The Book of ... is a series of speculative fiction collections originally published in paperback by DAW Books from 1972 to 1976.ONeill, John. "The Pocket Best," article at blackgate.com, July 13, 2018.
History The series consists of a succession of similarly-titled single-author short story collections, each gathering together representative samples of the short works of a particular authors then prominent in the field. According to John ONeill, DAW editor/publisher Donald A. Wollheim "more or less pioneered the idea" of such a series, first for Ace Books with an occasional series called "The Worlds of [author's name]" (continued sporadically by other editors after he left Ace), and then for DAW with the present sequence. The concept was later taken up and taken further by Ballantine/Del Rey and Pocket Books with their respective "Best of" series, both of them more ambitious than Wollheim's. ONeill notes that "Like most early DAW efforts though, [the "Book of" collections] were slender volumes; they're also not as numerous, and the packaging isn't nearly as attractive as the Del Rey books [in particular], so they aren't as collectible." Wollheim was also not averse to repackaging collections previously issued by other publishers for his series; a few of its volumes were merely new editions, retitled, of such works. But he was also willing to innovate on the single volume per author pattern he had established; in one instance, a featured author (Fritz Leiber) proved popular enough that an additional collection by that author was issued.
Content The volumes often included a preface or introduction by the author or editor, and in a few instances some material contributed by others. Most volumes also had a frontispiece by artist Jack Gaughan, a frequent contributor of cover and interior art to early DAW publications.
The series Author, DAW publication number, and publication date follow each title.
The Book of van Vogt (A. E. van Vogt) (no. 4, Apr. 1972) The Book of Brian Aldiss (Brian Aldiss) (no. 29, Nov. 1972) The Book of Frank Herbert (Frank Herbert) (no. 39, Jan. 1973) The Book of Philip K. Dick (Philip K. Dick) (no. 44, Feb. 1973) The Book of Gordon Dickson (Gordon R. Dickson) (no. 55, May 1973) The Book of Philip José Farmer (Philip José Farmer) (no. 63, Jul. 1973) The Book of Fritz Leiber (Fritz Leiber) (no. 87, Jan. 1974) The Book of Saberhagen (Fred Saberhagen) (no. 136, Jan. 1975) The Book of Poul Anderson (Poul Anderson) (no. 153, Jun. 1975) The Second Book of Fritz Leiber (Fritz Leiber) (no. 164, Sep. 1975) The Book of Andre Norton (Andre Norton) (no. 165, Oct. 1975) The Book of John Brunner (John Brunner) (no. 177, Jan. 1976)
Comparable series Of the similar sequences of single author series issued by other publishers, Ace Books's The Worlds of [author's name] series ran from 1966-1983, Ballantine/Del Rey's Best of [author's name] series ran from 1974 to 1988, and Pocket Books's Best of [author's name] series ran from 1976 to 1982.
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