History of Atlas Publishing and Distributing - Blog #5

The year 1925 was a pivotal year for Atlas' growth for two reasons; joining the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce in London and a first visit to New York City by publisher Walter S Dexter.

Dexter had been working hard on expanding the roster of books imported. He had established distribution contracts with a number of New York based "pulp" and "slick" publishers, but had never actually set foot on US soil. Presumably face-to-face negotiations were handled by his associates at Atlas Publishing Co Incorporated based at 150 Lafayette St, in New York.

Dexter renamed the UK office of the US business from Atlas Publishing Co Waste Material Publications, to Atlas Publishing Co Incorporated, keeping the London office at 28 Bishopsgate [1]

Dexter saw in the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce an opportunity to elevate the standing of his business, rubbing shoulders with the like of General Electric and Canadian Pacific, and also put his stamp as the premier (only) distributor of American magazines in Britain. Formal recognition of his membership of the organization would underwrite his credibility in the eyes of American publishers keen to get into the British market.

Directors of the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce, 1925

On March 16th 1925 , Atlas became an associate member in full standing of Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce in London (which had been established in 1916) . Atlas could only obtain associate membership, as full membership was reserved for companies owned by US citizens, but it was sufficient to warrant prominent mention in the 1925 edition of the Anglo-American Year Book, which contained multiple official listings of those magazines for which Atlas was the UK agent and official contact point in London.

Edited by Henry R. Amory and B.M. Gardner, The Anglo-American Year Book was a directory produced by the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce in London to promote Anglo-American business within the UK. It was the Anglo-American commerce "bible", produced each year with a foreward by the US Ambassador to the Court of St James.

Atlas publishing were listed in the Year Book as “American Magazine Importers” and as the ONLY American Magazine Importer recognized by the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce.

As shown by the roster below, Atlas had dropped the distribution of 5 magazines they had previously advertised in Summer 1922, but now in March 1925 had a roster of 28 magazines 

Magazines no longer listed were:

• Adventure Magazine (An unusual book to drop, as it was very popular, from Ridgeway's, and ran until 1971)
• Love Story (Again, an unusual drop. Published by Street & Smith until 1954, it was their biggest selling pulp. Circulation around 600,000 in 1929 but settled closer to 300,000 by 1938.[2] 
• Century
• Smith’s (Ended in 1922)
• Everybody’s (Initially, Everybody's Magazine published a combination of non-fiction articles and new fiction stories. By 1926, it had become a pulp fiction magazine and in 1929 it merged with Romance magazine.)

New Roster for 1925 listed were:

By the time the Year Book was published on 11th June 1925 Saucy Stories (UK) had just become Heart to Heart Stories (UK) and was soon to stop publication. However, in August 1925 -  Atlas became the London agents for Bernarr MacFadden's Muscle Builder magazine from Physical Culture Publishing Corporation, along with the Physical Culture magazine itself. The new magazines were completed by hobby magazine Motor Diesel.

First United States Visit by W S Dexter

On 13th Nov 1925 Walter Stephen Dexter first set his foot on US soil, arriving in New York on the SS Berengaria to visit the United States for 14 days.

RMS Berengaria (from Wikipedia).

He was visiting the United States in his position as "publisher", staying at the Pennsylvania Hotel in the heart of Manhattan mid-town.

The Hotel Pennsylvania was a hotel at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Manhattan, across from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Opened in 1919, it was at that time the largest hotel in the world. 

This was a far cry from Dexter's family home at 52 Mount Avenue in Westcliff-On-Sea, a new house in the middle class suburb of Southend, on the Thames estuary.

During his stay in New York, Dexter no doubt visited Street & Smith (whose books he had been importing), Black Mask publishers Pro-Distribution, Clayton to discuss British reprints of World Stories, Howard, Ainslee & Co, and possibly Ridgeway).

Certainly Dexter paid a visit to US publishers Famous Story Magazine Incorporated, of 461 Eight Ave. In fact, Dexter probably picked up the first edition of Famous Story Magazine off the stands outside his hotel. The Famous Story Magazine Co Incorporated offices were one block - less than 5 mins walk - from his hotel.

Route from Pennsylvania Hotel to Famous Story Magazine, Inc

Subtitled 'The World's Best Stories from Modern and Classic Literature', The Famous Story Magazine (USA) was launched in Oct 1925 as a twenty-five cent monthly by George T. Delacorte, Jr., founder of Dell Publishing

With negotiations completed, the Feb 1926 UK edition was a reprint of the Oct 1925 US edition, according to philps.com , with a cover price of 1/-.   

US Edition of Famous Story Magazine #1 (credit Galactic Central)

Although this was Dexter's first visit to the United States, his son Walter James ("Jimmy") Dexter had passed through the United States in 1919 on his way to the Far East, and earlier on Jan 17th 1925 son Walter James Dexter (who was an agent for the South British insurance Co) had arrived at Ellis Island, in transit to Shanghai China where he worked, staying in New York at the Hotel Netherlands for 7 days.

It is highly likely that son Jimmy had visited pulp publishers on his father's behalf that January, negotiating the representation of the magazines listed in the Anglo-American Year Book later that year. 

Whether Dexter Senior enjoyed his time in New York City goes unrecorded. His hotel was famed for its cocktails, but in 1925 America was in the grip of alcohol prohibition. Black Mask owner H.L. Mencken wrote in 1925 that prohibition was not working. 

Nonetheless, if one is so inclined, below is a recipe for the hotel's most famous cocktail.

© Ian Baker

[1] March 16th 1925   Atlas Publishing Co Incorporated listed as being at 28 Bishopsgate and 150 Lafayette St, NYC in the Anglo-American Yearbook.

[2]  ref Galactic Central - www.philsp.com

History of Atlas Publishing and Distributing - Blog #4

Initial Growth - 1922 - 1924

The next three years were to see a huge growth in Atlas' American magazine business distribution business, and the early steps in actually publishing UK editions of American pulps.  

By the start of 1922, in addition to the prize of a British edition of Saucy Stories, Atlas had secured UK distribution rights for twelve additional US magazines: 8 from Street & Smith , 2 from Ridgeway, 1 from The Century Co and 1 from Howard, Ainslee & Co [1]

The relationship with Street & Smith would continue for forty years.

Unlike the Saucy Stories deal, these magazines were likely sourced from remaindered US editions, returned from retailers and unsold editions returned from US wholesalers.

Street & Smith was by far their biggest supplier.

17th Mar 1922 saw the first UK classified advert by a retailer for Saucy Stories at 6d, advertised as 

"Special Lines at D. G. McLAREN’S., STATIONER & NEWSAGENT,  57 BARCLAY STREET, STONEHAVEN" Included "NOVELS, from 6d upwards. AMERICAN MAGAZINES, 9d each. SAUCY STORIES, 6d" [2]

Stonehaven was in the far north-east of Scotland.

The Summer 1922 edition of industry paper Mainly About Books (M.A.B.) contained an advert for Atlas listing 12 American magazines of which they had "back issues at job prices". No mention is made of Saucy Stories, presumably because there was no significant back-issue inventory of that title.

I suspect that Atlas had bought back issues in bulk - effectively to create a de facto monopoly for the distribution of American Magazines in the UK - and now styled themselves "The American Magazine Depot".

In later years, Walter S Dexter, Managing Director and Publisher of Atlas, would create a separate company "THE MAGAZINE COMPANY" at 18 Bride Lane for the purposes of selling to trade customers.

Dexter was also working on making inroads into the distribution of Bernarr MacFadden's magazines and books dedicated to physical improvement. This was a popular genre with the public.

By August 1922, Atlas had secured a contract to distribute US editions of Macfadden's Physical Culture ,  displacing MacFadden's first London Agent agent W T Edgar Co. Ltd, of 51-52 Chancery Lane, who had only held the contract for one year.

Black Mask

The success of the British edition of Saucy Stories led US publisher E.F. Warner to strike a similar deal with Atlas to print a British edition of Black Mask, to be published by Atlas in the UK.

Atlas started distribution of Black Mask with the 15th June 1923 issue. This was to be printed in the US by publishers Pro-Distribution of NY until Nov 1939, when Atlas started publishing a UK edition printed by Morrison & Gibb of London & Edinburgh, as a result of the start of hostilities in World War Two. 

I have yet to locate a cover scan of the the first UK edition of Black Mask, but I assume that the US cover below is that also used for the British edition.

The US edition of first Atlas Black Mask 1923-06-15 - Courtesy of Galactic Central.

The versions of Black Mask published by Atlas - printed for Atlas in the US from 1923 until the Nov 1939 issue - are erroneously referred to as "British Reprint" versions, but actually they should be termed "UK Price Variants", because they were printed in the same print run as the US edition, in the US. From a collector's viewpoint, they are rarer than the corresponding US edition, and should logically attract as price premium.

Indicia of Saucy Stories showing US printing and UK publishing by Atlas.

UK edition of Black Mask V1 #2, July 1 1923 - courtesy of Galactic Central

US Version for comparison  - courtesy of Galactic Central

In addition to distributing the US edition of MacFadden's Physical Culture, Atlas struck a deal to carry MacFadden's book range also. The back cover of Aug 1 1923 Saucy Stories UK edition carries ads for Bernarr MacFadden's self-improvement books, as Atlas continued to style itself "The American Magazine Depot", a term first adopted the previous summer . 

Dexter also had his eye on officially distributing the pulps published by MacFadden, who was the owner of True Detective and True Romances, amongst others.

By 1924, Atlas was starting to be recognized as a force in the publishing industry. The Newspaper Press Directory for 1924 listed Atlas as the publisher of Black Mask[3], but omitted mention of the other Atlas publication Saucy Stories. Black Mask had acquired a certain respectability due to the quality of its writers, but Saucy Stories was seen as decidedly down-market. A letter in the Sporting Times of 5th July 1924 read: 

"She was reading. it was when I saw what she was reading that I got the shock of life. It was a magazine called Saucy Stories"

Publisher Walter S Dexter had laid the foundation for a strong American magazine import business, but to be successful he needed institutional respectability and the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce would provide that in 1925.

© Ian Baker 2024

[1] Summer 1922 edition of industry paper Mainly About Books (M.A.B.)

[2] Source: Mearns Leader, Kincardinshire, Scotland.  Not clear why Saucy Stories British edition was cheaper than the American imports, especially as the cover price was 9d.

[3] Newspaper Press Directory  -  1924  (p 232)

History of Atlas Publishing and Distributing - Blog #3

1916-1921 - Saucy Stories

Saucy Stories (UK) Dec1 1922 - from philsp.com

Indicia from back cover of Saucy Stories (UK)

As noted in a previous blog entry, Atlas' first incursion into the UK distribution of US magazines was Puck, which Atlas distributed from November 1914 until 20th June 1917 edition, at which time Puck had switched to subscription-only for foreign readers by its US publisher Hearst , and Atlas lost the contract to distribute in the UK.

Walter S. Dexter, Atlas' publisher,  had his eye on distributing other American magazines. Some magazines had already enjoyed UK distribution. Certainly the US pulp magazine Parisienne had found its way to the UK since 1915 and the US edition of the pulp Saucy Stories since its Nov 1916 edition [1]. Copies of both pulps had been lodged with the British Library by whoever distributed those early US editions in the UK.

1916 was also the year of the establishment of the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce in London, in which Dexter was yet to take an interest.

By July 1917, Dexter had competition for distribution rights. UK bookseller W.H. Smith and Sons had already secured distribution rights for The Smart Set in and around London.[2]

By 1918, American magazines were not uncommon in Great Britain. Snappy Stories, Smart Set, Saturday Evening Post, Century, Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine and Judge were all known to the British public.  [3] 

As H.L. Mencken later pithily wrote [6]:

"Word had reached us that the English unintelligensia had come to know and love fifth-rate American Fiction during the War."

In 1919, with the war in Europe over, the Smart Set  circulation manager John ("Jack") .W. Glenister was sent to England and France by E F Warner to try to open a market for returned copies of Saucy Stories and Parisienne. Like all newsstand magazines at the time, pulps were sold to US retailers as "SoR" (Sale or Return). If those returned copies, usually destroyed or defaced by the retailer, could be sold on to a UK wholesaler, then overall profitability of the titles would increase.

Glenister arrived in Liverpool 10th April 1919 on the White Star ship "Celtic", and then traveled to London to stay at the Waldorf hotel. He had a list of ten potential UK distributors to visit, and with one - Hachette and Company - in Paris, France. His intention was to travel both to England and France for the purposes of negotiating the  "Distribution and Sale of"  magazines [4].

J.W. Glenister 1920

The ten British companies Glenister intended to visit were:

• Rolls House Publishing Co
• William Dawson & Sons,
• Dorland Advertising Agency
• W.H. Smith & Son
• Atlas Publishing Co., 25 Bride Lane, London
• Gander & Gander (??) 
• London Associated Wholesale Newsagents
• Horace Marshall & Son
• George Vickery
• City and Suburban Pub Co

Of these companies, only Rolls House, William Dawson & Sons, Dorland, W.H. Smith, Atlas and Horace Marshall & Son had a telephone at their offices in London. The remaining wholesalers were minor players at best, and were quickly de-selected.

Of the remaining contenders, William Dawson & Sons had a single location plus an export department, and had a business partnership with Rolls House Publishing, based at the same location,(5 Breames Buildings, Chancery Lane) which focused on producing periodicals ; W.H. Smith were a UK household name, and already had a track record of distributing The Smart Set in England and had bookseller kiosks across the country ; Horace Marshall & Son had four wholesale locations in London, but no nationwide presence ; and Atlas had both distribution facilities and retail bookshops in London, plus a track record of distributing Puck.

Dorland was an unusual contender, having no active wholesale business. However, Dorland was a known quantity. It had started life when John M Dorland founded the Dorland Agency in Atlantic City, USA, establishing a London office in 1905. It had a track record of successfully moving into different business arenas, and it had a very impressive office at 16 Regent Street.

© Historic England - Dorland Advertising Agency 1920

According to H.L. Mencken [6], 

"He [Glenister] made a deal with one of the English wholesale newsagents and returned triumphant, but when the contracts he had signed were examined by Crowe's lawyers it appeared that he had made himself a party to them and was entitled to a substantial commission."

Glenister returned to New York sailing from Plymouth, England , leaving on May 21st 1919, arriving back n New York on 31st May.

Within days, the industry trade paper Printers Ink reported on June 12th 1919:

Magazines Have British Editions 

The Parisienne and Saucy Stories New York, have established British editions, to be distributed through the British News Company, a new company owned by the Dorland Advertising Agency, of London.

This was followed up by a glowing press release published in Advertising & Selling v.29:no.1-27 (August 23 1919 edition):

American Organizes British News Company 

John W. Glenister, of The Warner Publications, recently returned to this country from a two months' visit to France and England . While in Great Britain, Mr. Glenister established British editions of Parisienne  and Saucy Stories, and was instrumental in organizing the British News Company, a concern which will handle the independent distribution of American magazines in Great Britain.  

 Hedley P. Somner, of the Dorland Advertising Agency, an English firm, co- operated with Mr. Glenister in the establishment of the new concern, which will be owned by his agency. While in London, Mr. Glenister met James R. Quirk, publisher of the Photoplay Magazine, who immediately proceeded to establish a British edition of his paper upon learning of the organization of the new company. 

 The British News Company is at the present time distributing large quantities of the Pictorial Review, Popular Science, Metropolitan and Physical Culture.

Glenister's meeting with James R Quirk took place between Quirk's arrival in London at the Savoy Hotel around 8th May 1919 (having arrived in Liverpool the previous day) and Glenister's departure from Plymouth on May 21st. Their respective hotels were (and are) only 0.2 of a mile from each other.

Glenister's final paragraph above is probably a spin on the fact that the new British News Company had acquired a job lot of said magazines and was in process of selling them. At this time Physical Culture had no London agent, relying on foreign postage subscriptions, and the first British distributor was W.T. Edgar & Sons. Similarly, Popular Science's London agent in 1919 was International News Company

[Check internet archive for issues of Photoplay, Metropolitan, Pictorial Review  in Aug 1919, to see who was distributing them]

Glenister's business contact at Dorland, Hedley P Somner, had a colorful past. Born in Derby, England in 1876, he had immigrated to the US in 1890, but had returned to the UK to subsequently get married. Over the next thirty years he had a variety of jobs (Representative of the Swiss Government Railroad; Manager of a Foreign Business; etc), frequently traveling between Liverpool,  New York and Boston . By 1918, he had settled in Paddington, London.

As H.L. Mencken related:

   "Warner.....decided to go on with the contracts for a while. When it developed that the profit under [the contracts] was very small, he refused to deliver any more remainders." 

I can find no evidence so far of the Dorland Advertising Agency creating a separate British News Company. In fact, there is no record of The British News Company existing as a separate legal entity in the London telephone directories, or in the records of Companies House.

However, Dorland did set up a Wholesale Newsagency Department in an unprepossessing property at 41 Lisson Grove, Paddington, London for the year of 1920 only, far away from their head office at 16 Regent Street, within half a mile of Hedley Somner's residence in Chalfont Court. By 1921, the office had closed, presumably as a result of Warner cancelling the contract.

The Dorland Wholesale Newsagency address as of 2024. © Google

Glenister left Warners in 1920 or 1921. By 1923 , Hedley Somner was no longer in Dorling's employ, instead carrying on business at The Travel Club, Trafalgar Buildings, 1, Charing Cross, London. He was adjudged bankrupt at the London High Court of Justice on 8 September 1923 [7] . 

Of the remaining list of potential distributors investigated by Glenister, Atlas' willingness to be both publisher and distributor and take on publishing risk, made it the prime contender for a new relationship with Warners. 

Certainly, early in 1921 Atlas agreed with Warner that Inter-Continental Publishing Corp would produce a version of Saucy Stories specifically for the UK, likely starting with the Jan 1 1922 issue, to be printed in the US with English pricing, to be shipped to the UK, with Atlas designated as the Sole Agent for Great Britain. This time Warner would have a firm commitment and predictable profit from Atlas for a defined number of copies per issue, with no considerations of Sale or Return.

In the absence of an extant copy of Saucy Stories UK Vol 1, #1, an educated guess (thanks to Sai S. of pulpflakes.com)  - Saucy Stories UK publication (Vol 1 #1) would have started with the Jan 1 1922  issue if we rely on volume numbering and regular publication based on a known gap with the US version.  So the assumption is that the UK edition was US edition Vol XI, #6.

My assumption is that the UK version of Saucy Stories was printed at the end of the US print run, with a brief pause to change the pricing plates and back cover advertising copy. 

[Check : Did Atlas also take over the distribution of Popular Science, Metropolitan, Pictorial Review and Physical Culture from Dorling?  

Check : Did Atlas create a business relationship with MacFadden at this time? MacFadden ads appeared on the back of the UK printing Saucy Stories by 1923a.Need to check. ]

By the summer of 1921, Atlas had secured the distribution of Popular Science from the International News Company.

Mainly About Books (M.A.B.) Aug-Sep 1921. Atlas ran a classified ad for a sample issue of Electrical Experimenter, as well as back issues of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. They had not adopted the soubriquet "The American Magazine Depot" yet.

In Oct 1921 Atlas ran the same ad in M.A.B.

The October 1921 ad marked the last time of Atlas being based at 21 Bride Lane. By December 1921, they have moved next door to 18 Bride Lane.

In the Winter of 1921 the Atlas also started publication of their own UK-produced pulp, Fascinating Fiction Library, advertised in the Winter 1921-1922 edition of Mainly About Books (M.A.B.).

FASCINATING FICTION LIBRARY, 6d. Each issue complete, no serials. The Liveliest Fiction published. First four issues post free 1/9d. from The Atlas Publishing; Co, Ltd., 18 Bride Lane, London, E.C.4.

Whether the stories were sourced from UK writers or back issues of US pulps is yet to be established.

1921 also marked the appearance of a new company Atlas Publishing Co. Waste Material Publications with offices at 28, Bishopsgate. [per phone book]. This company was set up to publish the Waste Material publications of the Atlas Publishing Co. (Inc in NY).

© Ian Baker

[1] The British Library's holding of Saucy Stories is dated Nov 1916 to May 1925, as published in New York and London. Index does not mention Atlas. Needs investigation.

[2] Sat 28th July 1917 Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald reported the theft of a batch of 19  "Smart Set" magazines sent by Messrs W H Smith & Sons, London  to Messrs F.J. Parsons, Ltd, Sandgate Rd. The Smart Set was at this time published by The Smart Set Co. Inc., 456 Fourth Avenue, New York. Owned by E.F. Warner, George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken and E.F. Crowe.

[3] Sat 23rd Feb 1918 - The Sheffield Weekly Telegraph ran an "American Wit and Humour" page with content from American magazines. includes a witty paragraph comparing how Snappy Stories (Clayton), Smart Set, Saturday Evening Post, Century, Ladies Home Journal  would write the story of a man and woman in a passionate embrace. Also featured a mention of "Everybody's Magazine".  All material from "Judge".

[4] J W Glenister passport issued March 3rd 1919. Also his application said he intended to travel on the Olympic from NY on Feb 28th, which he obviously did not make. Passport application found on Ancestry.com

[5] The first issue of Saucy Stories (UK) in the FictionMags Index is dated July 1 1922, and the volume numbering says vol 3 #1. The contents are identical to the July 1 1922 US edition, which is numbered vol. 12 #6. At the time, Saucy Stories was published twice a month, and had 6 issues in a volume.

[6] H.L. Mencken, My Life As Author & Editor . Chapter XXIII

[7] https://theminters.co.uk/getperson.php?personID=I519&tree=eyke

History of Atlas Publishing and Distributing - Blog #2

 1915-1916 - The Creation of the Atlas Publishing Co (Inc in NY)

I'm presuming (to be verified) that the newly renamed Atlas Publishing Company (Inc. in New York) had a role to play in negotiating UK distribution agreements on Dexter's behalf with New York based publishers. 

A close reading of the statement of ownership of the Waste Trade Journal May 11th 1918 does not reveal any UK ownership, but subsequent information from Walter S Dexter's will written in 1944 supports the notion of a business connection by a common employee. I'll elaborate on this in a later blog entry.

Following renaming to Atlas Publishing Co. Inc. (New York City), the New York company continued to publish the Waste Trade Journal, plus also the annual Standard Iron, Steel, Metal Directory. 

The company was jointly owned by publisher Charles H Lipsett (AKA Charles H Lipschitz), born in Russia, (1884-1978) and Benjamin Morris in 1917. According to a January/February 2002 article by Si Wakesberg, the New York bureau chief for Scrap [ 1]:

Charles Lipsett, president and publisher of Atlas Publishing Co. Inc. (New York City)—my employer for about 15 years— .... was a tall, distinguished-looking gentleman. Domineering, headstrong, and penny-pinching, he managed to build a publishing empire that, at one time, offered more than a dozen magazines and daily trade papers.

   Atlas Publishing’s staples included the Daily Metal Reporter, which competed with the American Metal Market; the Daily Mill Stock Reporter, which published news about waste paper, cotton and woolen rags, burlap, and fibers; and the Waste Trade Journal, a pioneer in reporting on the scrap markets, not to mention the company’s largest moneymaker.

   The company also published weekly magazines like the Federal Purchasing Record, which listed what the U.S. government was purchasing for defense purposes prior to World War II, and later the Federal Sales Guide, which reviewed what the government was selling in the postwar period.

The newly-renamed Atlas Publishing Company (Incorporated in New York) had a small senior staff: Harry B Dembe, previously treasurer of the Waste Trade Publishing Company (NY) carried over to the renamed company in 1916 in the role of President & Treasurer. ; Victor Morris, the previous president, had left, as did the company secretary G Burger. Benjamin Abrams was named new Vice-President, with Benjamin Morris as Secretary.

© The Bayonne Times, Monday Oct 24th, 1949

Harry B Denbe (1885-1949) had been a practicing attorney in civil law since 1912, so was well placed to negotiate new contracts. He was later to become a District Judge, as well as senior partner in law firm Denbe & Denbe. [2] As a fellow Russian emigré himself, he was a good friend of Charles Lipsett, which probably influenced his appointment.[3]

By 1918, Harry B Denbe had moved on to set up the Hudson Mill Supply Company before returning to pursue his general practice as an attorney. Benjamin Morris become President/Treasurer at Atlas Publishing; Benjamin Abrams became the  VP; and William Crawford Hirsch appointed Company Secretary. 

© Ian Baker

[1] https://www.isri.org/scrap-articles/a-portrait-of-a-publisher

[2] Harry B Denbe obituary -  The Bayonne Times, Monday Oct 24th, 1949

[3] The Bayonne Evening Review - Sep 7th 1916 - reported that Mr & Mrs Charles H Lipschitz (alternative spelling) had just returned from a New England tour with Mr & Mrs Harry B Dembe.

History of Atlas Publishing and Distributing - Blog #1

Introduction

While researching the history of Doc Savage pulp publication in the UK in the 1950s over at the SuperStuff blog, I ended up getting more and more interested in the wider history of US pulp publications in the UK in the 20th century. It became very clear to me that Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co Ltd was the primary publisher for US pulps in the UK from the 1920s to the 1960s, and along the way I've collected a lot of information about the company.  

Many of you UK readers may know Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co Ltd (not to be confused with the US comic company Atlas who became Marvel) for their reprints of Superman and Batman comics in the 1950s, or their publications of Superman/Batman/Superadventure annuals in the 1960s.  I've set up this blog to document the information I uncover and build a narrative around the growth of the company, and hopefully get input from pulp fans who can shed more light on the subject.

Beginnings - 1868-1915

The Atlas Publishing and Distributing Company Ltd first saw the light of day on Nov 5 1914, when a private company was created by two indivuals with capital of £2000 in £1 shares. 

The new company was to "carry on the business of publishers, advertising agents, booksellers, printers, engravers, lithographers, stationers, etc..". The two subscribers to the business were Walter Stephen Dexter and J.J. Young [4]. The number of directors were to be not less than two, or more than three. The first director was to be W.S. Dexter (permanent), with the others to be determined by subscribers. The registered office was recorded as 21 Bride Lane, London [1].

© Map Ordnance Survey 1916. Location of 21 Bride Lane

21 Bride Lane on the right ; picture © Google Maps

The creation of the company was the brainchild of Walter Stephen Dexter (Nov 17th 1868-Jan 30th 1945), approaching his forty-sixth birthday, who by 1914 was already enjoying business success as a wholesale newsagent and retail bookseller in London. He was an employer, and lived at 166b Upper Kennington Lane, Lambeth, along with his wife Louise Sarah Dexter (nee Warner), and their son Walter James ("Jimmy") Dexter, aged nineteen, a junior clerk at an insurance broker. 

Walter Stephen Dexter came from a modest background. He was born in Walworth, Surrey (now a part of South London), the son of Stephen John Dexter, a carpenter, and Charlotte Axcell. One of five siblings, his mother died when Walter was approaching his fifth birthday

By the time that Walter senior and Louise married on 11th Feb 1894, Walter already had a newsagents business. His future father-in-law Alfred H Warner was a trained printer/compositor , although was working as a warehouseman [perhaps for Dexter?] at the time of their marriage. 

By 1901, aged 32, Walter had expanded his newsagents business to employ staff, although he worked from home.

In 1904, Dexter established his first retail bookshop at 46 Fish Street Hill, London, specialising in "English Newspapers, Magazines, and Books". 

By 1910, he had expanded the locations of his bookstores to include one at 6 Byward Street, London and another at 7 Gresham Street, London, named "Dexter's Books Ltd". 

The business expansion was driven by the increased British public appetite for cheap, popular fiction, and the appearance of American magazines on the stands.

Saarbach’s News Exchange

Dexter’s primary competitor for news distribution was Saarbach’s News Exchange, the international press and printing company built by August Saarbach which distributed newspapers in Europe and America. Saarbach’s business was headquartered in Mainz, Germany.  Saarbach’s News Exchange (or SNE) was already distributing American magazines such as Judge in the UK, and SNE had established an office at 16, John Street, Adeplhi, London.

The opening of hostilities between the UK and Germany in 1914 had caused an upswell of British patriotism, and presented Dexter with a opportunity to expand his business. Many businesses with German names, or German-sounding names, were quickly renaming themselves to more Anglophile names. 

Sidney Whitman of the London Evening News erroneously reported that Saarbach’s News Exchange had renamed itself to the Atlas Publishing and Distributing Company [6], but what is more likely is that Atlas took simply over some of Saarbach’s distributing business. Durham House, Saarbach’s property at 16 John Street was sold at auction on 30th July 1914, two days after the start of the Great War. The premises were subsequently used by the Four Provinces/Irish Club in London.

The Waste Trade Publishing Co

As Dexter expanded his business from wholesale to retail, he began to also take an interest in what was known as the "Waste Trade", which included the business of reclaiming paper, wood and rags for the creation of pulp printing paper. He was likely a subscriber to the Waste Trade industry bible The Waste Trade Journal, an international paper published by the The Waste Trade Publishing Company, which was incorporated in New York in 1906.[3] They were located at 106-108 Fulton St, New York City. By 1912 they had relocated to  136 Liberty Street, NY and had additional offices at 53 West Jackson Blvd, Chicago.

As of this writing (July 30 2024), it is unclear to me whether the New York-based Waste Publishing Company came under the ownership of Atlas, of whether they entered into a partnership with Atlas, but on 15th June 1915 The Waste Trade Publishing Co (Inc NY) officially changed its name to Atlas Publishing Company (Incorporated in NY) , and moved to brand new 3,500 sq ft offices at the front of the 5th floor of a 26 story building at 150 Lafayette Street[5]. 

The Waste Trade Publishing Co. in New York

Dexter had ambitions to bring American magazines to the UK, and a New York presence would be essential to negotiating contracts. Dexter would subsequently set up offices in London for the Atlas Publishing Company (Incorporated in NY), on which subject there will be more later.

Puck

Following the establishment of Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd, the first American magazine that Dexter distributed in the United Kingdom was the 14th Nov 1914 edition of Puck. Founded in 1877, the English-language American edition of Puck had gained notoriety for its political satire and witty, humorous cartoons, and was the first to publish weekly cartoons using chromolithography in place of wood engraving, offering three cartoons instead of one. 

Puck  1914-11-14: Vol 76

Atlas featured in Puck indicia

In 1916, Puck was bought by magnate William Randolph Hearst, and an editorial decision to drop the political satire, focusing instead on fine arts and social fads. As a result, circulation started to drop and the magazine frequency dropped from weekly to bi-weekly. Atlas continued to distribute the magazine in the UK until the 20th June 1917 edition, at which time Puck had switched to subscription-only for foreign readers. The magazine was to close in 1918.

And so, as the year turned to 1915, with the First World War underway, Dexter had the start of a flourishing American magazine distribution business. He had a telephone installed at the Atlas offices at 21 Bride Lane, just off the heart of the British newspaper industry in Fleet Street in London. The company business was listed in the 1915 London phone directory as "Publishers, Wholesale Newsagents, and Exporters"  (my emphasis).

Dexter turned his attention to starting original publishing in the UK. One of the first, perhaps the first, book he published under the Atlas Publishing & Distributing banner was "How To Write Moving Picture Plays" [2]. The increase in popularity of the Moving Picture House made the book a success, and over the following decades Atlas was to publish a variety of "self-help" books on popular subjects.

[Editors note Aug 1 2024: A closer look at the 1915 edition of book "How To Write Moving Picture Plays" by William Lewis Gordon (as seen on the Internet Archive) carries the publisher name as "Atlas Publishing Company, Cincinatti". However, a subsequent page states "Copyright Great Britain & The Colonies", and a small box carries the text "From the press of Stewart & Kidd Company, Publishers, Cincinatti".

Author William Lewis Gordon also wrote "Where To Sell Manuscripts", published by the Standard Publishing Co of Cincinatti, © 1917 and "How To Write Photoplays", published by Writer's Digest, Cincinatti, © 1925, amongst others.

 This requires more investigation to include/exclude "How to Write Moving Picture Plays" as a publication of UK Atlas Publishing & Distributing.]

© Ian Baker

References:

[1] From ’The British & Colonial Printer & Stationer” issue Nov 5 1914

[2] Advertised in Photoplay magazine, 1915

[3] The Waste Trade Publishing Co first business filing Sept 11th 1906, New York State.

[4] Not confirmed, but likely to be James Jarrett Young (b 1868), a Law Writer worked for a Law Stationers in London

[5] Per Mar 13th 1915 The "Real Estate Record and Builder's Guide" report

[6] From "The war on German trade; hints for a plan of campaign" by Whitman, Sidney, compiled from articles published in the London Evening News , 1914