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Gnome Press was an American small-press company active 1948 – 1962 and primarily known for fantasy and , many later regarded as classics.

Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan. Gnome was important in the transitional period between the genre's publication mainly in magazines up to the 1940s to mainly paperback books in the 1960s, but the company proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction.

In its heyday, Gnome published many major American SF authors of the era. In some cases, Gnome was the first to collect in book form narratives that were first published as separate stories, with Robert E. Howard's Conan series (published in six books from 1950 – 1955) and 's Foundation series (published in three books from 1951 – 1953),

Foundation
The company was founded in 1948 by Martin Greenberg and David A. Kyle, New York science fiction fans and members of the ; Kyle was also a . Greenberg had previously been a partner of specialty press New Collectors Group, which had published The Black Wheel. The address was Gnome Press, Inc., 80 E. 11th St. New York 3, N.Y. Gnome Press Newsletter Image Accessed 2011-12-30 Kyle contributed less and less to the press as other business interests took up more of his time.

Greenberg should not be confused with later SF anthologist Martin H. Greenberg, nor his company with the imprint Greenberg: Publisher, a separate firm established in 1924 and producing some science fiction between 1950 and 1958. There was no association between the two publishers, despite a common assumption among some fans.see archives on Greenberg: Publisher at the Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections for correspondence between publisher and authors Theodore Sturgeon and A.E. Van Vogt on their novels, as well as a history of the company

History
Gnome Press concentrated on authors who were at the height of their popularity writing for Astounding Science Fiction, the American leading science fiction magazine of the time. Authors published by Gnome included , Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, L. Sprague de Camp, Gordon R. Dickson, Robert A. Heinlein, C. L. Moore, Clifford D. Simak, and A. E. Van Vogt.

Gnome's early books were well-printed and featured jacket work by . Gnome editions featured illustrative material (cover art, illustrations, maps and designs) from science fiction artists such as , , Chesley Bonestell, Edd Cartier, , Frances E. Dunn, , Frank Kelly Freas, James Gibson, Harry Harrison, , , , , L. Robert Tschirky, Walter I. Van der Poel, Jr., and .

Gnome Press's first book was The Carnelian Cube by and L. Sprague de Camp, an original novel originally contracted by the New Collectors Group. It was the first to publish Isaac Asimov's I, Robot and Foundation Trilogy, brought Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories back from pulp obscurity, first published Arthur C. Clarke, and introduced science fiction's first themed anthology, Men Against the Stars. The latter was followed by such other theme anthologies as Journey to Infinity, The Robot and the Man, Travellers of Space, All About the Future, and a book of articles about the future as seen from a science fictional point of view, Coming Attractions.

The press also published many of Robert A. Heinlein's classics, and Children of the Atom by . worked as a reader for Gnome Press in the 1950s, and also had two of her novels, and Sargasso of Space, published by the company under the pseudonym "Andrew North".

Controversy surrounds the Gnome Press editions of Robert E. Howard's "Conan" stories. Though it placed the material in print for the first time since its original appearance in , the seven volumes it published also included one not written by Howard ( The Return of Conan) and one of non-Conan Howard stories rewritten as Conan by L. Sprague de Camp ( Tales of Conan). The works Gnome published in the Conan series are Conan the Conqueror (1950), The Sword of Conan (1952), The Coming of Conan (1953), (1953), Conan the Barbarian (1954), Tales of Conan (1955), and The Return of Conan (1957).

The worst selling book in Gnome Press history was 1955's new novel Reprieve from Paradise by H. Chandler Elliott.

Many of Gnome's titles were reprinted in England by .

Book club
As Gnome Press started to publish new books, Greenberg and Kyle set up the Fantasy Book Club, a subscription service designed to sell Gnome publications and books from other publishers at a discount. They also produced calendars featuring the black and white fantasy art of Hannes Bok and Edd Cartier. In the waning years of the company (1955 – 1961), Gnome Press bought small quantities of unbound signatures from the defunct specialty publisher Fantasy Press and had them cheaply bound to be sold through its Pick-A-Book operation (a later, revised incarnation of the Fantasy Book Club), an early form of direct-mail sales that formed the basic idea for Doubleday's more successful Science Fiction Book Club. Most of the Gnome Press books were hardcover, but some few titles saw later paperback editions as Greenberg experimented, using his remaining stock of unbound sheets, with several titles bound in inexpensive paper covers as a test to see if such an effort could help to keep the company afloat. But with his Pick-A-Book hardcover titles already going for as little as $1.00 per book, the experiment did not save enough money to be profitable and was dropped (and these few paperbound titles are among the scarcest of Gnome Press collectibles today).

Failure
Gnome Press did not have much capital or access to distribution facilities, and relied on selling its books directly to fans by mail. According to Filmfax, Greenberg couldn't keep top science fiction and fantasy writers, who wanted more money and went over to bigger publishers like Doubleday. The larger publishers had more money, marketing and distribution outlets (the ability to sell wholesale to bookstores). Financial mismanagement also cut into Gnome's ability to retain authors. The company was notorious for not paying its writers royalties due, which is ultimately what led to its failure. Author Isaac Asimov claimed he was never paid for the publication of the Foundation books, and called Greenberg "an outright crook". In his biography, I. Asimov: A Memoir, Asimov provides a short chapter on his own frustrating interactions with Gnome Press, as well as some good detail on its publisher, Martin Greenberg. Asimov and other authors were able eventually to get back the rights to their books so they could go to other, more lucrative deals.

Martin Greenberg continued to cut costs at Gnome Press, through smaller editions, cheaper paper, and various promotions to sell back inventory. He was ultimately forced to close due to financial troubles, and Gnome folded in 1962 due to a long drawn-out lawsuit, leaving the only American viable small press in the science fiction and fantasy field. When Gnome Press went out of business, it was $100,000 in debt.

Greenberg died in the fall of 2013, and Kyle in the fall of 2016.

Legacy
Gnome Press publications are collected, and many of the books in well used condition can be inexpensively obtained (as of 2015 Amazon.com was offering several in the $10–$20 range). Other items are expensive. The calendars are particularly scarce. Among the books I, Robot, either in hardcover form or the Armed Forces paperback edition set from its plates, is in particular demand.

Works published
1940s
  • The Carnelian Cube, by L. Sprague de Camp and (1948)
  • The Porcelain Magician, by Frank Owen (1948)
  • Pattern for Conquest, by George O. Smith (1949)
  • , by Robert A. Heinlein (1949)
  • The Thirty-First of February, by Nelson Bond (1949)

1950s
  • Men Against the Stars, edited by Martin Greenberg (1950)
  • The Castle of Iron, by L. Sprague de Camp and (1950)
  • Minions of the Moon, by William Gray Beyer (1950)
  • Conan the Conqueror, by Robert E. Howard (1950)
  • I, Robot, by (1950)
  • , by Clifford D. Simak (1950)
  • , by (1951)
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow & The Fairy Chessmen, by (1951)
  • Renaissance, by Raymond F. Jones (1951)
  • Typewriter in the Sky & Fear, by L. Ron Hubbard (1951)
  • Travelers of Space, edited by Martin Greenberg (1951)
  • Journey to Infinity, edited by Martin Greenberg (1951)
  • Foundation, by (1951)
  • The Mixed Men, by A. E. van Vogt (1952)
  • City, by Clifford D. Simak (1952)
  • Robots Have No Tails, by (1952)
  • Judgment Night, by C.L. Moore (1952)
  • The Sword of Conan, by Robert E. Howard (1952)
  • Five Science Fiction Novels, edited by Martin Greenberg (1952)
  • Sands of Mars, by Arthur C. Clarke (1952)
  • , by (1952)
  • Foundation and Empire, by (1952)
  • Children of the Atom, by Wilmar H. Shiras (1953)
  • , by (1953)
  • Mutant, by (1953)
  • Shambleau and Others, by C.L. Moore (1953)
  • The Complete Book of Outer Space, edited by (1953)
  • The Coming of Conan, by Robert E. Howard (1953)
  • , by Robert E. Howard (1953)
  • The Robot and the Man, edited by Martin Greenberg (1953)
  • , by (1953)
  • Against the Fall of Night, by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
  • Second Foundation, by (1953)
  • Conan the Barbarian, by Robert E. Howard (1954)
  • Undersea Quest, by and (1954)
  • Mel Oliver and Space Rover on Mars, by (1954)
  • Northwest of Earth, by C.L. Moore (1954)
  • The Forgotten Planet, by (1954)
  • , by L. Sprague de Camp (1954)
  • Prelude to Space, by Arthur C. Clarke (1954)
  • , by and James E. Gunn (1955)
  • , by F.L. Wallace (1955)
  • Sargasso of Space, by (1955)
  • Tales of Conan, by Robert E. Howard (1955)
  • This Fortress World, by James E. Gunn (1955)
  • All About the Future, edited by Martin Greenberg (1955)
  • Reprieve from Paradise, by H. Chandler Elliott (1955)
  • Science Fiction Terror Tales, edited by (1955)
  • Highways in Hiding, by George O. Smith (1956)
  • Undersea Fleet, by and (1956)
  • , by (1956)
  • , edited by (1956)
  • Interplanetary Hunter, by Arthur K. Barnes (1956)
  • The Shrouded Planet, by Robert Randall (pseudonym of Robert Silverberg and ) (1957)
  • The Return of Conan, by and L. Sprague de Camp (1957)
  • , edited by (1957)
  • , by (1957)
  • Two Sought Adventure, by (1957)
  • Coming Attractions, edited by Martin Greenberg (1957)
  • They'd Rather Be Right, by and Frank Riley (1957)
  • The Seedling Stars, by (1957)
  • Earthman's Burden, by and Gordon R. Dickson (1957)
  • Path of Unreason, by George O. Smith (1958)
  • Starman's Quest, by Robert Silverberg (1958)
  • Undersea City, by and (1958)
  • Tros of Samothrace, by (1958)
  • , edited by (1958)
  • Methuselah's Children, by Robert A. Heinlein (1958)
  • The Survivors, by (1958)
  • The Bird of Time, by (1959)
  • The Dawning Light, by Robert Randall (pseudonym of Robert Silverberg and ) (1959)
  • , by (1959)
  • , edited by (1958)
  • The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
  • The Menace from Earth, by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)

1960s
  • The Vortex Blaster, by Edward E. Smith (1960)
  • Agent of Vega, by James H. Schmitz (1960)
  • Drunkard's Walk, by (1960)
  • Invaders from the Infinite, by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1961)
  • , by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D. (1951) (Note: Gnome Press reprinted this book directly from the edition, including the "First Edition" statement, even though it is a reprint edition, making it one of the most notoriously tricky titles for collectors of science fiction first editions.)
  • The Philosophical Corps, by Everett B. Cole (1962)

Footnotes

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