Book Collecting

Publisher Information

If you're looking for information, history and first edition identification on publishers, you've found the right place.

Brentano's

Austrian-born August Brentano originally founded Brentano’s, an independent New York City bookstore, in 1853 when he established a newsstand in front of a hotel. At that time, newspapers and magazines were usually peddled from door to door, but the hotelkeeper allowed Brentano to use the desirable space, some say because Brentano had an evident physical handicap. Regardless of that fact, thanks to his resourcefulness, Brentano created an incredibly successful business, but it was his nephew,…

BT Batsford

Founded in 1843, Batsford, now an imprint of Pavilion Books, is a leading publisher in the areas of fashion and design, embroidery and textiles, chess, British heritage, and architecture. Batsford’s definitive books for the serious enthusiast and professional include the works of Lewis F. Day, Sir Fletcher Banister, Cecil Beaton, John Betjemen and Constance Howard.

British painter and designer Brian Cook was the nephew of the late Harry Batsford, chairman of the family publishing…

Calder

When John Calder began publishing under his own name in 1949, he focused on translated classics, such as the works of Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Emile Zola. But within a few years, Calder began publishing a group of new writers who would change the face of twentieth-century literature. This group included Samuel Beckett, all of whose novels, poetry, and criticisms — along with some of his plays…

Cassell & Co.

In 1848, John Cassell published a weekly newspaper called The Standard of Freedom. Three years later, he rented part of La Belle Sauvage, a London Inn which had been a playhouse in Elizabethan times, and had it built out for printing magazines and books. The years that followed were the period of Cassell’s greatest prosperity, but by 1855, Cassell was forced to declare bankruptcy. From 1855 to 1858, partners Thomas Dixon Galpin and George William…

Caxton Printers

After less than successful attempts in the banking industry and magazine publishing, Albert E. Gipson founded Caxton Printers in 1907. The commercial printing company was named after William Caxton, who printed the first-ever book in English in 1474, and since its inception, the Caxton’s publications display the original “W.C.” insignia on their colophons and spines. Originally, Caxton offered printing and office services to the Idaho business community. It was Albert’s son, James Herrick “J.H.” Gipson,…

Charles A. Scribner

Originally a publisher of religious books, Charles Scribner founded the company in 1846. By 1870, Scribner organized a new firm, Scribner and Company, and began publishing Scribner’s Monthly, an illustrated magazine, in addition to books. Following Charles Scribner’s death in 1871, his son John Blair Scribner took over as president of the company. His other sons, Charles Scribner II and Arthur Hawley Scribner, would also join the firm later, each serving his turn as president.…

Charles E. Tuttle

What is now the largest English-language book publishing and distribution company in Asia, Tuttle Publishing (originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company) was founded in Tokyo in 1948. Coming from a Vermont family long associated with publishing, Tuttle, a Harvard graduate, travelled to Japan in a military role at the end of World War II and established a publishing company with the mission of publishing “books to span the East and West.” In its first year…

City Lights Books

City Lights, which pays homage to the Charlie Chaplin film of the same name, is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. City Lights Books was founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin (who left two years later). Martin first used City Lights in 1952 as the title of a magazine, publishing early work by such key Bay Area writers as Philip…

Collins

The Glasgow-based Collins was founded in 1819 when William Collins partnered with Charles Chalmers to establish a printing and publishing business. However, the partnership was short-lived and Chalmers left the business in the mid 1820s. The company eventually found success in publishing religious and educational books, including bibles, atlases, and dictionaries with the help of Collins’ son, William Collins (II). The founder Collins died in 1853 and his son, William, continued the business, eventually taking…

Coward-McCann

A medium-sized publishing house founded in 1927, Coward-McCann was joined with the firm G.P. Putnam’s in 1936 to publish titles such as playwright Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. In 1959, John Geoghegan joined Coward-McCann as editor-in-chief. Two years later, he was named president, then chairman. In 1971, the company was renamed Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.

D. Appleton & Company

Daniel Appleton, owner of a Massachusetts general store, opened a book department in 1813 with the help of his son, William Henry Appleton. In 1931, Daniel published the first book, William Mason’s Crumbs from the Master’s Table. By 1847, after issuing many travel guides, including the best selling European Guide Book, William Henry considered the store a sideline and was concentrating on publishing. With the death of father Daniel in 1849, William was joined by…

Dawn Horse Press

Avatar Adi Da Samraj (born Franklin Albert Jones), founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam, taught of a philosophy similar to many eastern religions, naming spiritual enlightenment as the ultimate priority of human life. During the spiritual counterculture of the 1970s, Adi Da wrote many books about his spiritual philosophy and related matters. He created Dawn Horse Press to publish his books in 1972.

The publisher continues to print many of Adi Da’s titles,…

Delacorte Press

Delacorte Press began as a book imprint of Dell Publishing, which was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr. Dell initially published magazines and comics, but began publishing books through Delacorte Press in the 1940s. The imprint became known for its placement of maps on the back cover of its books, which were meant to aid the reader by showing the location of the book’s principal activity; these books were almost immediately known as…

Dodd, Mead and Company

Dodd, Mead and Company was first established in New York City as the firm Taylor and Dodd. The founders of the company, Moses Woodruff Dodd and John S. Taylor, originally set out to publish religious books, with their first title published being Obligations of the World to the Bible, A Series of Lectures to Young Men (1839). In 1840, Dodd bought Taylor out of the young firm and continued to successfully publish alone for…

Doubleday & Co.

At the age of 15, Frank Nelson Doubleday quit school to work for the publishing company Charles Scribner’s Sons, and he became manager of Scribner’s Magazine when it was begun in 1886. In 1897, Doubleday, in partnership with magazine publisher Samuel McClure, founded Doubleday & McClure Co.

Their partnership only lasted three years; in 1900, the company became Doubleday, Page & Co. when Walter Hines Page joined as a new partner. When Page was appointed U.S.…

E. P. Dutton

In 1852, Edward Payson Dutton, along with Lemuel Ide, founded a bookselling firm in Boston. After he bought Ide out of the firm, Dutton acquired Ticknor & Fields bookstore along with its publishing division in 1864. Dutton then expanded both the retail and publishing divisions of his company by opening a store in New York City and relocating its headquarters there. At this point, the majority of Dutton’s publications were religious titles, its first…

Easton Press

Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, Easton Press is a publisher specializing in high-quality leather-bound, (mostly) reprint editions of classics, poetry and art books, popular literature, and science fiction. Easton’s list of series include: Signed First Editions, Signed First Editions of Science Fiction, Signed Modern Classics, Masterpieces of Science Fiction, Library of the Presidents, 100 Greatest Books Ever Written, Great Books of the 20th Century, Books That Changed the World, [Facsimile] First Edition Library, the hand-numbered…

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. was founded in 1923 when the author became one of the first to incorporate himself. Initially a tax incentive, the incorporation gave Burroughs more control over his works and ensured the distribution shares among his family. Burroughs’ books were published through his company from 1931 to 1948, with one additional title in 1967. The Burroughs family continues to own and manage the company, owning the rights to Burroughs’ works and characters…

Ernest Benn

In 1880, Liberal politician Sir John Benn founded publishing firm Benn Brothers with the first edition of The Cabinet Maker, an illustrated monthly journal dealing with the artistic and technical aspects of furniture. Though it was slow to start, The Cabinet Maker was eventually established as the main journal for the furniture trade in Britain. After Sir John was elected to Parliament in 1892, he passed control of the company to his eldest son, Ernest.

As…

Eyre & Spottiswoode

The publishing company Eyre & Spottiswoode was founded April of 1929. After becoming part of Associated Book Publishers, Eyre & Spottiswoode merged with Methuen Publishing and was renamed Eyre Methuen in the 1970s.