Byron Preiss

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Byron Preiss (born 1953, Brooklyn, New York City; died July 9, 2005, East Hampton, New York) was an American writer, editor and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of iBooks.

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Preiss graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and earned a master's degree in communications from Stanford Film School.

Paperback edition of Dragonworld. Cover illustration by Joseph Zucker.
Paperback edition of Dragonworld. Cover illustration by Joseph Zucker.

He founded Byron Preiss Visual Publications in 1974 to publish original works, including the "Fiction Illustrated" series of illustrated novels such as Jim Steranko's Chandler: Red Tide, in 1976 and 1977. Other publications included a 1978 adaptation of Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination as a two-volume graphic novel, illustrated by Howard Chaykin, in 1978. As a packager, he developed titles for such publishers as HarperCollins and Random House. He also published children's books by celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Jane Goodall, Jay Leno, LeAnn Rimes, and Jerry Seinfeld, as well as by William Stout and other such established names in that field.

Even before this, in 1971, while Preiss was teaching at a Philadelphia elementary school, he conceived and with Steranko produced an anti-drug comic book, The Block, designed for low-level reading skills. Published by Steranko's company, Supergraphics, it was distributed to schools nationwide.

Preiss was co-author, with Michael Reaves, of the children's novel Dragonworld (Doubleday, 1979; see below for many subsequent editions), with 80 illustrations by Joseph Zucker. (Dragonworld was originally planned to be the fifth "Fiction Illustrated" work)

Beyond traditional printed books, Preiss frequently embraced emerging technologies, and was among the first to publish in such electronic forms as CD-ROM books and ebooks. The Words of Gandhi, an audio book he produced, won a Grammy Award in 1985.

Preiss, who lived in Manhattan with his wife Sandi Mendelson and their daughters Karah and Blaire died in a car accident while driving to his synagogue in Long Island, New York.

Both Byron Preiss Visual Publications and iBooks filled for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on February 22, 2006.[1] The companies' respective websites circa that time.

Jim Steranko: "For more than three decades, he spearheaded a multiplicity of mediaforms, from comics and ebooks to electronic games and CD-ROMs, that fused words and images like few other individuals would achieve in the entertainment arts. As an author, he generated dozens of books, from hard science and history volumes to profusely illustrated children's literature. As a packager, he produced a stream of quality fiction and nonfiction titles for almost every primary publishing house.... Preiss was a subtle, yet seminal force in contemporary popular culture and specifically in the evolution of narrative illustration".[2]

Published by Preiss, or packaged by Preiss for other publishers

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Vol. 1 (ISBN 0-515-03746-X) to Vol. 8 (ISBN 0-515-04257-9); collections of illustrated, pulp-inspired stories

This illustrated children's novel by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves was published in several editions from 1979-2005:

  1. ^ ICv2 (Feb. 24, 2006): "ibooks & Byron Preiss Visual Publications File Chapter 7; Creditors Confab Set for Apr. 4"
  2. ^ Comicon.com: "Comics Loses One of its Major Visionaries: Byron Preiss", by Jim Steranko

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