Stackpole Books

• 1. Introduction

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  Stackpole Books has been putting military manuals, fishing guides, and survival handbooks into the hands of readers since 1930. But the company's roots reach even further back, into the ink-stained offices of a Pennsylvania newspaper that predates the Civil War. How does a printing operation born in the 19th century evolve into one of America's most durable nonfiction publishing houses? That question threads through nearly a century of war, paperback innovation, corporate mergers, and a deep attachment to the American outdoors.

• 2. Telegraph Press Origins

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  The Evening Telegraph in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was founded in the early 19th century, and it became the institutional ancestor of everything Stackpole would eventually build. In 1901, controlling interest in the Telegraph Press passed to E. J. Stackpole Sr., a businessman who saw the press as more than a newspaper vehicle. His son, Edward J. Stackpole Jr., would inherit the enterprise and transform it. Edward Jr. was not merely a publisher; he was a decorated general who served in World War I and received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. A man shaped by combat and print in equal measure, he would spend decades building a publishing house that kept military history close to its heart.

• 3. Military Books and Stackpole Sons

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  In 1930, Telegraph Press made two pivotal acquisitions. First, it brought in the National Service Publishing Company, a Washington, D.C. firm founded in 1921, and renamed it Military Service Publishing Company. That imprint focused on textbooks for the armed forces, including a title called Army Officer's Guide, which remains in print today in an updated Stackpole edition. Also in 1930, Edward Jr. and his brother Albert launched a separate trade arm called Stackpole Sons, with offices in New York City. Starting in 1936, Stackpole Sons published fiction by Damon Runyon and John Fante alongside autobiographies from Benny Goodman and Huey Long. A brief merger with the Heck Company in the 1940s produced the short-lived imprint Stackpole and Heck, but after that arrangement dissolved, the trade side settled under the simpler name the Stackpole Company.

• 4. Superior Reprints for Soldiers

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  During World War II, Military Services Publishing Company found a practical way to reach servicemen overseas. In 1944 and 1945, the company produced a series of twenty-one paperback reprints, each priced at twenty-five cents and numbered consecutively from M637 to M657. These were called Superior Reprints. They ran about twice the size of the better-known Armed Services Editions, but were still compact enough to fit in a military cargo pocket. Unlike the Armed Services Editions, the Superior Reprints were not given away free; soldiers paid for them. The series leaned toward mystery and detective fiction, and the list included titles by Graham Greene, Liam O'Flaherty, Ring Lardner, and H. H. Munro. Frank Gruber appeared twice, with The Navy Colt at M649 and The Mighty Blockhead at M655.

• 5. Nonfiction Identity in the 1950s

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  By the 1950s, Stackpole had found its voice in nonfiction, with outdoors and history titles anchoring the catalog. Bradford Angier, a wilderness survivalist, became one of the house's signature authors. His books for Stackpole included Feasting Free on Wild Edibles, Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Field Guide to Medicinal Wild Plants, and Looking for Gold, all of which have remained continuously in print. Edward Jr. himself contributed to the house's Civil War list with titles like They Met at Gettysburg, The Fredericksburg Campaign, Chancellorsville, and Sheridan in the Shenandoah. In 1959, the two longtime divisions, Stackpole and Military Service, merged into a unified company called Stackpole Books, finally consolidating nearly three decades of parallel growth under one name.

• 6. Rowman and Littlefield Era

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  In 2015, Rowman and Littlefield acquired Stackpole Books, placing the Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania publisher inside a larger academic and trade group. The following year, Stackpole Magazines were sold separately to Ampry Publishing. By the time of these transactions, Stackpole had extended its catalog beyond military and outdoors into crafts, regional interest, and travel. The house became especially well regarded for fly fishing titles. CEO M. David Detweiler and Publisher and Editorial Director Judith Schnell have led the company through this more recent chapter, maintaining its Mechanicsburg headquarters, where operations moved in 1993.