Gregg Press - Science Fiction

Science Fiction

After Koehlinger left, Beeler developed an idea for a science fiction series with a long-time friend and fellow English department graduate student at Columbia, David G. Hartwell. The idea for the series was to produce permanent hardcover editions of the classics of science fiction, including works still in copyright. Each book in the series offered a facsimile of the first edition of the work with a new introduction written by a contemporary science fiction author. Beeler handled contracts, design and production, while Hartwell made the selections and secured authors for the introductions, some of which were ultimately written by Hartwell himself.

Ultimately 252 titles appeared in the Gregg Press Science Fiction Series between 1974 and 1985. All titles were printed on acid-free paper, sewn and bound in library-grade cloth bindings stamped with a color panel and gold lettering. There were no book jackets, giving the series a permanent library look. Most print runs were under 500 copies. A few titles, most notably Robert A. Heinlein's Destination: Moon, were reprinted, but no one title ever sold more than 1,250 copies.

In addition to the classic titles Hartwell and Beeler also produced sets of titles in series with jackets. These included the Witch World novels of Andre Norton and the Fahfard and Grey Mouser collections of Fritz Leiber.

Authors were usually represented in series with introductions by authorities in the field such as Thomas M. Disch, Lou Stathis and Paul Williams. Many of the Gregg editions were bibliographically important as the first hardback editions of many books, including several by Leiber and Philip K. Dick.

Dust jacket artists included Wayne Barlowe and Vincent Di Fate. Some books featured frontispiece illustrations by Hannah Shapiro. Promotional art for Gregg Press was by Jim McDermott.