Wollheim apologia

The June Locus has an interview with Betsy Wollheim, bringing up the issue of her father's unauthorized first paperback of The Lord of the Rings from Ace Books in 1965. At the time, Don Wollheim was vilified for exploiting (what he thought was) a copyright loophole: his act was denounced as unethical, if not illegal, by readers, SFWA, and Tolkien himself - this is why for decades afterwards the Ballantine edition carried a box on the back cover reading "This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation," and the foreword carried a dark complaint about the "grave discourtesy, to say no more, to issue my book without even a polite note informing me of the project: dealings one might expect of Saruman in his decay rather than from the defenders of the West."

More recently it's become common to excuse or defend Don Wollheim. It's only right, I suppose, that his daughter and heir should speak in his defense, but she says a number of things that are misleading, probably inaccurate, or in the end indefensible.( Read more... )