Tag: Pelican Books

Pelicans USA and the Birth of Mentor Paperbacks

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This month marks the eightieth anniversary of the first books that became the Mentor imprint, which would grow to be a major factual book publisher in America. Stepping forward a couple of years we see in 1948 two new paperback imprints first appear in the USA, Signet and Mentor, at first sight these series closely resemble the UK Penguin main series and Pelicans with Signet largely being fiction and Mentor for the most part factual. This is due to them both growing out of the wartime Penguin books printed in America to avoid shipping across an increasingly dangerous Atlantic Ocean. In 1948 Penguin decided to pull out of American publishing and their assets were purchased by Victor Weybright and Kurt Enoch both of whom had been running Penguin Books Inc based in New York since 1942 when the American Penguins were launched . Enoch had previously been head of Albatross Books, so knew how to run a publishing business, and was already in New York, having escaped Nazi Germany in 1940, whilst Weybright had been recruited by the owner of Penguin Books, Allen Lane, from the US Office of War Information back in London and returned to America to help Enoch. The two men formed New American Library of World Literature (NAL) in 1948 when they bought the American Penguin operation, but crucially not the name, and gained, at least in theory, 164 titles to start Signet and 24 to get Mentor going. I’d like to concentrate on Mentor as this grew out of a far less well known series in America which had taken the name of its UK equivalent, Pelican and which began eighty years ago this month in January 1946. The full list of titles, with their first published dates, as at the time of the takeover were:

  • P1 Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann – January 1946
  • P2 Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict – January 1946
  • P3 You and Music by Christian Darnton – January 1946
  • P4 The Birth and the Death of the Sun by George Gamow – January 1946
  • P5 An Enemy of the People: Anti Semitism by James Parkes – March 1946
  • P6 What Happened in History by Gordon V Childe – March 1946
  • P7 The Physiology of Sex by Kenneth Walker – March 1946
  • P8 Mathematician’s Delight by W.W. Sawyer – March 1946
  • P9 The Weather by George Kimble and Raymond Bush – May 1946
  • P10 America’s Role on the World Economy by Alvin H Hansen – April 1946
  • P11 Heredity, Race and Society by Theodosius Dobzhansky and L.C. Dunn – November 1946
  • P12 The Story of Human Birth by Alan F Guttmacher – January 1947
  • P13 Thomas Jefferson on Democracy edited by Edward C Linderman – January 1947
  • P14 Introducing Shakespeare by G.B. Harrison – February 1947
  • P15 Emerson – The Basic Writings of America’s Sage edited by Eduard C Lindeman – March 1947
  • P16 The Personality of Animals by H Munro Fox – April 1947
  • P17 Human Breeding and Survival by Gut I Burch and Elmer Pendell – June 1947
  • P18 Is Marriage Necessary? By George H Bartlett – July 1947
  • P19 Good Reading edited by The Committee On College Reading – September 1947
  • P20 An Introduction to Modern Architecture by E.B. Mock and J.M. Richards – September 1947
  • P21 The Odyssey by Homer – trans E.V. Rieu – October 1947
  • P22 Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by R.H. Tawney – November 1947
  • P23 Heredity, Race and Society by Theodosius Dobzhansky and L.C. Dunn – November 1947
  • P24 Sweden: The Middle Way by Marquis W Childs – January 1948
  • P25 Philosophy in a New Key by Susanne K Langer, – February 1948

It’s an interesting mix of subjects, much like the UK originals. I said earlier that there were 24 titles to form the basis of Mentor yet the list above has 25 books, however careful checking will reveal that P11 and P23 are in fact the same book issued a year apart, yet inside both claim to be the first time this title was published. It is almost as if the publishers had forgotten they had already printed this book in 1946 so simply did it again exactly a year later in 1947. Of the twenty four titles ten had been originally printed in the UK, mainly as Pelicans, whilst the remaining fourteen were originals to the American Pelican imprint, the ten reissues are as follows:

  • P3 – Originally UK Pelican A68 – July 1940
  • P5 – Originally UK main series 521 – August 1945
  • P6 – Originally UK Forces Book Club – November 1942 then Pelican A108 – December 1942
  • P7 – Originally UK Pelican A71 – July 1942
  • P8 – Originally UK Forces Book Club – April 1943 then Pelican A121 – August 1943
  • P9 – Originally UK Forces Book Club – September 1943 then Pelican A124 – November 1943
  • P14 – Originally UK Pelican A43 – May 1939
  • P16 – Originally UK Pelican A78 – December 1940
  • P21 – Originally UK Services Edition SE18 – 1945 then Classic L1 – January 1946
  • P22 – Originally UK Pelican A23 – February 1938

Bizarrely two of the above had also passed through the American Penguin numbering before reappearing as American Pelicans, P7 had already been 507 (1942) but this change seems highly sensible as it is not a work of fiction, whilst P21 had first appeared in the USA as 613 (November 1946). Quite why The Odyssey moved from the fiction main series to the factual Pelicans, becoming by the way the only American Pelican Classic almost twenty years before the UK business came up with this series name is a mystery as it seems to make no sense. After 1948 the rights to the EV Rieu translation of The Odyssey were not part of the transfer of intellectual property so when Mentor came to reprint the now renumbered M21 they used a different translator, W H D Rouse, where it became the first Mentor Classic and went through 47 reprints by 1976 including at least one renumbering ending up as ME2519. All the other P series Pelicans were simply reprinted unchanged apart from the P becoming an M for Mentor although later on Mentor introduced sub categories so for example P13 ‘Thomas Jefferson on Democracy’ became M13 when first reprinted and then this was later changed to MD13.

The first four books published as Mentor from March 1948 were actually initially indicated on the cover as Pelican Mentor to help inform the general public regarding the change of name before dropping the Pelican part when they came to be reprinted. Enoch and Waybright also did this with the much more prolific main series as it morphed into Signet only in this case seventeen new books and a small number of reprints bore the imprint of Penguin Signet for a few months. I haven’t yet found any evidence of reprinted American Pelican titles being listed as Pelican Mentor, only the four new books appear to have had that designation. It is worth noting that the few books originally published as Penguin but reprinted as Penguin Signet and then later simply as Signet, which include 615 Lady into Fox, command far higher prices as the Penguin Signet reprint version than as either the Penguin or Signet versions alone. The four Pelican Mentor titles are:

  • M26 American Essays by Charles B Shaw – March 1948
  • M27 Biography of the Earth by George Gamow – April 1948
  • M28 Science and the Modern World by A.N. Whitehead – May 1948
  • M29 The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man by J.W. Johnson – June 1948

As can be seen the covers feature bold designs, so much more enticing to their target American audience than the simple blue and white that would be the trademark of the UK Pelicans for decades. It was the use of full colour laminated covers, especially on the main series, that would be one of the primary falling out points between Penguin Books Inc in the USA and Allen Lane back in the UK, where typographic covers would reign supreme as the Penguin identity for many years to come. Although it was almost certainly tax difficulties between the two countries that ultimately prompted the split in the end.

Interestingly New American Library was bought out and became part of Penguin Publishing Company in 1987 neatly bringing the whole enterprise full circle. But confusingly there is also an Irish publishing company that calls itself Mentor Books which started in 1979 and specialises in educational works but has nothing to do with the American company which predates them by thirty one years and was well established by the time the Irish firm started

Guerrilla Warfare – Che Guevara

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I have known of the existence of this book for many years and was somewhat confused that a book first published in the USA in 1961 and then in the UK by Pelican Books in 1969 was so elusive. I wanted it because I thought it would be a logical follow up of ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ which I reviewed back in June 2022 and which very entertainingly covered a trip around South America by Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado whilst Guevara was studying to become a doctor. This book I assumed would cover his time as part of the Cuban revolution leading to his promotion as second in command below Fidel Castro and the ultimate overthrow of the Batista regime, But no I have since found out that a book I hadn’t previously heard of ‘Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War’, also written by Guevara and published in Pelican along with this book in 1969, performs that function. So what is ‘Guerrilla Warfare’ about? Well here we are probably coming to the reason it is so difficult to find, as it is basically a handbook on how to run a popular insurgency, from recruiting fighters to how to actually run a guerrilla band, feeding and clothing them, obtaining arms and proposed combat methodology. A look at the contents list gives an idea as to what to expect.

Despite not being what I expected the book is fascinating and gives an insight into the way a guerrilla band operates with some of the problems which come from operating in a secret way and some things that are different with a regular army. For example the chapters on warfare on favourable and unfavourable ground are diametrically opposite to a ‘normal’ army in that favourable ground for the guerrilla is the mountains and jungle where they can easily melt away or establish defensible positions whilst a regular army likes more open country where their heavy vehicles can move easily and this is precisely what a guerrilla army counts as unfavourable. Likewise armaments for a guerrilla fighter is largely restricted to rifles, preferably not fully automatic, and hand guns with homemade grenades or Molotov cocktails. The army on the other hand can utilise aircraft, tanks and tripod mounted machine guns which are too heavy to be easily moved by hand, which is usually how a guerrilla band would need to move them and quickly use far too much ammunition, which is always in short supply until they manage to capture more. Guevara explains that should a heavy machine gun be captured by all means use it but be prepared to abandon it if pressed as it is simply not worth the effort of carrying it away during combat. Guevara also says that a bazooka is an excellent guerrilla weapon let down by its size and the fact than a man can only just carry three shells any distance due to their weight and even then someone else has to carry the shoulder mounted launcher.

The need to capture ammunition also applies to most of the guns and rifles used by a guerrilla band, it is far easier to obtain these from the enemy than try to smuggle armaments in from outside, it also means that the ammunition is the same thus largely getting round the difficulties of supply. The section I have included below makes the distinction between a revolutionary and a terrorist in that a terrorist is indiscriminate in his targets unlike the more focused revolutionary. In another section Guevara also dismisses gangs of bandits as preying on the poor population whilst the revolutionary is there to support them, although he admits that the guerrillas will need food and clothing which the peasant agrarian economy must provide as they are the only practical source. But he explains that whenever possible this should be paid for either with cash or promissory notes which should be honoured as soon as possible. How likely this is to actually happen isn’t explained.

It should be pointed out that Guevara had a reputation as a ruthless fighter and unforgiving disciplinarian, executing deserters from his troops. But none of this is mentioned in this work which, whilst not glorifying Guevara as he isn’t mentioned by name, is more a guide on how to operate a revolutionary force at least in the context of 1950’s/60’s South American environment, which is almost certainly why it is no longer in print and copies are so difficult to come by. It was an unexpectedly interesting read and I have deliberately not included some of the more specific sections on armaments and tactics in this review.

Mathematical Games – Martin Gardner

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This week I’m going to cover not one but five books, all of which started life as articles in Scientific American under the heading of Mathematical Games. This column was originated by Martin Gardner in 1956 and I first came across it in my school library in the early 1970’s and became hooked, looking forward to the next monthly issue, which fortunately the school subscribed to. Eventually Gardner compiled fourteen books based on the column, five of which I own.

The first book has an unfolded flexagon alongside a mobius strip and immediately highlights the cover design issues with the Pelican editions in that although flexagons are the subject of the first chapter, the curious single-sided mobius strip is not referenced in this book. Flexagons were in fact the subject of the very first article Gardner wrote for Scientific American and are constructed by folding a strip of paper in a triangular pattern until you create a hexagon which when manipulated, or flexed, opens out and then returns to a hexagon shape but with different sides displayed. So if the user had coloured the original two visible sides these would disappear and new blank faces appear. It is possible to create flexagons with large numbers of faces but the number is always divisible by three. The book describes how to make a couple of different variations and I remember having great fun playing with them. Other chapters include the mathematical game of Hex, an overview of the puzzles created by American Sam Loyd, card tricks (Gardner was a keen magician as well as mathematics writer) and random collections of short puzzles which would be a staple of Mathematical Games columns and their successors in Scientific American.

The second book has a cover that is entirely from the imagination of the designer, in this case Denise York, as it has nothing to do with anything in the book which does however have an article about the five platonic solids one of which this definitely isn’t. Again we have an article about a great historical puzzle maker in this case the English near contemporary of Sam Loyd, Henry Ernest Dudeney, there are also discussions of three dimensional tangrams, magic squares, recreational topology and even origami. Like all the books I have each chapter is reprinted in the book and an addendum is added covering items that were raised after the publication of each column, sometimes pointing out things that were incorrect. Gardner surprisingly wasn’t a mathematician, or an academic, he was just fascinated by mathematical puzzles. Two of the people that continued the mathematics column in Scientific American after he retired in 1979 were professors Douglas Hafstadter and Ian Stewart.

The first two books were published by Pelican in the mid 1960’s but the next time they printed one of Gardner’s books was another pair, this time in 1977 and 1978. Again the the covers are not relevant to the text with the ancient puzzle of the Tower of Hanoi on the cover of Further Mathematical Diversions although this was in fact covered in the first book ‘Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions’ but this third Pelican title does have some of my favourite columns in it starting with the paradox of the unexpected hanging where the judge pronounces on the Saturday of the judgement that:

The hanging will take place at noon, on of of the seven days of next week but you will not know which day it is until you are informed on the morning of the day of the hanging.

The prisoner is despondent but his lawyer is pleased as he reasons that the sentence cannot be carried out because he cannot be executed on the Saturday as that is the last possible day and therefore he would know on the Friday that he was to be executed that day. Likewise it can’t be the Friday as Saturday is impossible so Friday is the last day and so on working back through the week. The logic is fine and worked right up until Thursday when the man was unexpectedly hung. The discussion on why the logic fails is quite entertaining.

Also in this book are articles on the transcendental number e, the properties of rotations and reflections, gambling, chessboard problems and numerous other subjects including the inevitable sets of nine short problems, but my favourite, because it prompted me to attempt to build one was about a ‘computer’ built of matchboxes and beads which could ‘play’ noughts and crosses (ticktacktoe) in fact the original article that this chapter was based on first appeared in Penguin Science Survey, a publication I was unaware of at the time I first read this article. The machine is more of a simple learning machine than a true computer but using three hundred matchboxes it is possible to have something that gradually optimises how to play the game and in the example described it was winning, or at least not losing the majority of games after just twenty goes.

The fourth book again doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the cover illustration but does have various articles including Pascal’s Triangle, infinities that are bigger than other infinities, the art of Dutch artist M.C. Escher, random numbers and a ‘simple’ proof that it is impossible to trisect an angle using just a compass and ruler although bisection is extremely easy. There are again many other subjects covered although unlike the other volumes there isn’t a chapter of nine short puzzles. I remember being fascinated by aleph-null and aleph-one infinities when I first read this piece as a teenager, the concept of ‘countable’ and ‘uncountable’ series resulting in differing ‘sizes’ of infinities was so different to what I was being taught in mathematics at the time that I needed to read it a couple of times to get my head around what was being explained and I have of course come to love the art of M.C. Escher.

The final book I have by Gardner is a hardback published by Allen Lane rather than paperback Pelicans although both are imprints of Penguin Books. It follows much the same format as the other four with twenty chapters based on articles from Scientific American but this time I don’t remember reading many of these before but topics include such diverse subjects as Fibonacci and cyclic numbers, the Turing test, devised by Alan Turing to determine if a machine could fool a human into believing they were conversing with another human. The smallest cyclic number is one that I have always remembered and it is 142,857, what makes it cyclic well just multiply it by 1 to 6 and see that the digits remain in the same order just starting from a different place i.e.

  • 142857 x 1 = 142857
  • 142857 x 2 = 285714
  • 142857 x 3 = 428571
  • 142857 x 4 = 571428
  • 142857 x 5 = 714285
  • 142857 x 6 = 857142

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the mental workout reading these books again this week and remembering oddities of mathematics that have stuck with me since my teenage years and if you have any liking for puzzles I heartily recommend searching out Martin Gardner’s extensive output.

A.S.B. Glover – Tim Graham

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Subtitled ‘The Unacknowledged Genius of Penguin’ this is part biography and part a collection of correspondence and it is the letters both to and from Glover that give the clearest picture of the character of the man. For those people not familiar with the name A.S.B. Glover, which I suspect is most of the people reading this blog, he was responsible for proof reading and editing several series for Penguin Books over a period of sixteen years especially the factual Pelicans as well as editing various books for other publishers. This was a role that ideally suited this remarkably erudite man who could read and write in multiple languages including Ancient Greek, Latin and Sanskrit and was also a renowned scholar in religious texts and the saints of the various Christian denominations and yet left school with no qualifications. Biographical details regarding Glover are difficult to find, he was born in 1895 as Alan McDougall and changed his name sometime in the 1920’s possibly due to his regular imprisonment during World War I as a conscientious objector under his original name. One thing that I definitely didn’t know about him that Tim mentions is that his body was covered in tattoos, including his face, although these facial ones were later removed leaving some scarring and that he may have earned a living for a time as a tattooed man in circuses. Tim cannot find any evidence of a McDougall or Glover working in such a role but it is entirely possible that he had yet another name that he worked under at the time.

He first came to the attention of the publishing world by sending numerous letters containing corrections to books they had recently published to the extent that Penguin realised that it would probably be cheaper to employ Glover to catch mistakes before they went to print rather than amend books for subsequent publication. I’ve mentioned before that you see more of Glover in his letters and the following example dealing with a matter close to his heart after his years in prison is a case in point.

The book by Trevor Gibbens never saw light of day despite Glover’s repeated attempts to get the author to finish it.

This book however is published in a limited run of just 600 copies by The Penguin Collectors Society and designed to look like a Pelican from the period Glover was in charge. At the time of writing this review it is available from the society for £12 plus postage, follow this link if interested. All in all it is an really good book about a fascinating man, who although he didn’t get on all the time with his colleagues and particularly not his boss, Allan Lane, was nevertheless essential to the accuracy and therefore the authority that Pelican Books established under his control.