Books, Inc. was owned by Andrew Hamming. Books, Inc. was Mr. Hamming's second and more successful publishing venture. It came into being as the Depression was ending. At the time The Colonial Press in Worcester, Mass., owned by Lewis M. Adams, needed work for their press hands. The arrangement was made that Hamming would sell the books and Lewis M. Adams would publish the books.

Mr. Adams came back from England with permission to publish an abridged version of an enclcyopedia which was quickly followed by a Bible, dictionary, juvenile literature, mysteries, and literary classics that were in the public domain.

Andy Hamming was not interested in new authors or selling small quanitities of books. He was a pioneer of selling inexpensive books. He introduced the 25 cent paperback books to G.C. Murphy's variety store customers. He was the first publisher to place books in Philadelphia's American Stores (later Acme). They were not sure where to put the books in the store. American Stores declared "The New American Cookbook" was paper therefore belonged with paper towels and toilet paper.

Many companies such as movie houses, Kennel-Ration Company, and door-to-door salesmen bought them to use as premiums for selling their products.

Mr. Hamming considered himself to be the Henry Ford of book publishing. In 1961 at the age of 81 years, he sold the company to Publisher's Company, Inc.