DONALD A. WOLLHEIM

'Donald Allen Wollheim' (October 1, 1914 – November 2, 1990) was a science fiction writer, editor, publisher and fan. He published his own works under pseudonyms, including 'David Grinnell'.
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books, and in 1953 introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup. Ace was well known for the ''Ace Doubles'' series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel ''War of the Wing-Men'' and its definitive revised edition, ''The Man Who Counts''. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book ''Junk'' by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled ''Junkie''.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'' by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. ^[1] However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of ''The Hobbit'' in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of ''The Lord of the Rings'' and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. ^[2][3] In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.^[4]
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy ''How are the Mighty Fallen'' (1974) because of its homosexual content, Wollheim fought vigorously against their decision and they relented.
He also published a popular "Best of the Year" anthology that lasted from 1965 until his death in 1990 (although from 1965 to 1970, he co-edited it with Terry Carr. From 1971 to 1990, Wollheim co-edited it with Arthur W. Saha).

Contents

Selected bibliography

References

External links

Selected bibliography

★ Anthology series: ''The Annual World's Best SF'', 1965-1990

References

1. Locus: June 2006 - Betsy Wollheim Interview
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text Reynolds, Pat
3.
4. 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)

External links

★ DAW Books

★ Donald A. Wollheim on H. Rider Haggard and ''She'' (full text)

★

★ Obituary at ''Spacelight''

★ Bibliography at ''fantasticfiction.co.uk''

★ Bibliography at ''geometry.net''