It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine, with funding from Grosset & Dunlap and Curtis Publishing Company.

It expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions.

The commission, headed by the Rhode Island Attorney General, would essentially blacklist books and magazines it deemed "objectionable" for sale, threatening distributors with publicity and reputational harm.

Bantam Books sued, arguing this commission violated freedom of press protections and amounted to illegal censorship without due process.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Bantam Books, deciding that the commission's blacklisting practice constituted an unlawful prior restraint on free expression in violation of the First Amendment.

The Court held that any system of prior censorship on publications "strikes at the very foundation of freedom of expression" and cannot be enforced unless regulated by precise rules with procedural safeguards.

Bantam also published a dozen volumes of short story adaptations of scripts from Star Trek: The Original Series.

It reprints mostly public domain, unabridged classic books, intended to increase backlist sales and reintroduce the works to new audiences.