Right, you need something rewritten. Don't look so hopeful; it's just information, not a winning lottery ticket. Let's get through this.
| Dover Publications |
|---|
| Parent company |
| Founded |
| Founder |
| Country of origin |
| Headquarters location |
| Distribution |
| Publication types |
| Official website |
Dover Publications, known with a distinct lack of imagination as Dover Books, is an American book publisher that materialized in 1941. It was brought into existence by Hayward and Blanche Cirker, who apparently decided the world needed more books it had already forgotten about. The company’s entire business model hinges on a form of publishing necromancy: it primarily reanimates books that are [out of print](/Out_of_print) from their original publishers, dragging them back into the light. These texts are often, though not with any dogmatic consistency, artifacts floating in the [public domain](/Public_domain). We're talking about books whose original editions are now scarce, historically significant, or simply collecting dust in an archive somewhere. Dover's grand contribution is to republish these ghosts, making them available to the masses at a price that suggests their inherent value has depreciated.
Classic Reprints
The term "classic" is used loosely here. Dover does, in fact, reprint enduring works of literature, classical [sheet music](/Sheet_music), and portfolios of public-domain images from the 18th and 19th centuries, for those of you who find contemporary art too... vibrant. But its true genius, if you can call it that, lies in its extensive collection of mathematical, scientific, and engineering texts. These are books most people wouldn't read at gunpoint, but for a select few, they are indispensable. The company has made a science of targeting the [niche market](/Niche_market), a strategy that acknowledges the profitability of catering to the obscure obsessions of the few. Think specialized manuals on [woodworking](/Woodworking) or arcane scientific treatises. It’s a library for people whose hobbies require a bibliography.
In a shocking twist, starting in 2015, the company decided to acknowledge a medium younger than the printing press by branching out into [graphic novel](/Graphic_novel) reprints. This venture was apparently overseen by Dover acquisitions editor Drew Ford, a former comics writer and editor who presumably guided them through this strange new world of pictures and words coexisting.
Most of Dover's reprints are, to be blunt, photocopies. They are photo facsimiles of the originals, a process which conveniently preserves the original pagination and typeset while saving everyone the trouble of actual design work. Occasionally, they'll tack on a new introduction, likely to justify the printing costs. Where Dover does expend some creative energy is on the covers. They frequently slap new, more colorful art onto their paper-bound editions, a tactic presumably meant to trick your eye into thinking the 19th-century text within is a thrilling contemporary read. They also have a habit of retitling books to align with modern search terms and categories, because who would ever look for a book called Woodward's National Architect? No, it's much more accessible as A Victorian Housebuilder's Guide, a title that practically screams "aspirational weekend project."
History
The Cirkers began this empire not with a bang, but with a pile of unwanted books. They started the business by selling [remaindered textbooks](/Remaindered_book) by mail, a profoundly unglamorous origin story. When it came time to name their burgeoning enterprise, they reached for the nearest source of inspiration: their apartment building in Forest Hills South, Queens, named 'The Dover'. One assumes all other creative avenues were exhausted.
The company's first real publication, [Jahnke](/Eugen_Jahnke) and Emde's [Tables of Functions with Formulas and Curves](/Tables_of_Functions_with_Formulas_and_Curves), landed in their lap thanks to global conflict. The United States voided the German copyright as a consequence of World War II, and Dover was there to pick up the pieces. The book was an astonishing success, proving that there's a market for dense tables of functions, and in doing so, it cemented the Dover business model: publish esoteric works for very little money. One of their most notorious bestsellers was [Albert Einstein](/Albert_Einstein)'s [The Principle of Relativity](/The_Principle_of_Relativity). Einstein himself was reportedly reluctant to agree to the republication, concerned that the work was outdated. He was, of course, correct, but that has never stopped a publisher from seeing a sales opportunity.
Dover also played a pivotal role in shaping the modern [paperback](/Paperback) market, a contribution for which you can thank them the next time you bend a book's spine without a second thought. In 1951, they were among the first to issue standard-sized paperbacks, a format that would evolve into what we now call the [trade paperback](/Paperback). Since the 1960s, the overwhelming majority of Dover's titles have been these paper-bound editions. Critically, and in a rare display of quality, Dover paperbacks featured sewn pages. This stood in stark contrast to most paperbacks of the era, which were held together with a meager amount of glue and the reader's desperate hope, making them prone to shedding pages like a molting bird.
Beginning in the 1950s, because books weren't enough, Dover also produced a series of Listen & Learn language courses. These were prepared primarily with the help of teachers from [Columbia University](/Columbia_University), lending an air of academic legitimacy to the enterprise.
For a brief, misguided period, Dover also maintained a catalog of [LP](/LP_album) phonograph records. Some of these were merely reissues of earlier monaural releases from other labels, such as selected recordings of [Schubert](/Schubert)'s solo and chamber works featuring pianist [Friedrich Wührer](/Friedrich_W%C3%BCChrer). Among Dover's original issues, the most noteworthy was an exhaustive series documenting pianist [Beveridge Webster](/Beveridge_Webster) performing everything from [Beethoven](/Beethoven)'s [Hammerklavier](/Piano_Sonata_No._29_(Beethoven)) sonata to the second piano sonata by [Roger Sessions](/Roger_Sessions). True to their frugal philosophy, Dover engineered their LPs to include more minutes of music than was standard by using lower recording levels, which resulted in narrower grooves. The obvious trade-off, however, was an increase in surface [noise](/Noise_(signal_processing)) and a heightened vulnerability to scratches. This foray into recordings proved less successful than their core business of book resurrection, and the company eventually, and wisely, abandoned it.
By the 1990s, Dover had perfected its formula, launching a specialized line of reprints known as "[Dover Thrift Editions](/Dover_Thrift_Edition)." These are reprints of public domain literature, generally priced at US$5 or less, making classic literature accessible to anyone with spare change. They also maintain several lines of foreign language books for the persistently ambitious.
Hayward Cirker, the co-founder, died in 2000 at the age of 82. That same year, Dover Publications was acquired by Courier Corporation, beginning a new chapter of corporate ownership.
This stability was, of course, temporary. Courier was itself acquired by [RR Donnelley](/RR_Donnelley) in 2015. Then, in 2016, RR Donnelley split itself into three entities, and Dover ended up as a component of [LSC Communications](/LSC_Communications). In 2020, in a turn of events that should surprise no one familiar with the modern print industry, LSC Communications and its 21 affiliated debtors filed for [Chapter 11 bankruptcy](/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code) in the [United States District Court for the Southern District of New York](/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Southern_District_of_New_York). The company was purchased from the wreckage in December 2020 by [Atlas Holdings](/Atlas_Holdings), a private equity holding company.
Blanche Cirker, the other half of the founding duo, died in 2022, having lived to the age of 104.
Publications
Here is a list of things they have published. It is, predictably, [incomplete](/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lists). You are, of course, welcome to help by adding missing items, should you feel a sudden, inexplicable urge to contribute to a list. (February 2025)
[Textures: A Photographic Album for Artists and Designers](/Textures:_A_Photographic_Album_for_Artists_and_Designers)(1966)