Text below from Cook's book, Murder By Mail (1983), regarding the Detective Book Club
The Detective Book Club was launched with a full-page test advertisement in the New York Times on February 15, 1942, with offer of charter membership and the right to obtain monthly triple-volume selections for $1.89 plus postage. There was no free offer or special introductory price. The first volume to be offered included THE CASE OF THE EMPTY TIN, a Perry Mason story by ErIe Stanley Gardner, EVIL UNDER THE SUN, a Hercule Poirot book by Agatha Christie, and A PINCH OF POISON, a Mr. & Mrs. North novel by Frances and Richard Lockridge. With the exception of minor changes in binding, and the original dustjacket becoming the cover design, the triple volumes have continued unchanged for over forty years. Inflation has caused some change in the club price, to the present $7.95 per book, plus postage (as of July 1983), but the volumes are still a bargain, and new membership offers have become more liberal offering four triple-volumes for a token charge.
With the firm conviction that "good literature could and should be made available at reasonable prices which people of moderate means could afford to pay" Walter J. Black, founder of the Detective Book Club, started his first publishing venture in 1923. This was a limp-leather one-volume edition of Shakespeare, offered in a New York Herald advertisement on Sunday, November 11, 1923 for $4.95. With only $600.00 saved from his salary by his wife, Elsie J. Black, and the belief that a one volume Shakespeare could be sold by mail, Walter J. Black rented a small office at 7 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan, using the name "Plymouth Publishing Company". This was named after his wife's father's Brooklyn butcher shop, the Plymouth Market.
Miss Sue M. Gorman joined Mr. Black that first year, to be followed shortly by Miss Marion C. Day, now retired Senior Vice President, and Miss Genevieve M. Carter. The company's name was changed to Walter J. Black Co. in 1926 and incorporated in 1927, moving on to larger quarters at 171 Madison Avenue. During the depression. Walter J. Black, Inc. moved into department-store sales, with Mr. Black himself traveling to sell low-priced classics to the stores. The company moved to Two Park Avenue in 1934, then to the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in 1938, as a serious, prolonged illness prostrated Mr. Black and brought the firm to the brink of failure.
With the introduction of the Book Coupon Exchange, the firm recovered. Under this plan, books were sold at low cost to newspaper readers who clipped coupons and presented them at neighborhood stationery stores. With the change to handling the coupons by mail again, in 1941, the operation became the country's first specialized book club, The Classics Club. And shortly after this, with the nation at war, the Detective Book Club was formed to broaden the operation.
A move to One Park Avenue, an address still familiar with many of the Club's present members, followed in 1944. The only child of Walter J. Black, Mr. Theodore M. Black, joined the company on October 3, 1945 while on terminal leave as a Captain in the U. S. Army after combat service in Europe.
In 1948, Black's Reader Service was formed to sell the firm's early classics in a series form; this affiliate became a partnership of father and son in 1949. In 1950 the firm began promoting the complete works of Zane Grey in a 64-volume set. The 30th Anniversary found the company, in 1953, occupying more than 14,000 square feet at the Park Avenue address, at a rent of $42,000 per year - a far cry from the humble office in 1923 that rented for $480 a year - and it was in this year that Mr. Black decided to move to Long Island. Mrs. Black found the present location at Flower Hill, and ground was broken in May 1953, the cornerstone laid in October, and despite a concrete mixer strike, the construction, supervised by Mr. Black himself, was completed in time for the move from New York City on the 28th of January, 1954, into 23.000 square-feet on two floors.
Another new idea by Mr. Black resulted in selling by means of cards inserted into paperback books, and this was commenced in 1956 at the same time that the Club started using back-cover advertisements in the major digest-size mystery magazines. The latter practice is still continued and comprises the principal promotion by the company. During 1957, Walter J. Black, Inc. commenced publication of the works of another famous Western writer, Max Brand.
Then, on April 16, 1958, less than two months after the birth of his grandson and namesake, Walter J. Black II, Mr. Black passed away at St. Francis hospital, in Roslyn, following a serious operation. The Board of Directors acted to name Miss Gorman as Chairman and Theodore Black as President and Treasurer. In 1980, Walter J. Black II moved directly into the company's operations after -graduating from Adelphi University in Garden City, L.I., taking over his father's job as Treasurer, becoming Book Club Director, and, in 1982. being designated as Chief Operating Officer of the entire company. The directors presently include (in 1983) Sue M. Gorman. Chairman of the Board, Theodore M. Black, Sr., Genevieve M. Carter, Executive Vice President, Walter J. Black II, and Barbara S. (Mrs. Theodore M.) Black, Public Relations Director.
In the family tradition, Theodore M. Black has continued to search for new ways of bookse1ling. In 1963, he established the ErIe Stanley Gardner Mystery Library, a 64-volume series. And in 1971, the "Inner Circle" was formed, a club-within-a-club, to offer one or two additional triple-volumes as selections by the Club and only to members of the Detective Book Club. Since it is the policy to offer only new mysteries, books are selected after only a few months of over-the-counter sales by the trade publisher, and Mr. Black felt that by limiting output to just three titles per month, some of the good titles could not be included. The Inner Circle, thus, expands the club's offerings.
Quoting from a letter from Theodore M. Black, "over the years, the DBC has prospered through the good efforts of a number of fine editors, beginning with Ruth Berry MacDonald and continuing with Cecily Curran, the late Katherine Maule Holske, and Bettina C. Peterson. our present editor-in-chief, with the very able assistance at various times of Lucy Cores, Frank and Mary Pearson, Ralph D. Somerville, Katherine V. Rorton, Edward A. Mearns, Pamela J. Kennedy, and Betty Ward. Our nonresident expert on ballistics and forensic medicine is Thomas L. D. Lynxwiler of San Diego, California.
"Your readers might be interested in our selection process. Hundreds of typescripts and galley proofs are received during the year from original publishers. Incidentally, we have not since the beginning of the Club accepted books not already chosen for publication by a trade bouse; unsolicited scripts are returned to their authors with regrets . Our editorial staff reads each publisher's submissions carefully. Being a member, you know t .hat we make extra efforts to avoid material which would be offensive to our family readership; that is but one element of editorial consideration, however. What our editors always look for are first-rate mystery/detective yarns - not only by authors who have made their mark but also by any promising new authors whom we can encourage by selecting their books. Your practiced eye will find examples as you scan our complete list of titles ... We like whodunits, suspense stories, police procedurals, tales of espionage and intrigue, "capers", Gothic mysteries - in short, those kinds of mystery/detective novels which a family audience prefers and which do not capitalize on explicit sex, excessive violence and the like. The Reviewer's opinions are circulated to our top executives for their observations and comments. Selection conferences are held six times a year; at each of these, we choose nine novels for inclusion in two monthly triple'-volumes and an Inner Circle triple. (Note: the present policy is to offer two Inner Circle extra volumes.) The final combination which emerges from each of these conferences will, we hope , reflect not only a high level of writing, but also a judicious mix of the various types of story I have mentioned above, as well as of locales and other factors. Contracts are then negotiated with the trade publishers involved, and the machinery is set in motion for actual publication."
The background of Walter J. Black is of interest. He was born May 12, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York, the fourth of five sons of Loring M. Black and Elizabeth (Mahoney) Black. He was graduated from Fordham University in 1915, worked as a cub reporter for Hearst's New York American at $10.00 per week, and was secretary to Col. George Harvey, publisher of Harper's in 1916. He served as a civilian with rank of First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Ordnance, Frankford Arsenal, Pennsylvania, during World War I, helping to develop the Thompson submachine gun - the "Tommy gun". Walter J. Black was married to Elsie A. Jantzer of Brooklyn on November 6, 1918 and their only child, Theodore M. Black, was born October 3, 1919. He was employed as Manager of the Direct Mail Book Department of P. F. Collier & Sons in 1920, just prior to establishing his own firm. He was a collector of rare books and fine bindings. as well as autographs of famous literary figures, and an avid sports fan, fisherman, photographer, animal lover, and world traveler. Mrs. Black passed away at her home on July 5, 1963.
Theodore M. Black graduated from Princeton University in 1941, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, and as Class Valedictorian. He enlisted as a private in the U. S. Army tn 1941 and was assigned to Counter-Intelligence; he completed Infantry O.C.S. at Fort Benning, Georgia. as 2nd Lieutenant, in 1943. He was Commander of the 503rd C.I.C. Detachment. Third Armored Division, 1943-1945, serving in five campaigns in the European Theater, and was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster as well as French and Belgian Fourragere awards. He retired as Lt. Colonel, Military Intelligence Reserve, in 1967. He married Barbara A. Somerville of Plandome Manor, November 10, 1956; their son, Walter J. Black II was born February 19, 1958, and a son, Theodore M. "Mike" Black, Jr., January 19, 1968.
A tour through the company's building at 1075 Northern Boulevard, Flower Hill, Roslyn, New York, would be of interest to all club members, and includes these items in particular...
Upper floor, Outer office: a permanent display of advertising, including the first advertisement of November 11, 1923, and the first Detective Book Club advertisement.
President's office: copies of all major club and series titles published since 1941.
Executive Vice President's office: copies of all books published by the firm between 1923 and 1941.
Editorial office: all recent Detective Book Club volumes, with their original counterparts; literary reference library; photos of ErIe Stanley Gardner, Frank Gruber, John Creasey, Russell Kirk, and other authors.
Lower floor, Direct Mail Department: the club's own lettershop, which includes a multilith printing press, a folding machine, a P-B gravity inserter, a tying machine, and other equipment. Books and circulars are stored here and shipped from here (as well as from warehouse facilities in Tennessee and other locations). Returned books are unwrapped, noted for credit, checked for damage or any imperfection, separated by Club and further by title, and replaced in the stacks for future use.
Many questions have been raised about Club volumes with different groups of titles than as originally published as selections. Such volumes are introductory volumes for new membership in the Club, and often contain three complete novels by one author; however, these are also noted with various authors and titles in one triple volume. These are apparently signatures of a book in excess of regular binding, or salvaged from damaged or imperfect books, and then bound. The style of binding matches the regular club selections. There is no checklist available on these, but in almost every case, the stories have appeared in the regular or Inner Circle club selections. The one major exception is the inclusion of LEW ARCHER, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, by Ross Macdonald. This, a reprint from the limited edition published by The Mysterious Press, New York, was included as an introductory selection and did not appear the regular club offering. One should note also that there are various single title volumes published by the Club, either under the imprint of The Detective Book Club or Walter J. Black, Inc., used also as introductory volumes.
Two other series of books have appeared under the Walter J. Black, Inc. imprint which are of interest to mystery fans. There was a 21-volume set of the works of J. J. Marric (John Creasey) in which Gideon was the principal character detective, and an 8-volume set of the mystery novels by Rae Foley.
The operations of the firm were seriously hampered in mid-1982 when the book manufacturing firm which had handled the actual book production for many years ceased business and began the disposition of its manufacturing equipment. While the Club. and the related operations of Halter J. Black. Inc., searched for a new manufacturer to meet their specifications the orderly shipment of books was brought to a halt, and Club members experienced a number of months with no books offered or shipped, particularly in December 1982 and January and February 1983. A firm in Kingsport, Tennessee, was selected and contracts executed, after which a period transpired while a substantial inventory of paper, plates, covers, dies, boards, cartons: and related items were being transferred, and new production schedules planned. Normal levels of operation were resumed in May 1983.
Notes
1. Quote from letter from Theodore M. Black, dated 29 August 1974.
2. ibid.
With the firm conviction that "good literature could and should be made available at reasonable prices which people of moderate means could afford to pay" Walter J. Black, founder of the Detective Book Club, started his first publishing venture in 1923. This was a limp-leather one-volume edition of Shakespeare, offered in a New York Herald advertisement on Sunday, November 11, 1923 for $4.95. With only $600.00 saved from his salary by his wife, Elsie J. Black, and the belief that a one volume Shakespeare could be sold by mail, Walter J. Black rented a small office at 7 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan, using the name "Plymouth Publishing Company". This was named after his wife's father's Brooklyn butcher shop, the Plymouth Market.
Miss Sue M. Gorman joined Mr. Black that first year, to be followed shortly by Miss Marion C. Day, now retired Senior Vice President, and Miss Genevieve M. Carter. The company's name was changed to Walter J. Black Co. in 1926 and incorporated in 1927, moving on to larger quarters at 171 Madison Avenue. During the depression. Walter J. Black, Inc. moved into department-store sales, with Mr. Black himself traveling to sell low-priced classics to the stores. The company moved to Two Park Avenue in 1934, then to the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in 1938, as a serious, prolonged illness prostrated Mr. Black and brought the firm to the brink of failure.
With the introduction of the Book Coupon Exchange, the firm recovered. Under this plan, books were sold at low cost to newspaper readers who clipped coupons and presented them at neighborhood stationery stores. With the change to handling the coupons by mail again, in 1941, the operation became the country's first specialized book club, The Classics Club. And shortly after this, with the nation at war, the Detective Book Club was formed to broaden the operation.
A move to One Park Avenue, an address still familiar with many of the Club's present members, followed in 1944. The only child of Walter J. Black, Mr. Theodore M. Black, joined the company on October 3, 1945 while on terminal leave as a Captain in the U. S. Army after combat service in Europe.
In 1948, Black's Reader Service was formed to sell the firm's early classics in a series form; this affiliate became a partnership of father and son in 1949. In 1950 the firm began promoting the complete works of Zane Grey in a 64-volume set. The 30th Anniversary found the company, in 1953, occupying more than 14,000 square feet at the Park Avenue address, at a rent of $42,000 per year - a far cry from the humble office in 1923 that rented for $480 a year - and it was in this year that Mr. Black decided to move to Long Island. Mrs. Black found the present location at Flower Hill, and ground was broken in May 1953, the cornerstone laid in October, and despite a concrete mixer strike, the construction, supervised by Mr. Black himself, was completed in time for the move from New York City on the 28th of January, 1954, into 23.000 square-feet on two floors.
Another new idea by Mr. Black resulted in selling by means of cards inserted into paperback books, and this was commenced in 1956 at the same time that the Club started using back-cover advertisements in the major digest-size mystery magazines. The latter practice is still continued and comprises the principal promotion by the company. During 1957, Walter J. Black, Inc. commenced publication of the works of another famous Western writer, Max Brand.
Then, on April 16, 1958, less than two months after the birth of his grandson and namesake, Walter J. Black II, Mr. Black passed away at St. Francis hospital, in Roslyn, following a serious operation. The Board of Directors acted to name Miss Gorman as Chairman and Theodore Black as President and Treasurer. In 1980, Walter J. Black II moved directly into the company's operations after -graduating from Adelphi University in Garden City, L.I., taking over his father's job as Treasurer, becoming Book Club Director, and, in 1982. being designated as Chief Operating Officer of the entire company. The directors presently include (in 1983) Sue M. Gorman. Chairman of the Board, Theodore M. Black, Sr., Genevieve M. Carter, Executive Vice President, Walter J. Black II, and Barbara S. (Mrs. Theodore M.) Black, Public Relations Director.
In the family tradition, Theodore M. Black has continued to search for new ways of bookse1ling. In 1963, he established the ErIe Stanley Gardner Mystery Library, a 64-volume series. And in 1971, the "Inner Circle" was formed, a club-within-a-club, to offer one or two additional triple-volumes as selections by the Club and only to members of the Detective Book Club. Since it is the policy to offer only new mysteries, books are selected after only a few months of over-the-counter sales by the trade publisher, and Mr. Black felt that by limiting output to just three titles per month, some of the good titles could not be included. The Inner Circle, thus, expands the club's offerings.
Quoting from a letter from Theodore M. Black, "over the years, the DBC has prospered through the good efforts of a number of fine editors, beginning with Ruth Berry MacDonald and continuing with Cecily Curran, the late Katherine Maule Holske, and Bettina C. Peterson. our present editor-in-chief, with the very able assistance at various times of Lucy Cores, Frank and Mary Pearson, Ralph D. Somerville, Katherine V. Rorton, Edward A. Mearns, Pamela J. Kennedy, and Betty Ward. Our nonresident expert on ballistics and forensic medicine is Thomas L. D. Lynxwiler of San Diego, California.
"Your readers might be interested in our selection process. Hundreds of typescripts and galley proofs are received during the year from original publishers. Incidentally, we have not since the beginning of the Club accepted books not already chosen for publication by a trade bouse; unsolicited scripts are returned to their authors with regrets . Our editorial staff reads each publisher's submissions carefully. Being a member, you know t .hat we make extra efforts to avoid material which would be offensive to our family readership; that is but one element of editorial consideration, however. What our editors always look for are first-rate mystery/detective yarns - not only by authors who have made their mark but also by any promising new authors whom we can encourage by selecting their books. Your practiced eye will find examples as you scan our complete list of titles ... We like whodunits, suspense stories, police procedurals, tales of espionage and intrigue, "capers", Gothic mysteries - in short, those kinds of mystery/detective novels which a family audience prefers and which do not capitalize on explicit sex, excessive violence and the like. The Reviewer's opinions are circulated to our top executives for their observations and comments. Selection conferences are held six times a year; at each of these, we choose nine novels for inclusion in two monthly triple'-volumes and an Inner Circle triple. (Note: the present policy is to offer two Inner Circle extra volumes.) The final combination which emerges from each of these conferences will, we hope , reflect not only a high level of writing, but also a judicious mix of the various types of story I have mentioned above, as well as of locales and other factors. Contracts are then negotiated with the trade publishers involved, and the machinery is set in motion for actual publication."
The background of Walter J. Black is of interest. He was born May 12, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York, the fourth of five sons of Loring M. Black and Elizabeth (Mahoney) Black. He was graduated from Fordham University in 1915, worked as a cub reporter for Hearst's New York American at $10.00 per week, and was secretary to Col. George Harvey, publisher of Harper's in 1916. He served as a civilian with rank of First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Ordnance, Frankford Arsenal, Pennsylvania, during World War I, helping to develop the Thompson submachine gun - the "Tommy gun". Walter J. Black was married to Elsie A. Jantzer of Brooklyn on November 6, 1918 and their only child, Theodore M. Black, was born October 3, 1919. He was employed as Manager of the Direct Mail Book Department of P. F. Collier & Sons in 1920, just prior to establishing his own firm. He was a collector of rare books and fine bindings. as well as autographs of famous literary figures, and an avid sports fan, fisherman, photographer, animal lover, and world traveler. Mrs. Black passed away at her home on July 5, 1963.
Theodore M. Black graduated from Princeton University in 1941, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, and as Class Valedictorian. He enlisted as a private in the U. S. Army tn 1941 and was assigned to Counter-Intelligence; he completed Infantry O.C.S. at Fort Benning, Georgia. as 2nd Lieutenant, in 1943. He was Commander of the 503rd C.I.C. Detachment. Third Armored Division, 1943-1945, serving in five campaigns in the European Theater, and was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster as well as French and Belgian Fourragere awards. He retired as Lt. Colonel, Military Intelligence Reserve, in 1967. He married Barbara A. Somerville of Plandome Manor, November 10, 1956; their son, Walter J. Black II was born February 19, 1958, and a son, Theodore M. "Mike" Black, Jr., January 19, 1968.
A tour through the company's building at 1075 Northern Boulevard, Flower Hill, Roslyn, New York, would be of interest to all club members, and includes these items in particular...
Upper floor, Outer office: a permanent display of advertising, including the first advertisement of November 11, 1923, and the first Detective Book Club advertisement.
President's office: copies of all major club and series titles published since 1941.
Executive Vice President's office: copies of all books published by the firm between 1923 and 1941.
Editorial office: all recent Detective Book Club volumes, with their original counterparts; literary reference library; photos of ErIe Stanley Gardner, Frank Gruber, John Creasey, Russell Kirk, and other authors.
Lower floor, Direct Mail Department: the club's own lettershop, which includes a multilith printing press, a folding machine, a P-B gravity inserter, a tying machine, and other equipment. Books and circulars are stored here and shipped from here (as well as from warehouse facilities in Tennessee and other locations). Returned books are unwrapped, noted for credit, checked for damage or any imperfection, separated by Club and further by title, and replaced in the stacks for future use.
Many questions have been raised about Club volumes with different groups of titles than as originally published as selections. Such volumes are introductory volumes for new membership in the Club, and often contain three complete novels by one author; however, these are also noted with various authors and titles in one triple volume. These are apparently signatures of a book in excess of regular binding, or salvaged from damaged or imperfect books, and then bound. The style of binding matches the regular club selections. There is no checklist available on these, but in almost every case, the stories have appeared in the regular or Inner Circle club selections. The one major exception is the inclusion of LEW ARCHER, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, by Ross Macdonald. This, a reprint from the limited edition published by The Mysterious Press, New York, was included as an introductory selection and did not appear the regular club offering. One should note also that there are various single title volumes published by the Club, either under the imprint of The Detective Book Club or Walter J. Black, Inc., used also as introductory volumes.
Two other series of books have appeared under the Walter J. Black, Inc. imprint which are of interest to mystery fans. There was a 21-volume set of the works of J. J. Marric (John Creasey) in which Gideon was the principal character detective, and an 8-volume set of the mystery novels by Rae Foley.
The operations of the firm were seriously hampered in mid-1982 when the book manufacturing firm which had handled the actual book production for many years ceased business and began the disposition of its manufacturing equipment. While the Club. and the related operations of Halter J. Black. Inc., searched for a new manufacturer to meet their specifications the orderly shipment of books was brought to a halt, and Club members experienced a number of months with no books offered or shipped, particularly in December 1982 and January and February 1983. A firm in Kingsport, Tennessee, was selected and contracts executed, after which a period transpired while a substantial inventory of paper, plates, covers, dies, boards, cartons: and related items were being transferred, and new production schedules planned. Normal levels of operation were resumed in May 1983.
Notes
1. Quote from letter from Theodore M. Black, dated 29 August 1974.
2. ibid.
The New York Department of State website shows the Walter J. Black, Inc. was registered as a domestic business corporation on July 5, 1927 and that the company status is inactive, "Dissolved by Proclamation/Anulment of Authority" on March 26, 1997.
For more information on Black's Zane Grey series or The Classic Club, see the links on the References/Sources page.
For more information on Black's Zane Grey series or The Classic Club, see the links on the References/Sources page.
Pages below from Cook's book, Murder By Mail (1979), regarding the Detective Book Club
Employees of Walter J. Black, Inc.
1958 Theodore "Ted" M. Black, Sr., President & Treasurer Sue M. Gorman, Chairman Marion C. Day, Senior Vice President Genevieve M. Carter 1960 Theodore "Ted" M. Black, Sr., President Sue M. Gorman, Executive Vice President Elsie J. Black, Vice President & Art Director Genevieve M. Carter, Secretary Marion C. Day, Purchasing Manager Theresa Conlin, Production Manager 1980 Walter J. Black, II, Treasurer & Book Club Director Walter J. Black, III Edward A. Mearns, Sr. 1983 Sue M. Gorman Theodore "Ted" M. Black, Sr. Genevieve M. Carter, Executive Vice President Barbara M. Black, Public Relations Walter J. Black, II |