Dell is a New York house founded in 1921 and best known for mass-market paperbacks: its early numbered books are mostly reprints, but the Dell First Editions line from 1953 issued true paperback originals.
Dell is an American publisher founded in New York City in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. It began with pulp magazines and comics, became one of the leading US paperback houses, and now survives as an imprint within Penguin Random House.
Delacorte started the business in a one-room office on West 23rd Street with $10,000 and a staff of two. Its first successful magazine was the pulp I Confess, and the satirical Ballyhoo was later a major hit. Dell concentrated on pulps and comics, running its Dell Comics line from 1929 to 1974, and moved into paperback books in the early 1940s. Many early Dell paperbacks carried a map of the story's setting on the back cover, so collectors call them "mapbacks". Later lines included Laurel Editions of classics, Dell First Editions (paperback originals by writers such as John D. MacDonald, Jim Thompson and Elmore Leonard), Yearling and Laurel-Leaf for young readers, and the hardback imprint Delacorte Press. The Dial Press also became part of the Dell group. By the mid-1960s Dell was one of the three leading American paperback publishers.
Doubleday bought Dell in 1976. Bertelsmann bought Doubleday in 1986 and formed Bantam Doubleday Dell. Bertelsmann then acquired Random House in 1998, bringing Bantam Dell into the Random House group, and in 2013 Random House merged with Penguin to form Penguin Random House. Dell Magazines was sold separately in 1996.
Delacorte died at his Fifth Avenue home on 4 May 1991.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Dell's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Dell first editions
What to look for
1940s to early 1950s
Dell's early numbered paperbacks were mostly cheap mass-market reprints of books first issued elsewhere, so a Dell of these years is normally a first Dell printing, not the first edition of the text.
The mapback covers run from Dell 5 in 1943 to the early 1950s; a later printing of Dell 4 was given a map the first printing lacked.
1950s to 1960s
From 1953 the Dell First Editions line issued original novels. For these titles the Dell paperback is the true first edition and the copy collectors want.
1970s to 1990s
No source opened for this check sets out Dell's own paperback printing statements for these decades, so read whatever printing line the book carries and compare it with the date of any earlier hardback.
1940s to early 1950s - Dell's early numbered paperbacks were mostly cheap mass-market reprints of books first issued elsewhere, so a Dell of these years is normally a first Dell printing, not the first edition of the text. - The mapback covers run from Dell 5 in 1943 to the early 1950s; a later printing of Dell 4 was given a map the first printing lacked. 1950s to 1960s - From 1953 the Dell First
How many Dell books does MyVolumes track?
We track 133 editions published by Dell, 97 of them first editions, across 133 books.
