Gnome Press was a small publisher of science fiction and fantasy that existed from 1948 to 1962. Despite its small size, Gnome had an enormous impact on the future of speculative fiction by, among other things, being the first to publish in hardcover format novels by many of the greatest SF authors of all time, including Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, C. L. Moore, and Robert E. Howard.
Alas, the history of Gnome is a cautionary tale. The company played a pivotal role in lifting the SF genre out of the pulp magazines and into literary respectability, but it never achieved true success of its own. This video is about the story of Gnome Press.
0:41 Origins of Gnome Press
4:02 Gnome’s first books in 1948-49
4:58 Proof of concepts
5:56 The period 1950-54
7:05 Iconic dust jacket artwork
8:34 Gnome’s business challenges
13:18 The period 1955-59
14:22 Gnome’s collapse, 1960-62
15:26 The legacy of Gnome Press
18:55 Related reading material
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A really informative video – thanks! I had only heard of Gnome Press when I was researching a reading order for the Robert E. Howard Conan stories so this was illuminating.
Fantastic video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and passion for literature.
I like the use of the phrase 'Speculative Fiction' rather than science fiction. 🙂
Well done! I first read CONAN THE CONQUEROR by way of its Gnome Press edition.. I was eight years old and found it in a local public library. That kind of changed my life.
Very interesting… Now, I'm somewhat of a dabbler in publishing, but one thing that surprises me is the big deal about paperbacks. I've heard before how it changed the market, and on the other had, how small houses like Gnome had difficulty jumping the paperback trade. So, what was the deal? Not enough printers? Monopoly in the technology? Issues designing layouts for compact scale? It just sounds strange reading about it… from a print on demand paperback.
I don't know why YT decided to show me this….
😛
Outstanding. Some real literary history in a sea of vulgarity.
This was incredible Bridger!
Most interesting. I'd heard of Gnome but was only dimly aware of their history, and I thought they'd actually gone out of business in the mid-50s.
Very well done. By coincidence, I ordered Eshbach's book last month & am looking forward to reading it, not only because his era is my favorite period of sf but also because once upon a time I was trained to be a book editor (though I wound up going into newspapers instead — far more job opportunities, at least at the time). In the '90s I picked up maybe three Gnome Press volumes for very cheap at Little Rock library book sales (I think Shambleau, Earthman's Burden & I, Robot), but they're library discards & hence unfortunately have no dustjackets. The library in my diminutive Arkansas hometown had at least one later Gnome title, Pohl's Drunkard's Walk, in its sf section of probably fewer than 40 titles.
Great Video- Would love to see a full library tour of your collection even though I have a hunch it might be a few hours long!
Shhh. Don't talk about Gnome.
Fascinating, Captain. I have to ask though: Has your voice been a bit robotically deepened via computer or have I read too much SF?
I enjoy your video so much, it is such a fascinating information video 😄
This was a wonderful video essay, and I remain seriously impressed by your book collection.
Horay for Gnome!
This channel rules
I love your channel so educational and amazing entertainment
Thanks for this video. It is very interesting.
Talking about the remuneration authors got from these pulp magazines. Didn't Heinlein in Grumbles From The Grave buy a house with the proceeds of his first short story or two? The way he tells it, he got into writing short stories because of the insane profits. Of course these profits are not compared to novels just to other jobs he could be doing like engineering, etc.
This was a good and informative video essay
I love your channel! Are you filming in a bookstore?
The background music sound like Xenoblade
Man these books look like they're in pristine condition. Those Conan books…oh man they look so perfect!!! Super jealous. (Chef's kiss)
At 2:19 seconds you pictured the January 1948 issue of Weird Tales,I own a copy of that it came from eBay and amazingly despite being 74 years old it’s in fantastic condition,didn’t cost much either. This was awesome.