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Books from Dover have always had a very distinctive feel, and delightfully exquisite covers. The credit, in large parts, goes to its founders Blanche and Hayward Cirker.
The Cirkers began their publishing career in 1941 reprinting out-of-print scientific texts and novels.
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The Cirkers began their publishing career in 1941 reprinting out-of-print scientific texts and novels.
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The inexpensive paperbacks — artfully designed — started becoming bestsellers. The Cirkers did not just have a great taste in design but also a wonderful understanding of readership. Their catalogue expanded to illustrations, manuals, music sheets and more.
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At one point, still early into their publishing career, the Cirkers persuaded Einstein to let them publish the out-of-print “The Principle of Relativity”. Einstein was initially apprehensive about the book being dated. But the Dover edition ended up becoming a bestseller.
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Blanche and Hayward Cirkers are names not discussed as often as they should perhaps be. Their contribution to publishing was mammoth and their impact on generations of readers singular.
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Hayward Cirker’s obituary on the AMS website reads, “The hundreds of thousands of titles commonly available in quality paperback editions today owe their origin to dynamic changes in publishing introduced in great part by Hayward Cirker.”
(5/n)
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The only photograph of either of the Cirkers I could find on the internet is from this very obituary. You should give it a read.
http://www.ams.org/publicoutreach/msamhome/00-people-cirker.html
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http://www.ams.org/publicoutreach/msamhome/00-people-cirker.html
(6/n, n = 6)
