would be much faster to produce than a new cover. The purpose of a unique cover design is to attract the book buyer, but in this case there were no buyers. The Council on Books in Wartime, which published these free paperbacks, could easily have gone with a minimal two-color text-only cover as they did with their Overseas Editions. This approach would have saved even more time and money, but it would not be attractive to the intended readers: young GIs, many of whom were teens fresh out of high school. I’m guessing that it was Immerman who suggested that the printing budget be large enough to accommodate colorful covers.

American book publishers donated their titles to The Armed Service Editions (the publisher received only half a cent for each book printed). While, this contribution was in support of the war effort, I am sure that publishers saw these free books as promotion to future book buyers. If a GI enjoyed reading an ASE book, The Call of the Wild for instance, then it was hoped that he would buy the hardcover when he returned home. The fact that ASE book covers looked so similar to advertisements is probably no accident.

Typical Armed Services Edition back cover.

Interior Design:

Title page to The Armed Services Edition of The Call of the Wild.

The main thing to note about the interior design of the Armed Services Editions is that the text was not set in a single column as with a typical hardcover of the time. Composing the text in two columns was useful because it allowed more text to fit on each page (which means less pages and less paper needed). The text appears to be 10 point Caslon with 11 point leading. Comparing to some 1940s hardcover books I own, the ASE text is one or two points smaller.

Sample page from The Armed Services Edition of The Call of the Wild. 

Further reading:

Check out this website for a whole bunch of scans of ASE covers.

Schreuders, Piet. The Book of Paperbacks: A Visual History of the Paperback Book. Virgin Books, 1981. This book includes a bio of Sol Immerman, and a description of WWII era paperback book publishers.

The Armed Services Editions of WWII

Armed Services Edition of The Postman Always Rings Twice. From my collection.

Thanks to donations by the American public, the Victory Book Campaign of 1942 and 1943 was able to distribute 10 million book to the troops. Unfortunately, this was a very inefficient program: Over 8 of the total 18.5 million books collected had to be discarded because of poor physical quality or undesirable subject matter. The books that were acceptable were bulky hardcovers which took up valuable cargo space aboard supply ships.

American publishers at this time had yet to embrace the more utilitarian paperback. The Army purchased 3 million paperbacks directly from publishers in 1941, 1942, and 1943, but few titles were available in that format. Bestsellers and new books were only released as hardcovers.

The chief of the US Army Library Section, First Lieutenant Ray Trautman, proposed a solution. In January of 1943 Trautman and the chief Navy librarian Isabel DuBois approached the Council on Books in Wartime with a concept for a cooperative publishing project. The enthusiastic CBW, an association of the US publishing industry, sprang into action. Their project called for the publication of current and popular books as lightweight paperbacks paid for by the US government and distributed exclusively to American troops overseas. These were the Armed Services Editions.

“...more popular than pin-up girls.”

—NYT Book Review on the Armed Services Editions

Management:
Editions for the Armed Services, Inc. was managed by CBW member Philip Van Doren Stern. Stern had been executive editor of Pocket Books (a publisher of paperbacks). As manager Stern had to coordinate the committees of the CBW, representatives of the Army and Navy, publishers, printers, and paper suppliers. In December of 1945 Stern resigned and was replaced by Stahley Thompson who had been working with the Army’s Yank magazine.

Selection process:
The military wanted recreational reading that would suit a range of tastes. As a result ASE titles were a mix of fine literature and popular fiction. The preference was for current books. Unfortunately, the war years saw a decrease in new writing, so older books from the 1930s and classics were also published. An effort was made to keep the books unabridged, and the writing was not censored. All books entered into the ASE program had to be approved by the CBW committee and representatives from both branches of the military.

Production:
To keep costs to a minimum publishers and authors agreed to each receive a royalty of only a half cent per copy. Five printing companies offered rates at half of their usual profit. H. Stahley Thompson, the graphic arts specialist in the Special Services Division (responsible for  entertainment in the Army), had the idea to use magazine printing presses to produce books inexpensively. The books were printed two-up and cut in half, resulting in thin pocket-sized books bound on the short side. The text was printed in a small point size and in two columns per page to lower the pagecount and save on paper.

Distribution:
One of the requirements set by publishers was that ASEs be distributed only outside the US. There was a fear that after the war the military would dump their stock of books, which would disrupt the civilian market. The ASEs were most easily found behind the front lines where troops had the most spare time and access to supplies, but books also made their way to combat troops in action. The largest single distribution was in the run-up to D-Day. Each soldier waiting in the marshaling areas in England was given a single ASE to read while waiting to board the invasion fleet. After their departure the crews cleaning the camps found very few books left behind.

Reception:
On the whole GIs were happy to have the reading material. Boredom was a key problem in military life, which ASEs helped alleviate. The New York Times Book Review called the Armed Services Editions “more popular than pin-up girls.” A private from Brooklyn who was to be part of the Normandy invasion was interviewed by a New Yorker correspondent: “These little books are a great thing. They take you away... This one I am reading now is called Candide [by Voltaire]. It is kind of unusual, but I like it.” Millions of American sailors and soldiers were exposed to books that they would not ordinarily have read. An Army officer in England wrote to the CBW, “you can find boys reading as they never read before. Some toughies in my company have admitted without shame that they were reading their first book since they were in grammar school.”

Postwar:
By the Autumn of 1946 the Armed Services Editions included 1,180 titles. Over 123 million copies were sent overseas at a cost of just over $7 million. The US War Department bestowed an award to the Council on Books in Wartime, “in appreciation of the patriotic services of Editions for the Armed Services, Inc.” It was the publishers’ view that GIs returned home with a new thirst for reading and contributed to the postwar boost in book sales. The great success of the program helped encourage book publishers to push forward with the “paperback revolution” in America. While the ASEs were meant to be disposable, many have survived to this day and are valued by collectors (check out eBay).

FURTHER READING

Books:
Cole, John Y. Books in Action: The Armed Services Editions. The Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 1984.

A History of the Council on Books in Wartime, 1942–1946. New York, 1946.

Jamieson, John. Books for the Army: The Army Library Service in the Second World War. Columbia University Press, 1950.

Websites:
www.ArmedServicesEditions.com This website was built by a collector of ASEs, Russ Meekins.

Books Go To War This website was built by The University of Virginia, which held an exhibition of ASEs back in 1996.

Books in Action The Library of Congress put up the full text of this book on their website.

Alanson B. Hewes: Book Illustrator and WWII GI

Council on Books in Wartime logo scanned from the copyright page of the book Report from Red China (1945).

The Council on Books in Wartime had a very charming logo (it reminds me of that 1943 Warner Brothers cartoon where Daffy Duck dive-bombs a villainous vulture). One use for the council’s book-toting eagle was on the title pages of books printed during the war. I haven't seen where else it might have been used, but I imagine it was printed on letterhead, business cards, etc. The words, “Books are weapons in the war of ideas” were developed by W. W. Norton (founder of the book publisher). There’s a story surrounding this slogan that deserves its own future post.

The official history of the CBW conveniently named the artist behind the design: “The Information Committee secured the services, gratis, of Alanson Hewes, who designed the Council’s colophon.” I wanted to learn more about Alanson’s career, so I started a Google search. Unfortunately, the only things that turned up were five books that he had illustrated: The Yankee Cook Book, published by Coward-McCann (1939); The Martha Washington Cook Book, published by James Direct, Inc. (1940); Songs of American Folks, published by The John Day Company* (1942); The Lady and the Painter, published by Coward-McCann (1951); and McKay's Guide to Africa, published by David McKay (1954).

Alanson Hewes’ illustration for the Poultry and Game chapter in The New England Yankee Cookbook (1940).

You might notice that there was a nine-year gap between the third and fourth books. I discovered that this was partly because he was drafted into the Army in December 1943. I found Alanson’s enlistment record on the National Archives site. I know for sure that it’s him, because his civilian job was listed as “Artists, sculptors, and teachers of art”. We also see that he was a resident of New York, NY (which makes sense since he worked in publishing). Many of the National Archives’ personnel records for WWII were lost during a 1973 warehouse fire, so we’re not likely to find out where he served during the war. Hewes was 38 years old when he was drafted (an old man by Army standards), so I doubt that he was put in front-line combat.

I was hoping to find a period article or even an obituary that would offer more of a biography, but the enlistment record and his book illustrations will have to do.

Alanson Hewes’ illustration for the Cider Champagne recipe in The New England Yankee Cookbook (1940).

Cover illustration from Songs of American Folks (1942).

Cover illustration from Songs of American Folks (1942).

*The founder of The John Day Company was Richard J. Walsh, Pearl S. Buck’s husband.

1943 Book List Poster Design and Notes

Note from the advertising company.

After writing my post about the Council on Books in Wartime I wanted to learn who designed their eagle logo. I contacted the library at Princeton University (where the CBW’s records are held), but they couldn't find a reference to the designer. What the researcher did find was an advertising firm’s poster design comp with a note.:

5/25/43

Jimi,

Here is a very rough idea of what the Recommend Books poster should look like. The size would be 14" x 22" which is well within the size for library use recommended by S. John On a machine weight card board, for 750 posters it would cost in one color $120, for 2 colors $136 (maybe a trifle more) to which you should allow a little extra for art work—maybe $25 or $50 (on which will depend how good an artist we can get to do the picture at the top. Incidentally we’d be able to keep the same art over for subsequent posters & then[?] save money. hope you agree to do this!

Frank

Rough poster design submitted to the CBW for approval.

Posters such as this one appeared in bookstores and libraries across the country. According to the CBW's official history, the aim of the reading lists was “to present to the public the best and most interesting titles which would help Americans understand the war.” Early in the war the CBW announced their reading lists by simply mailing mimeographed letters. In 1943 the R.R. Bowker Company offered to print and distributed them at no cost. The CBW later commissioned more eye-catching poster designs (such as this one) to better promote the listed books.

There were several different committees within the CBW that issued reading lists. Their suggested books included nonfiction books about the Allied and Axis countries, the armed services, and novels dealing with events in the war. Each month the Library Committee created a list that included any pertinent books in print. There was a Children’s Book Committee suggesting war books to kids. Every two months the Recommended War Books Committee selected newly-published books and mailed out posters such as the one above. It was distributed to about three hundred libraries and bookstores.

When a book was published that the committee felt was especially useful it received the distinction of “Imperative Book”. On this poster we see Wendell Willkie’s One World, published by Simon and Schuster. This program was thought up by advertising executive Franklin Spier, the same man who wrote the note above. Spier was the chairman of the  CBW's Promotion Committee. His firm (known more recently as Spier New York) specialized in book publishing promotion. Appearing on a CBW reading list as an Imperative Book was an honor (there were only six chosen during the war), and it was a sure way to boost sales. The first was They Were Expendable, by W. L. White. The publisher, Harcourt Brace and Company (now Harcourt Trade), wisely donated the money to print the posters. I would not be surprised to learn that Simon and Schuster paid to have this poster produced.

The Council on Books in Wartime, 1941–46

The Council on Books in Wartime logo designed by Alanson Hewes.

The attack on Pearl Harbor sparked great call to action by Americans. Patriotic young men volunteered for military service, while nearly everyone else looked for ways to offer their time and resources in support of the war effort. In early 1942 book publishing executives were meeting to figure out how they could contribute on an industry level. The Nazi party's infamous burning of books rallied American bookmen to the defense of free expression. Our nation's book publishers, libraries, and book sellers came together to form the Council on Books in Wartime.

The aim of the CBW was to promote the reading of books as a way to increase morale, share information, and encourage critical thinking among Americans. The happy side-benefit to the publishing industry was more book sales. Early in the war the CBW held public lectures and hosted radio dramatizations of books, but its most influential programs were the nonprofit publication of millions of paperbacks. First published in 1943, the Armed Services Editions were miniature format paperbacks of best-sellers which were freely distributed to American troops. These boosted the morale of homesick soldiers and fostered their post-war habit of book reading. First published in 1944, the Overseas Editions were translations of American authors which were given to the newly-liberated people in Europe and Asia. These were the first books available to a public which had suffered under totalitarian censorship.

The directors of the CBW included some of the most important American publishers of the decade. The men most recognizable today would be:
John Farrar, co-founder of Farrar & Rinehart (after WWII he founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Donald S. Klopfer, co-founder of Random House
Alfred A. Knopf, founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Frederic G. Melcher, editor of Publishers Weekly (he helped found the children's book awards: Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal)
William Warder Norton, founder of W. W. Norton & Company
Richard L. Simon, co-founder of Simon & Schuster

The war ended, and American servicemen began returning from overseas. With its job done, the council ceased operations on January 31, 1946. Records of it operations were donated to the Princeton University Library for posterity.

P.S. The Council on Books in Wartime enjoyed unprecedented cooperation among publishing competitors. From its beginning, the CBW's efforts worked with the coordination and support of the US government's Office of War Information. It's interesting to contrast this positive wartime relationship with a very recent example of publishers attempting to band together: To defend against Amazon.com's industry-damaging practices, five major publishing houses each worked out a deal with Apple to sell their eBooks at their preferred prices. This time the US government did not look kindly on the publishers' cooperation. Claiming antitrust laws had been violated, the Department of Justice brought suit against Apple, Penguin, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster in the spring of 2012. To avoid legal costs each publisher settled out-of-court, paying a hefty fine.