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