Armed Services Editions Second World War book collection, 1943 September - 2003, bulk 1943 September - 1947 June

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Summary

Abstract:

This collection contains 1099 books from the Armed Services Editions books (ASEs) edited and printed by the Council on Books in Wartime during and after the Second World War from 1943 to 1947. The collection includes some duplicates.

Extent:

46 Linear Feet (uncontainered)

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

If citing an item as part of the collection, or the contextual Armed Services Editions language contained in a single item in the collection:

[Series number / Title / Author], Armed Services Editions Second World War book collection (2013.001.w.r), Center for American War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA.

If citing the content of a specific book, follow the appropriate citation style guide for citing book and author.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains 1099 books from the Armed Services Editions books (ASEs) edited and printed by the Council on Books in Wartime during and after the Second World War from 1943 to 1947.

Included in these 1099 books are 580 titles and their duplicates. Of those, 562 are ASEs representing a sample of the 1322 originally printed. The other 18 titles include six Legacy Project Armed Services Editions created by the Legacy Project of Andrew Carroll, as well as other books printed by various publishers. Some of those titles, specifically published by Kangaroo Publishing, are labelled Armed Services Editions but are not part of the original series created by the Council on Books in Wartime.

Biographical / historical:

For further reading on the history of the Armed Services Editions, read When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us When World War II by Molly Guptill Manning, 2014.

According to Manning, the idea for the ASEs was presented by Malcolm Johnson of Doubleday, Doran, and Company book publishers after a meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Ray L. Trautman (head of the Army's library section) and graphic artist H. Stahley Thompson presented a proposal to the Council on Books in Wartime to "reconstruct the book" (p. 74). According to John Y. Cole of the Library of Congress, in his 1984 book Books in Action: The Armed Services Editions, Trautman developed the idea with help from Thompson and took it to Johnson.

At any rate, the idea eventually resulted in the formation of The Council on Books in Wartime in 1942 by the publishing industry and the US War Department and the first series of ASEs, printed in September 1943, were sold to the government at cost with a one cent royalty split between the author and the original publishing company (p. 79).

By 1947, a total of 1322 ASEs had been printed, produced in two sizes: 6.5x4.5 inches and 5.5x3 3/8 inches. Their bindings were not glued but stapled, with Manning citing a newspaper account asserting that staples were favored because of the insects in some locales with humid climates where soldiers may be deployed (p. 78). Additionally, they were bound on their short side, with the belief that battle-weary soldiers would find the shorter lines of text easier to read.

The books initially carried a letter and a number. The letter designated the series (a new series was published each month). For instance, When a Tree Grows in Brooklyn was D-117. After the 'T' series in April 1945, the books only carried a number. On the inside back cover of each ASE, a list of that month's series was printed.

It is unclear why some titles were chosen and when, but some were rejected, such as George Santayana's autobiography Persons and Places becuase the book "expressed a view deemed 'dubious as to democracy'" (p. 80). The books were printed at full length, with only some titles abridged for length; these included a disclaimer on the front cover.

Manning discusses some of the more popular titles in her book and makes the claim that the ASE's helped rescue F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby from obscurity. She makes the assertion that Fitzgerald's now-classic title was a failure during his lifetime, but that it became popular with servicemen after being printed as an ASE and the praise reverberated back home.

Toward the end of the war, the Council began including practical nonfiction to prepare soldiers for life after war. Examples included Twenty Careers of Tomorrow by Darrel and Frances Huff and AP: The Story of News by Oliver Gramling, for men considering careers in journalism (p. 171, 173).

After the war, the Council and the War Department felt there was continued need and more series were printed until the final series ran in June 1947, later changed to take on the appearance of ordinary paperbacks bound on the long edge. According to Manning, the ASEs also may have also played a role in the growth of paperback books. According to When Books Went to War, only two companies printed softcover books before the war. More publishing companies began printing paperbacks and sales skyrocketed. In 1959, paperback sales exceeded hardcover books for the first time in American publishing history (p. 191).

Acquisition information:

Gift of Founding Director Andrew Carroll.

Arrangement:

This collection is physically arranged in loose alphabetical order. The items are intellectually arranged in publication order by series number.

Physical location:

This collection is located in the Leatherby Libraries, Room B11A. Some materials are on permanent, rotating display in the hallway of the Leatherby Libraries Lower Level.

Physical description:

Some books have bent pages, tearing, loose bindings or covers, or other deterioration.

Physical facet:

Shelved upright

Dimensions:

15 shelves x 3 feet (last shelf only two-thirds full)

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: World War (1939-1945)
Books and reading
Miniature books
Rare books.

Access and use

Restrictions:: This collection is open for research.
Terms of access:: There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions.