Signet Classic
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| Parent company | Penguin Group |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1948 |
| Founder | Victor Weybright and Kurt Enoch |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City, New York |
| Imprints | NAL Accent, Obsidian, Plume, Roc, Signet, Signet Eclipse, Signet Select |
| Official website | nalauthors |
The New American Library (NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works, as well as popular and pulp fiction but now publishes trade and hardcover titles. It is currently an imprint of Penguin Random House; it was announced in 2015 that the imprint would publish only nonfiction titles.
New American Library (NAL) began life as Penguin U.S.A. and as part of Penguin Books of England. Because of complexities of exchange control and import and export regulations—Penguin made the decision to terminate the association and the New American Library of World Literature was founded in 1948 by Victor Weybright and Kurt Enoch (formally head of Albatross Books).
Enoch served as president of New American Library from 1947-1965. He later served as head of Book Publishing at Times Mirror and then stepped down to Vice-President when John P. R. Budlong became president of New American Library in 1965.
NAL's productions were not limited to softbound reprints. Original works of mystery, romance, and adventure proved to be profitable and popular. In 1963 the company began publishing hard-copy original publications, such as the immensely popular James Bond "007" series written by Ian Fleming. NAL also published new editions of classic works — for example, a Shakespeare series — which featured renowned scholars, editors, and translators; many of these editions were oriented toward high school and college readership. These paperbound books included subjects in the humanities, the arts, and the sciences. It also published at least two notable "magazines in book form": New World Writing in the 1950s and early 1960s, and New American Review in the latter 1960s and early 1970s (which then moved on to other publishers as American Review).
NAL enjoyed great success; by 1965, its Mentor and Signet books annually sold over 50 million volumes.
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