Started in business:1952
Ballantine Books was established in 1952 by the legendary paperback pioneers Ian and Betty Ballantine. As an undergraduate at Columbia University in the l930s, Ian had written a paper extolling the future of paperbound books; together with his wife, he went on to found the reprint houses Penguin USA (1939) and Bantam Books (1945.) World War II saw the popularization of paperbacks, which were distributed to military personnel in all theatres of war, and the time was now ripe to make them more widely available. This time the Ballantines concentrated on paperback originals--books first published in paperback form rather than hardcover--and though their list spanned a variety of subjects, they found a particular specialty in science fiction, fantasy, westerns, and mystery novels.
It was acquired by Random House in 1973 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a pair of mirrored letter "B"'s back to back.
See http://ballantine.atrandom.com/
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