In 1971, William Powell wrote the Anarchist Cookbook, the next 40 years are a tale of regret and IP sales.
In 1989—not the early 1980s, as Powell wrote—Lyle Stuart sold his publishing house to the Carol Management Corporation for $12 million. A man named Steve Schragis was in charge of the new imprint, which focused on controversial books; one title, Final Exit, instructed people on how to kill themselves. But Schragis objected to The Anarchist Cookbook, saying it had “no positive purpose,” and declined to reissue it. So Stuart bought the title back for $75,000 and published it under his new company, Barricade Books. At some point during this back and forth, Powell signed over rights to future royalties, telling me that Stuart sent him a check for $5,000.