Editing Donald A. Wollheim (section)

===Career as editor and publisher===
[[Robert Silverberg]] said that Wollheim was "one of the most significant figures in 20th century American science fiction publishing," adding, "A plausible case could be made that he was ''the'' most significant figure—responsible in large measure for the development of the science fiction paperback, the science fiction anthology, and the whole post-Tolkien boom in fantasy fiction."<ref name="Locus90"/>

In late 1940, Wollheim noticed a new magazine titled ''Stirring Detective and Western Stories'' on the newsstands. He wrote to the publishers, Albing Publications, to see if they were interested in adding a science fiction title to their list, and he was invited to meet them. They  did not have capital, however, and only guaranteed him a salary if the magazines were successful. He approached some of his fellow Futurians for free stories (some published under pseudonyms to protect their reputations with paying editors).<ref name="earlyyears166_169">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/earlyasimovorele00asim#page/166/mode/2up |title=The early Asimov; or, Eleven years of trying |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |publisher=Doubleday |year=1972 |location=Garden City NY |pages=166–169}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = The Futurians|last = Knight|first = Damon|publisher = John Day|year = 1977|location = New York|pages=60–83}}</ref> It resulted in Wollheim's editing two of the earliest periodicals devoted to science fiction, the ''[[Cosmic Stories]]'' and ''[[Stirring Science Stories]]'' magazines starting in February 1941. After the magazines were cancelled later in 1941, Wollheim was able to find another publisher, Manhattan Fiction Publications, and a fourth issue of ''Stirring'' appeared, dated March 1942.  Wartime constraints prevented ongoing publication, and there were no more issues of either title.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines|publisher = Greenwood Press|year = 1985a|isbn = 0-313-21221-X|location = Westport, Connecticut|pages = 168–170|editor-last = Tymn|editor-first = Marshall B.|editor2-last = Ashley|editor2-first = Mike|chapter = ''Cosmic Stories''|last = Thompson|first = Raymond H.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines|publisher = Greenwood Press|year = 1985b|isbn = 0-313-21221-X|location = Westport, CN|pages = 679–681|editor-last = Tymn|editor-first = Marshall B.|editor2-last = Ashley|editor2-first = Mike|chapter = ''Stirring Science Stories''|last = Thompson|first = Raymond H.}}</ref><ref>''The New York Times'', November 3, 1990, Section 1, p. 18.</ref>

Wollheim edited the first science fiction anthology to be mass-marketed, ''The Pocket Book of Science Fiction'' (1943).<ref name="Locus90"/> It was also the first book containing the words "science fiction" in the title.<ref name="betsy"/> It included works by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Theodore Sturgeon]], [[Thomas Sigismund Stribling|T. S. Stribling]], [[Stephen Vincent Benét]], [[Ambrose Bierce]], and [[H. G. Wells]]. In 1945 Wollheim edited the first hardcover anthology from a major publisher and the first omnibus, ''The Viking Portable Novels of Science''. He also edited the first anthology of original science fiction, ''The Girl With the Hungry Eyes'' (1947), although there is evidence that this last was originally intended to be the first issue of a new magazine.<ref name="Locus90"/>

[[Image:acexx06.jpg|left|thumb|Ace Double, ''The Brain Stealers/Atta'' (1954).]]
[[Image:Avon Fantasy Reader 10.djvu|right|thumb|''Avon Fantasy Reader'' No. 10, edited by Wollheim.]]
Between 1947 and 1951 he was editor at the pioneering paperback publisher [[Avon (publishers)|Avon Books]], where he made available highly affordable editions of the works of [[A. Merritt]], [[H. P. Lovecraft]], and [[C. S. Lewis]]' ''Silent Planet'' space trilogy, bringing these previously little known authors a wide readership.<ref name="silver">{{cite book|last=Silverberg|first=Robert|title=Reflections & Refractions: Thoughts on Science Fiction, Science, and Other Matters|publisher=Underwood|year=1997|location=Grass Valley, Calif|pages=253–256}}</ref> During this period he also edited eighteen issues of the influential ''[[Avon Fantasy Reader]]'' as well as three of the ''[[Avon Science Fiction Reader]]''. These periodicals contained mostly reprints and a few original stories.

In 1952 Wollheim left Avon to work for [[A. A. Wyn]] at the Ace Magazine Company and spearheaded a new paperback book list, [[Ace Books]]. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup,<ref name="smith"/> and for 20 years as editor-in-chief was responsible for their multi-genre list and, most important to him, their renowned sf list.<ref name="ency"/> Wollheim invented the ''[[Ace Double]]s'' series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers.<ref name="silver"/> Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page length, one or both were usually abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made other editorial alterations—as witness the differences between [[Poul Anderson]]'s Ace novel ''War of the Wing-Men'' and its definitive revised edition, ''The Man Who Counts''. Among the authors who made their paperback debuts in Ace Doubles were [[Philip K. Dick]], [[Samuel R. Delany]], [[Leigh Brackett]], [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], and [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]].<ref name="silver"/> [[William S. Burroughs]]' first book, ''[[Junkie (novel)|Junkie]]'', was published as an Ace Double.<ref name="silver"/> Wollheim also helped develop [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]], [[Robert Silverberg]], [[Avram Davidson]], [[Fritz Leiber]], [[Andre Norton]], [[Thomas Burnett Swann]], [[Jack Vance]], and [[Roger Zelazny]], among others. While at Ace, he and co-editor [[Terry Carr]] began an annual anthology series, ''The World's Best Science Fiction'', the first collection of what they considered the best of the prior year's short stories, from magazines, hardcovers, paperback collections and other anthologies.<ref name="Locus90"/>

In the early 1960s Ace reintroduced Edgar Rice Burroughs' work, which had long been out of print, and in 1965, Ace bought the paperback rights to ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]''<ref name="Locus90"/> (Herbert's title worried Wollheim, who feared it would be mistaken for a western).<ref name="betsy"/> Eventually, Ace introduced single paperback books and became one of the preeminent genre publishers. Ace and Ballantine dominated sf in the 1960s and built the genre by publishing original material as well as reprints.<ref name="Locus90"/>

====Tolkien controversy====
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:3 Ace Tolkien.jpeg|thumb|The [[Ace Books]] editions of ''The Lord of the Rings'', with cover artwork by [[Jack Gaughan]], who had produced many science fiction book covers for Wollheim.]]  -->
Prior to the 1960s, no large American paperback publisher would publish fantasy. It was believed that there was no public demand for it and that it would not sell. Wollheim published an unauthorized paperback edition of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' in three volumes. It was the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic.<ref name="silver"/> Wollheim did not consider himself a fantasy fan. In a 2006 interview his daughter, Betsy Wollheim, said:<ref name=wollheim200606>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Issues/06Wollheim.html|title=Locus Online: Betsy Wollheim interview excerpts|magazine=Locus |date=June 2006 | access-date=December 6, 2017}}</ref>

{{blockquote|When he called up Professor Tolkien in 1964 and asked if he could publish ''Lord of the Rings'' as Ace paperbacks, Tolkien said he would ''never'' allow his great works to appear in so 'degenerate a form' as the paperback book. Don was one of the fathers of the entire paperback industry, since before he spearheaded the Ace line he was the originating editor-in-chief of the Avon paperback list in 1945, so he took this personally. He was very offended. He did a little research and discovered a loophole in the copyright. Houghton Mifflin, Tolkien's American hardcover publisher, had neglected to protect the work in the United States. So, incensed by Tolkien's response, he realized that he could legally publish them and did.

This brash action (which ultimately benefited his primary competitors) was really the Big Bang that founded the modern fantasy field, and only someone like my father could have done that. He ''did'' pay Tolkien, and he was responsible for making not only Tolkien but [[Ballantine Books]] extremely wealthy. He was bitter about that, and frankly that's probably why he never got the [[Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor|Hugo]] he wanted. But if he hadn't done it, who knows when — or if  — those books would have been published in paperback?}}

This account was disputed by Tolkien, who claimed that he never received any communication from Ace prior to publication of their version.<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#276 }}</ref> In any case, Tolkien had previously authorized paperback editions of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[Tree and Leaf]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The First Paperback Edition of The Hobbit|url=http://www.tolkiencollector.com/hobbhist.htm |access-date=April 27, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#248 }}</ref> The authorized Ballantine paperback edition of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' was then published in November, 1965. Ace subsequently agreed to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a [[grassroots]] campaign by Tolkien's U.S. fans.<ref>{{cite web |author=Reynolds, Pat |year=2004 |title=The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text |url=http://www.tolkiensociety.com/tolkien/tale.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908022929/http://www.tolkiensociety.com/tolkien/tale.html |archive-date=September 8, 2006  }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=especially #270, #273 and #277 }}</ref> A 1993 court determined that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was invalid and its paperback edition was found to have been a violation of copyright under [[Copyright law of the United States|U.S. law]]<ref>Eisen, Durwood & Co. v. Christopher R. Tolkien et al., 794 F. Supp. 85, 23 U.S.P.Q.2d 1150 (S.D.N.Y. 1992), affirmed without opinion, 990 F.2d 623 (2nd Cir. 1993)</ref> (at this time, the U.S. had yet to join the [[International Copyright Convention]], and most laws on the books existed to protect domestic creations from foreign infringement. [[Houghton Mifflin]] was technically in violation of the law when they exceeded their import limits and failed to renew their interim copyright). In the ''Locus'' obituary for Donald Wollheim, however, more details emerge:

{{blockquote|Houghton-Mifflin had imported sheets instead of printing their own edition, but they didn't want to sell paperback rights. Ace printed the first paperback edition and caused such a furor that Tolkien rewrote the books enough to get a new copyright, then sold them to Ballantine. The rest is history. Although Ace and Wollheim have become the villains in the Tolkien publishing gospel, it's probable that the whole Tolkien boom would not have happened if Ace hadn't published them.<ref name="Locus90"/>}}