Selected Special Collections

Armed Services Editions Collection

Archival set of paperbacks published for the American Armed Forces, 1943-47

The outstanding achievement of the Army Library Service during World War II was the publication and distribution of the Armed Services Editions. Guided by an organization of publishers, booksellers, authors, and librarians known as the Council on Books in Wartime, this publishing effort produced, from 1943-1947, over 122 million paperbacks for free distribution to U. S. servicemen. The Armed Services Editions were designed to appeal to a variety of reading tastes and included works ranging from bestsellers to poetry. Only 99 of the 1,324 titles published had previously been reprinted. Between 1943 and 1951 the Library received a complete set of Armed Services Editions, largely as gifts from the Council on Books in Wartime. The collection consists of 1,319 titles.