Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 865866867868869870871872873874875876877878879880881882883884885886887888889890891892893894895896897898899900901902902a903904905906907908909910911912913914915916917918919920921 of 1029

a staff going through all of the Knopf back lists because there are books that have been out of print for twenty years that are perfect for paperbacks today. Every year we're finding some. It will take another ten years to unearth the last of them!

Our last acquisition was Pantheon. That came in June of 1961. Pantheon had been started by Kurt Wolfe and his wife Helen, who were German refugees. Kurt Wolfe had been a big publisher in Berlin and had fled from the Nazis and come over here. He started a small but very distinguished publishing house called Pantheon. He had as his sales manager Kyril Scharbert, whose father was the head of the German department at Yale. Kurt Wolfe soon made him a partner.

They began building the Pantheon list. Just a year befor we got them, Pantheon suddenly burst forth with three enormous best-sellers--Dr. Zhivago by Pasternak, Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow, and Born Free. And they had The Leopard, too, That made four!

Sudden success often breeds dissention. While they were a little struggling firm and there was no money to fight over, peace reigned, but, when suddenly Pantheon found itself with four solid best-sellers, the fighting started. Who was going to get what? Who was in charge of what? Scharbert and Wolfe began picking on each other. Wolfe had been backed by the Rose walds of Sears, Roebuck. Their business representative got annoyed with the fighting that was going on. They knew nothing about the publishing business so they decided that they would