Ace Books - 1950s and 1960s: Genre Specialization

1950s and 1960s: Genre Specialization

Ace's second title was a western (also tête-bêche): William Colt MacDonald's Bad Man's Return, bound with J. Edward Leithead's Bloody Hoofs. Mysteries and westerns alternated regularly for the first thirty titles, with a few books not in either genre, such as P. G. Wodehouse's Quick Service, bound with his The Code of the Woosters. In 1953, A.E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A, bound with his The Universe Maker, appeared; this was Ace's first foray into science fiction. (Earlier in 1953, Ace had released Theodore S. Drachman's Cry Plague!, with a plot that could be regarded as sf, but the book it was bound with—Leslie Edgley's The Judas Goat—was not sf.) Another sf double followed later in 1953, and sf rapidly established itself, alongside westerns and mysteries, as an important part of Ace's business. By 1955, the company released more sf titles each year than in either of the other two genres, and from 1961 onward, sf titles outnumbered mysteries and westerns combined. Ace also published a number of lurid juvenile delinquent novels in the 1950s that are now very collectible, such as D-343, The Young Wolves by Edward De Roo and D-378, Out For Kicks by Wilene Shaw.

Soon after the van Vogt Double came Dorothy Malone's Cookbook for Beginners, the first title not in tête-bêche format. Single novels appeared frequently beginning in 1954; initially, they were mostly books outside Ace's three main genres. By the 1960s, however, the core genres were also published as singles. The letter-series system seemed to indicate this change: the F and M series singles were overwhelmingly science fiction, but singles in the original D/G/S series, and the K series singles, were mostly outside the core genres.

By the late 1950s, Ace's output was approaching one hundred titles a year, still heavily dominated by the primary genres. Almost all the books were 35 cents, though some slim single volumes were 25 cents, and a handful were half a dollar. In the early '60s, rising costs finally forced an increase in the price of the books, and more books appeared at 40 cents, 45 cents and higher. A few thick volumes, such as the 1967 paperback of Frank Herbert's Dune, were priced at 95 cents. The company now published scores of books in other genres, including many "nurse romances" (beginning in 1960 with Joan Sargent's Cruise Nurse bound with Calling Dr. Merriman by Margaret Howe). By the end of the decade, Ace produced perhaps 70 more such titles, along with gothic novels, self-improvement books, "strange but true" books, and many others.