"[Wollheim] had great taste. He was an incredibly keen fan of adventure fantasy, from Edgar Rice Burroughs on. He was the first publisher to offer the world a paperback edition of a Howard novel: Conan the Conqueror as one half of a 1953 Ace Double (two short novels published back to back) with Howard’s great admirer, Leigh Brackett’s The Sword of Rhiannon. -- Michael Moorcock, 2020

As an editor/publisher of sword-and-sorcery/heroic fantasy fiction, Donald A. Wollheim has no equal. Don's active career in the genre started in the mid-1930s and only ended in the late 1980s. A full half-century of profound influence that I have partially recounted in the first two parts of this series.

At the end of Part Two, I stated that Wollheim said goodbye to Ace Books and founded the first paperback publishing house devoted to SFF in late 1971. That company was called DAW Books, 'DAW' being an acronym of Wollheim's name. I cover the general history of DAW Books here. By most accounts, the very first book that DAW Books published was Andre Norton's The Spell of the Witch World. While not really S&S, the 'Witch World' books are definitely heroic fantasy. The Norton book is also notable for the fact that Norton had been publishing her 'Witch World' books over at Ace for a decade. However, it was Don who brought her to Ace and solicited the first 'Witch World' novel…and Norton followed him to DAW.

DAW published its first books in March of 1972. Two Witch World novels were all the heroic fantasy for that year. 1973 saw Saberhagen's heroic fantasy, Changeling Earth, hit the book racks. 1974 was when things began to kick up a notch.

January of 1974 saw The Book of Fritz Leiber published, which contained a tale of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Michael Shea's S&S pastiche of Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever, The Quest for Simbilis, came out just weeks after. Philip Jose Farmer's well-nigh-unclassifiable tale of exotic high adventure, Hadon of Ancient Opar, debuted in April. DAW Books published Lin Carter's heroic fantasy, The Warrior of World's End, in November.

The summer of 1975 heralded a new 'Gondwane/World’s End' book by Lin Carter as well as Tanith Lee's groundbreaking debut S&S novel, The Birthgrave. Tanith Lee submitted her classic novel to DAW Books first because she loved the imprint so much. She knew that Don Wollheim delivered the goods. Wollheim returned that admiration, dubbing her the “Empress of Dreams”. That autumn, the first volume in DAW's 'The Year's Best Fantasy Stories' anthology series saw the light of day. Edited by Lin Carter, the anthology featured a Faf and the Mouser tale, an REH yarn of Cormac Mac Art and Carter's own Thongor. However, its main significance, historically, is the first publication in mass market paperback of Charles R. Saunders' S&S hero, Imaro.

DAW Books was on the verge of unleashing a tsunami of sword-and-sorcery.

The bicentennial year of 1976 started slowly, S&S/heroic fantasy-wise. Things finally kicked in that summer. Tanith Lee's The Storm Lord hit the stands, soon followed by Farmer's Flight to Opar. Late summer and early autumn saw the second volume of 'Year's Best Fantasy' and another 'Gondwane' book from Lin Carter. Then an albino with a soul-drinking sword showed up... It should be noted that Elric had been published in American paperbacks before 1976. By Lancer Books--the publisher of the Conan paperbacks--as a matter of fact. They didn't sell very well. The supposed wonder boys at Lancer fumbled the ball. The infamous Lancer bankruptcy that tied up the rights to Conan for half a decade liberated Michael Moorcock to seek another publisher. He chose Don Wollheim and DAW Books--see the quote that heads this post.

Wollheim published Elric of Melniboné and talked Moorcock into writing more stories that would take place before Stormbringer. Don would also make his newest artistic discovery, Michael Whelan, sole cover artist on the series. Sword-and-sorcery history was made.

Elric of Melnibone hit the book racks in October of 1976, followed by The Sailor on the Seas of Fate in December. At that point, DAW Books was, basically, the biggest and greatest S&S/heroic fantasy publisher in the world. No Conan books were being printed by anybody and Leiber's S&S tales at Ace--originally published by Wollheim in the '60s--were not outselling the Elric books. Wollheim had broken Moorcock's Elric wide open in the US market and sword-and-sorcery would never be the same.

Moorcock pretty much owned 1977 at DAW. Not only were the rest of the Elric volumes published, but Don also brought out all four of the Hawkmoon/Runestaff novels. In addition, another 'Gondwane' novel by Carter and a 'Year's Best Fantasy' volume came out. That one featured Wagner's "Two Suns Setting", a 'Nial' story by Gardner Fox and a new tale of Imaro. All told, roughly ten books containing S&S content. Nobody else in the world was doing anything close to that. DAW Books had been in business for just five years.

Things slowed down a little in 1978. Two sequels to Tanith Lee's The Birthgrave were published: Vazkor, Son of Vazkor and The Quest for the White Witch. Plenty of Moorcock and Andre Norton titles were reprinted. Another 'Gondwane' novel came out, as did the fourth volume of 'The Year's Best Fantasy'. This volume was strong, with good tales by Poul Anderson and others.

April of 1979 witnessed the publication of Heroic Fantasy. Many consider it the finest anthology of original/non-reprint heroic fantasy/S&S ever put together. Amazons! followed several months later. It featured solid tales by C.J. Cherryh and others, but it is most famous for debuting Charles R. Saunders' S&S heroine, Dossouye. Finally for 1979, December also saw the publication of Richard Purtill's The Golden Gryphon Feather, a heroic fantasy set in Mycenaean/Homeric Greece.

1980 saw Lin Carter's Lost Worlds published. It contained two tales of Thongor and also Lin's execrable 'completion' of the REH Kull fragment variously labeled as 'The Stagus Fragment' and 'Riders Beyond the Sunrise'. Tanith Lee's Kill the Dead was published in September. Her novel was an atmospheric tale of heroic fantasy in the Klarkash-Tonian mode.

That year was most notable for the publication of two volumes of the Carter-edited 'The Year's Best Fantasy Stories'. Volume Five came out in January and Six was published in November. Five was solid, with tales from Tanith Lee, Evangeline Walton and Adrian Cole. Six was especially strong. It featured a Dilvish story from Zelazny, a 'Traveler in Black' tale from John Brunner, a Fafhrd & Mouser story from Leiber, a Thongor tale from Carter and the debut of Tanith Lee's S&S protagonist, Cyrion. Carter went out on a win, as later events would reveal.

The year of 1981 started off quite slow, S&S-wise. The third volume in Tanith Lee's Dunsanian/Klarkash-Tonian 'Tales of the Flat Earth' series--Delusion's Master--was published late that summer as was the seventh volume of the 'YBFS' series. Sadly, Arthur W. Saha--not Lin Carter--was the editor. The big publication event of 1981 at DAW, in retrospect, was Charles R. Saunders' Imaro. One of the greatest sword-and-sorcery heroes to debut in the 1970s had finally achieved paperback publication in his own book. Lin Carter had showcased Imaro in 'YBFS' years earlier, but this signaled that Imaro had arrived.

1982 saw several Moorcock and Tanith Lee reprints at DAW. Hecate's Cauldron was an anthology which featured quality stories from the likes of Lee and CRS. Amazons II came out as well. Lin Carter debuted his heroic fantasy ‘Terra Magica’ series with Kesrick. However, the two most consequential DAW books of the year, S&S-wise, were Cyrion and Nifft the Lean. Both were 'fix-up novels'. Tanith Lee's Cyrion was composed partially of Cyrion tales she had written before, with the rest commissioned by Wollheim to fill out the book. It remains a minor classic of S&S.

DAW Books had given Michael Shea his first big break with The Quest for Simbilis. Nifft the Lean was Shea taking another stab at 'Simbilis' with almost a decade of honing his craft under his belt. Nifft is a more bad-ass, Sheavian version of Vance’s Cugel. Nifft the Lean is the only unequivocally sword-and-sorcery novel (albeit, a ‘fix-up’, episodic novel) to ever win a World Fantasy award. You can thank Shea, Wollheim and DAW Books for that.

DAW Books seems to have been a bit exhausted by the triumph of Nifft the Lean. Beyond the usual Lee and Moorcock S&S reprints--nothing to sneeze at--1983 saw only Lee's Anackire and Richard Purtill's The Mirror of Helen published in the S&S/heroic fantasy category. I consider Purtill's novel to be one of the best explanations/justifications of Helen of Troy's actions ever written. Plus, it is graced by a fine Don Maitz cover.

The second Imaro novel, The Quest for Cush, came out in February of 1984, graced with a James Gurney cover that I still consider the best rendition of Saunders' Ilyassai hero. 1984 also saw the debut of Lin Carter's Dragonrouge, the second novel in his 'Terra Magica' heroic fantasy series.

Early 1985 saw several Moorcock DAW reprints as well as Lore of the Witch World, a new collection of Norton tales with an iconic Whelan cover. May brought the final Elric novel for several years to come: Elric at the End of Time, with its dedication to Lemmy Kilmister. October saw the publication of The Trail of Bohu, the final Imaro novel put out by DAW Books and its last publication for over two decades

1986 marks where Sword-and-Sorcery really started to dwindle at DAW. There was not one original S&S novel/collection/antho published. The various 'Birthgrave' novels from Tanith Lee were reprinted, but nothing new.

Lin Carter's Mandricardo was published in January of 1987. Basically, this was the only S&S/heroic fantasy from DAW Books that year. February of 1988 saw the debut of Carter's Callipygia, the fourth and final ‘Terra Magica’ volume. Lin died on the seventh of that month. Did he see a copy?

The Wollheim/Carter connection went way back. Don published Lin's first novel, The Wizard of Lemuria (1965)—which happens to be the first single paperback S&S novel ever to see print. Two years later, Don and Lin would collaborate on Destination: Saturn. A little over two decades down the road, Wollheim published Lin's last novel just as he had published the first.

Callipygia seems to have been it for DAW Books as far as S&S/heroic fantasy. This n' that might slip through now n' then and here n’ there, but the blood-drenched glory days of S&S at DAW Books were over. Don died in November, 1990, not quite twenty years after he founded DAW Books. His daughter, Betsy Wollheim, had—and has—a very different vision of how DAW Books should proceed. Spoiler: very little heroic fantasy and zero Sword-and-Sorcery from then until now.

Thus ended the career of the greatest publisher of Sword-and-Sorcery ever.

So, what was and is Wollheim’s Sword-and-Sorcery legacy? If you’ve read this article and parts One and Two—hyperlinked below—then you know. For the non-clickers out there, here is the condensed version:

In 1936, Wollheim published “The Hyborian Age” while REH was still alive. As an editor at Avon books, Don gave The Ship of Ishtar and Dwellers in the Mirage their paperback debuts. He also published Howard’s classic, “The House of Arabu”, which alerted L. Sprague de Camp to the existence of unpublished Howard S&S yarns. A turning point in history, for good or for bad.

In 1953, Wollheim published Conan the Conqueror as one half of an Ace Double. See the Moorcock quote above to appreciate the impact of that edition. The first S&S novel in paperback ever. In 1965, Don published The Wizard of Lemuria, Lin Carter’s first Thongor novel. This preceded the first Lancer Conan collection, Conan the Adventurer, by almost a year. 1966 saw Wollheim publishing the adventures of Jack Vance’s Cugel the Clever, a Klarkash-Tonian S&S rogue adventurer. Don brought Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser into the paperback realm in 1968.

Despite all of the landmark work Wollheim had done in the previous four decades, his tenure at DAW Books might be his most influential in Sword-and-Sorcery terms. A simple roll-call will suffice, though the ‘Year’s Best Fantasy’ series and Heroic Fantasy should also very much weigh in the balance. Wollheim debuted—or ‘broke out’—Tanith Lee’s various S&S/heroic fantasy works, Moorcock’s Elric and Dorian Hawkmoon, Saunders’ Imaro and Dossouye and Shea’s Nifft the Lean. In other words, most of the major sword-and-sorcery protagonists of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

I ask you, Gentle Readers of the DMR Books Blog: Who, as an editor/publisher, can compare?

The Sword and Sorcery Legacy of Donald A. Wollheim: Part One

The Sword and Sorcery Legacy of Donald A. Wollheim: Part Two