World Publishing Company Explained

World Publishing Company
Parent:Times Mirror Company (1962–1974)
Collins Publishers (1974–1980)
Predecessor:Commercial Bookbinding Co.
Status:defunct, some assets acquired by Putnam Publishing Group and Simon & Schuster
Founder:Alfred H. Cahen
Country:United States
Headquarters:Cleveland
New York City
Keypeople:Ben Zevin, William Targ
Publications:Books
Topics:Reference, Religion, Politics, Sports, Philosophy
Genre:Mystery, Popular fiction
Imprints:Tower Books

The World Publishing Company was an American publishing company. The company published genre fiction, trade paperbacks, children's literature, nonfiction books, textbooks, Bibles, and dictionaries,[1] primarily from 1940 to 1980. Authors published by World Publishing Company include Ruth Nanda Anshen, Michael Crichton, Simone de Beauvoir, Robert Ludlum, Sam Moskowitz, Ayn Rand, Rex Stout, Gay Talese, and Lin Yutang. Originally headquartered in Cleveland, the company later added an office in New York City. The company's Cleveland headquarters were located in the Caxton Building.[2]

World Publishing was notable for publishing the first edition of Webster's New World Dictionary in 1951,[3] which contained 142,000 entries, said to be the largest American desk dictionary available at the time. The company also had a vibrant children's book division, and published the first edition of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar in 1969.[4]

World Publishing Company is not related to the original owners of the Omaha World-Herald or Tulsa World (also called "World Publishing Co.").

History

Polish immigrant Alfred H. Cahen founded the Commercial Bookbinding Co. in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1902, expanding and adding a printing plant by 1912. In 1928 Cahen bought out his largest competitor, New York's World Syndicate Publishing Co., officially taking on the name World Publishing Co. in 1935. (At that point, the company added an office in New York City.)

At the time the largest publisher of the King James Bible, in 1940 Cahen's son-in-law, Ben Zevin, expanded the company's output by publishing inexpensive editions of classic literature, which were sold in variety stores and drugstores as well as bookstores. Under Zevin's leadership, in 1940 World Publishing introduced the hugely popular Tower Books imprint: a 49-cent line of hardcovers which featured such authors as mystery writer Rex Stout. (This "Tower Books" was not related to the Tower Publications imprint that operated from 1958 to 1981.) From 1942 to 1964 William Targ worked as an editor for World Publishing, eventually becoming editor-in-chief.[5] As time passed, World Publishing expanded its repertoire to all types of fiction, nonfiction, sports, the classics, and philosophy.

The Times Mirror Company acquired World Publishing in 1962.[6] By this time, World Publishing was producing 12 million books a year, one of only three American publishers to produce that much volume. In 1974, the Times Mirror Co. sold World Publishing to the U.K.-based Collins Publishers, with the trade publishing remaining with Times Mirror's New American Library subsidiary.

In 1980 Collins broke up World Publishing, selling its children's line to the Putnam Publishing Group, the dictionary line to Simon and Schuster, and otherwise ridding itself of World's assets.

Titles published (selected)

Book series

Imprints

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=WPC "WORLD PUBLISHING CO."
  2. http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CB "Caxton Building"
  3. McIntyre, By Michael K."With publication of Webster's 'College 5' dictionary, the book that defined Cleveland editors' work is closed: Michael K. McIntyre's Tipoff", Cleveland Plain Dealer (October 17, 2014).
  4. Silvey, Anita. 100 Best Books for Children (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004) .
  5. News: William Targ, 'Godfather' Editor, Dies at 92 . . 1999-07-25 . 2008-08-18.
  6. UPI. "Ben Zevin Dies at 88; Leader Of World Publishing Company," New York Times (December 29, 1984).
  7. https://seriesofseries.com/illustrated-gift-editions/ Illustrated Gift Editions
  8. https://www.publishinghistory.com/jewish-publication-society-series.html Jewish Publication Society Series (Meridian Books and Jewish Publication Society of America) - Book Series List
  9. https://www.publishinghistory.com/living-age-books-world.html Living Age Books (World Publishing Company) - Book Series List
  10. https://seriesofseries.com/living-library/ Living Library
  11. https://www.publishinghistory.com/meridian-books-noonday.html Meridian Books (The Noonday Press; The World Publishing Company; Meridian Books) - Book Series List
  12. https://www.publishinghistory.com/meridian-giants-world.html Meridian Giants (World Publishing Co.) - Book Series List
  13. https://seriesofseries.com/tower-books/ Tower Books
  14. https://seriesofseries.com/world-books/ World Books
  15. https://www.discogs.com/label/691957-World-Foreign-Language-Record-Series World Foreign Language Record Series
  16. https://seriesofseries.com/international-fiction-library/ International Fiction Library

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