716 College & Research Libraries July 2018

Michele K. Troy. Strange Bird: The Albatross Press and the Third Reich. New Haven, 
Conn.: Yale University Press. 2017. 440p. Hardbound, $40.00 (ISBN: 978-0300215687).

The paperback revolution in Europe and North America 
of the mid-twentieth century has received much written 
attention from journalists and historians. This publishing 
innovation opened up reading markets theretofore largely 
unserved, and it, in turn, spurned a social and intellectual 
movement the effects of which are still with us today. 
The unlikely precursor of the modern paperback was the 
German-based Tauchnitz Editions, active between 1840 
and 1940, which comprised some five thousand titles of 
contemporary British and American literature, printed 
and distributed with copyright in continental Europe, 
for the use of international travelers and the educated 
public. It was a most successful venture, ultimately selling 
millions of inexpensive copies, which greatly benefited 
authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers alike. With 
their distinctive covers, these books have now become 
collector’s items. Although there had been occasional 

competitors over the years, it was not until late 1931, with the founding of Albatross 
Press, that the battle of survival began. And it is at this moment that Michele K. Troy, 
professor of English at Hartford University, decided to begin her fascinating tale. 

Albatross Press was founded by an unlikely trio of seasoned European publishing 
professionals: Christian Wegner, who had been dismissed as the managing editor of 
Tauchnitz a year before; John Holroyd Reece, a British publisher of German Jewish descent, 
owner of Pegasus Press in Paris; and Kurt Enoch, the owner of a small Jewish Hamburg 
publishing firm. With editorial headquarters in Paris, funded by British capital, using the 
Milan printing facilities of Mondadori and the German marketing and distribution center 
in Hamburg, Albatross set out to compete with and ultimately conquer Tauchnitz in 1934. 

These were not promising times for publishing in Europe. A deepening economic cri-
sis and the rise of Hitler’s national socialism and antisemitism in Germany proved to be 
serious obstacles. However, the editorial team managed to convince literary agents and 
publishers to allow them to sign up authors. The early Albatross list included names like 
James Joyce, Aldous Huxley, and Sinclair Lewis. Many more prominent authors would 
follow, and subsequently the Albatross catalog would contain some five hundred titles.

Juggling trade and copyrights across Europe’s many borders was complicated 
enough, but the battles within Germany were fierce. On the one hand, the German 
government badly needed the foreign currency Albatross earned. Opposing political 
forces, however, tried to suppress supposedly subservient titles, especially those writ-
ten by Jewish authors. Competition seriously increased when British publisher Allen 
Lane launched Penguin Books in 1935. Although intended for distribution within Great 
Britain, European exports of these cheap paperbacks of course were an important 
economic factor. As Hitler’s military forces began to conquer Eastern and Western 
European countries in 1939 and 1940, Albatross’ ability to maneuver borders and 
currencies diminished, and the company ultimately failed when Paris was occupied. 
However, the three principals survived the war, and the author continues to follow 
their fates and subsequent careers in Europe and the United States. 

Meticulously researched in archives throughout Europe and supplemented by 
interviews with surviving participants and family members, the author creates a nar-
rative that is at once suspenseful reading as well as very good history. It is a wonder-
ful addition to international publishing history.—Hendrik Edelman, Rutgers University