Debuting within a couple months of the first volumes of Wollheim and Carr's separate series, this line from Dutton was the first hardcover best-of-year series since the end of Judith Merril's run. The books were shorter than comparable series, running 200-250 pages. Each volume opened with a Foreword, usually about the nature of the genre, and closed with a five or six page summary of the field, "The Science Fiction Yearbook." Del Rey's selections were generally conservative, especially compared with those of the much younger Gardner Dozois, who took over the series with volume 6.