In 1852, Dutton founded the E. P. Dutton bookselling company inBoston, Massachusetts. The business sold fiction and non-fiction, and within a short time expanded into the selling ofchildren's literature. In 1864, he opened a branch office to sell books inNew York City and in 1869 moved his company's headquarters there and entered the book publishing business. From 1888 onward, he started working withErnest Nister. In 1906, Dutton struck what proved to be a significant deal with the English publishing company ofJ. M. Dent to be the American distributor of theEveryman's Library series ofclassic literature reprints.
Edward Dutton died in 1923, aged 92, but his company continued to flourish and today is animprint of thePenguin Group.
Dutton expanded toNew York City in 1864, where it began publishing religious books. In 1906, Dutton made a deal with English publishing companyJ. M. Dent to be the American distributor of theEveryman's Library series of classic literature reprints.
John Macrae joined the company in 1885 as an office boy, and in 1923 was named president. In 1928, the publishing and retail divisions were split into two separate businesses with Macrae acquiring the publishing side, operating as E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc.
It published children's books under the Unicorn imprint, with some books published in the 1990s.Dutton Children's Books continues today.
New American Library was acquired by Penguin Group in 1986, and split into two imprints: Dutton andDutton Children's Books.[6] Dutton is now a boutique imprint within Penguin Group, publishing approximately 40 books for adults per year, half of them fiction and half non-fiction. After the acquisition by Penguin, books to which Penguin acquired the rights as part of the acquisition of Dutton were published in paperback under the imprint Puffin Unicorn (because Puffin has been the longtime paperback imprint for the Penguin Group). Penguin merged withRandom House to formPenguin Random House in 2013.
In 2017, sister imprint Blue Rider Press was closed and its books were moved to Dutton.[7]
^"E. P. Dutton Marks its 100th Birthday; Book Concern Starts Second Century Today by Publishing Literary History Volume".The New York Times. January 4, 1952.
^abjoint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft,Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft.
^joint venture with Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack, Studio Gong Niedersachsen and Brune-Rieck-Beteiligungs.
^joint venture with Axel Springer, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft and Morgenpost Verlag.
