 | |
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1923; 102 years ago (1923) |
| Founders | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | 500 Fifth Avenue,New York City,New York |
| Distribution | self-distributed (US) Penguin Random House (Canada trade) Nelson Canada (Canada textbooks) John Wiley & Sons (UK, Australia)[1][2] |
| Key people | Julia A. Reidhead (President) |
| Publication types | Books |
| Imprints | Countryman Liveright Norton Professional Norton Young Readers |
| No. of employees | 500 |
| Official website | wwnorton |
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based inNew York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for itsNorton Anthologies (particularlyThe Norton Anthology of English Literature) and its texts in the Norton Critical Editions series, both of which are frequently assigned in university literature courses.[3]
The roots of the company date to 1923, whenWilliam Warder Norton founded the firm with his wifeMary Dows Herter Norton, and became its first president. In the 1960s, Mary Norton offered most of her stock to its leading editors and managers.[4] Storer D. Lunt took over in 1945 after Norton's death, and was succeeded by George Brockway (1957–1976), Donald S. Lamm (1976–1994),W. Drake McFeely (1994–2017),[5] and Julia A. Reidhead (2017–present). Reidhead was vice president and publishing director of Norton's College division and a former editor of the Norton Anthologies.[6]
Imprints of W. W. Norton include Norton Professional Books (professional works in mental health, well-being, architecture and design, and education), Countryman Press (lifestyle and instructional books, including healthy-living, cookbooks, and hiking guides), Liveright (20th century classics and new works), and Norton Young Readers (books for preschoolers to young adults).
In 2023, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary.[7]
Norton Anthologies collect canonical works from various literatures; perhaps the best known anthology in the series is theNorton Anthology of English Literature, which, as of 2018[update], is in its 10th edition. Norton Anthologies offer general headnotes on each author, a general introduction to each period of literature, and annotations for every anthologized text.
Like Oxford World's Classics andPenguin Classics, Norton Critical Editions provide reprints of classic literature and in some cases, classic non-fiction works. However, unlike most critical editions, all Norton Critical Editions aresourcebooks that provide a selection of contextual documents and critical essays along with an edited text. Annotations to the text are provided as footnotes, rather than as endnotes.
The States and the Nation series was published in celebration of theUnited States Bicentennial. It comprised 51 volumes, one for each state and the District of Columbia. The series was administered by theAmerican Association for State and Local History via a grant from theNational Endowment for the Humanities.[8]
