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| Parent company | Penguin Group |
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| Founded | 1838; 187 years ago (1838) |
| Founder |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City, U.S. |
| Publication types | Books |
| Imprints | Amy Einhorn, Marian Wood, Coward-McCann |
| Official website | penguin |
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G. P. Putnam's Sons is an Americanbook publisher based inNew York City,New York. The publisher was founded in 1838 and features books by authors such asRenée Ahdieh,C. J. Box,Edgar Allan Poe, and many others. Since 1996, it has been animprint of thePenguin Group.[1]
The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership betweenGeorge Palmer Putnam and John Wiley, whose father had founded his own company in 1807.[citation needed]
In 1841, Putnam went toLondon where he set up a branch office inCovent Garden, the first American company ever to do so.[2] He returned to New York in 1848, dissolved the partnership with John Wiley, and established G. Putnam Broadway with a view to publishing a variety of works, including quality illustrated books. Wiley began John Wiley (laterJohn Wiley and Sons), which is still an independent publisher to the present day.
In 1853, G. P. Putnam & Co. startedPutnam's Magazine withCharles Frederick Briggs as its editor.
On George Palmer Putnam's death in 1872, the business was inherited by his sonsGeorge,John and Irving, and the firm's name was changed to G. P. Putnam's Sons.[3] The eldest son, George H. Putnam, became president of the firm and held the position for over fifty years.
In 1874, the company established its own bookprinting and manufacturing office, set up by John Putnam and operating initially out of newly leased premises at 182Fifth Avenue.[4] This printing side of the business later became a separate division called the Knickerbocker Press, and was relocated in 1889 to theKnickerbocker Press Building, built specifically for the press inNew Rochelle, New York.[5]
When George H. Putnam died in 1930, the various Putnam heirs voted to merge the firm withMinton, Balch & Co., who became the majority stockholders. George Palmer Putnam's grandsonGeorge P. Putnam (1887–1950) left the firm at that time, and Melville Minton, the partner and sales manager of Minton Balch & Co., became the acting president and majority stockholder of the firm until his death in 1956. In 1936, Putnam acquired the publisherCoward-McCann (laterCoward, McCann & Geoghegan, afterJohn Geoghegan its long-time chairman)[6] and ran it as an imprint into the 1980s. Upon Melville Minton's death, his son Walter J. Minton took control of the company.
In 1965, G. P. Putnam's Sons acquiredBerkley Books, a mass marketpaperback publishing house.
MCA bought Putnam Publishing Group andBerkley Publishing Group in 1975.[7]Phyllis E. Grann, who was runningPocket Books forSimon & Schuster, was brought on board in 1976 as editor-in-chief.[8] In an attempt to boost Putnam's profits, Grann worked with MCA executive Stanley Newman on a financial model that emphasized publishing key authors annually and took Putnam from $10 million in revenue to over $100 million by 1983.[8] While keeping the list at 75 titles a year, Putnam focused on winners likeTom Clancy whose bookRed Storm Rising sold almost one million copies in 1986.[8] Along with other publishers in the 1980s, Putnam moved to a heavy discount hardcover model to keep up with demand and sales through bookstore chains and price clubs.[8] Grann was promoted to CEO of Putnam in 1987, notably the first woman to become CEO of a major publishing house.[8] By 1993, the publisher was making $200 million in revenue.[8]
In 1982, Putnam acquired the respected children's book publisher,Grosset & Dunlap fromFilmways.[1] The same year, Putnam acquired the book publishing division ofPlayboy Enterprises, which included Seaview Books.[9][10]
The ownership of Putnam changed a number of times in the 1990s. MCA was bought byMatsushita Electric in 1990.[11] Thenthe Seagram Company acquired 80% of MCA from Matsushita, and shortly afterwards Seagram changed the name of the company toUniversal Studios, Inc.[12][13] The new owners had no interest in publishing, but Grann stepped in and was able to broker the deal for Putnam to be merged withPenguin Group (a division of British publishing conglomeratePearson PLC) in 1996.[8] Putnam and the Penguin Group formed Penguin Putnam Inc. Grann abruptly left the company in 2001, after speculation over tensions with Pearson's CEOMarjorie Scardino.[8]
In 2013, Penguin merged withBertelsmann'sRandom House, formingPenguin Random House.[1]
Media related toG. P. Putnam's Sons at Wikimedia Commons| Bertelsmann Home Entertainment |
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