David McKay Publications

Last updated
David McKay Publications
FoundedSeptember 1882
Founder David McKay
Defunct1986 (assets now owned by Penguin Random House)
Successor Random House
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

David McKay Publications (also known as David McKay Company) was an American book publisher which also published some of the first comic books, including the long-running titles Ace Comics , King Comics , and Magic Comics ; as well as collections of such popular comic strips as Blondie , Dick Tracy , and Mandrake the Magician . [1] McKay was also the publisher of the Fodor's travel guides.

Contents

History

David McKay was born in Dysart, Scotland, on June 24, 1860. At the age of 11, he came to the United States with his parents. At the age of 13, he began working for J. B. Lippincott & Co., learning the bookselling trade. By the age of 21, he was placed in charge of the miscellaneous catalog of books by publisher Rees Welsh. One year later, upon hearing McKay had been offered a position with a rival publisher, Welsh asked McKay to take the helm, offering to sell the entire publishing firm to him. In September 1882, with $500 of his own money and $2,500 in borrowed money and notes, McKay began his own publishing company on South 9th Street in Philadelphia.

At age 25, McKay published the first collected set of Shakespeare’s works in the United States. By December 1905, McKay had absorbed many rival publishing houses into his own, and was publishing books in almost every popular genre of the time, including world literature, textbooks, and a number of children's books.

Comics

In 1935, the company recognized the potential of the comic book medium and began selling collections of such popular strips as Henry and Popeye . In 1936 they began publishing collections of King Features Syndicate strips in King Comics, and in 1937 followed with the Ace Comics title. [1] Ace Comics #11, the first appearance of The Phantom, is regarded by many to be a key issue in the history of comics, as it introduced one of the first of the costumed heroes, leading to the Golden Age of superheroes in comics.

McKay's son Alexander would follow in his father's shoes by taking over the house to go on to publish Walt Disney’s first Mickey Mouse comics, the Blondie and Dagwood comic series, and numerous other notable works. David McKay Publications essentially ceased publishing comics in 1950.

Acquisitions and demise

In 1950, David McKay was acquired by two executives from Putnam. [2] In 1961, McKay acquired the American operations of Longmans, Green & Co. In 1968, McKay acquired the children's publishing company Ives Washburn. [3] In 1973, David McKay Publications purchased Henry Z. Walck Publications, a publisher of scholarly and children's books, and Charterhouse Books, which it had launched two years earlier in partnership with Richard Kluger. [4] [5] Other imprints acquired included Weybright & Talley and Peter H. Wyden. In 1968, David McKay Publications was bought by Maxwell M. Geffen. At the end of 1973, David McKay Publications was acquired by the British magazine publisher Morgan Grampian, in which Geffen had an interest. [6]

Random House purchased David McKay Publications in 1986. [7]

Titles

Book series

Notes

  1. 1 2 Patrick Scott Belk, "King Features Syndicate" in Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas, edited by M. Keith Booker.Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, 2014. ISBN   9780313397509 (p.217-219).
  2. ↑ Dempsey, David (1950-03-19). "IN AND OUT OF BOOKS; Change-Over". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  3. ↑ "BOOK PUBLISHER ADDS A COMPANY; Ives Washburn, Inc., Bought by David McKay Concern". The New York Times. 1968-02-01. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  4. ↑ "Obituary of Henry Z. Walck". New York Times. December 26, 1984. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  5. ↑ Navasky, Victor (1973-09-16). "In Cold Print: Launching and Re‐Entry of a Satellite". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  6. ↑ Pace, Eric (1973-12-12). "M'kay to Be Sold to British Firm". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  7. ↑ "Fodor's Travel Guides Sold to Random House". The New York Times. 1986-10-30. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  8. ↑ Mickey Mouse Series at Inducks
  9. ↑ International Library, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  10. ↑ Living Thoughts Library, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  11. ↑ Pocket Classics (McKay), seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  12. ↑ Tartan Books (David McKay Co., Inc.) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com.Retrieved 25 May 2021.

Related Research Articles

Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck.

<i>Walt Disneys Comics and Stories</i> Anthology comic book series featuring Disney characters

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC&S, is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Li'l Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others. With more than 700 issues, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories is the longest-running Disney comic book in the United States, making it the flagship title, and is one of the best-selling comic books of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemstone Publishing</span> American publishing company in the comics field

Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet.

<i>Donald Duck</i> (American comic book) 1942–2017 American Disney comics magazine

Donald Duck, also known as Donald Duck and Friends, is an American Disney comic book series starring the character Donald Duck and published by various publishers from October 1942 to June 2017. As with many early Disney comics titles, Donald Duck began as individual issues of Dell Comics' Four Color one-shots series. It was published as its own regular series in November 1952, starting with issue #26.

<i>Blondie</i> (comic strip) American comic strip starting 1930

Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. The comic strip is distributed by King Features Syndicate, and has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930. The success of the strip, which features the eponymous blonde and her sandwich-loving husband, led to the long-running Blondie film series (1938–1950) and the popular Blondie radio program (1939–1950).

Carl Robert Fallberg was a writer/cartoonist for animated feature films and TV cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers. He also wrote comic books for Dell Comics, Western Publishing, and Gold Key Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hutchinson (publisher)</span> British book and magazine publisher

Hutchinson was a British publishing firm which operated from 1887 until 1985, when it underwent several mergers. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate.

King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. A few King Comics titles were picked up from Gold Key Comics. King Features placed former Gold Key editor Bill Harris in charge of the line.

Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.

Notable events of 1937 in comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dell Publishing</span> American publisher

Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000, two employees and one magazine title, I Confess, and soon began turning out dozens of pulp magazines, which included penny-a-word detective stories, articles about films, and romance books.

<i>Mickey Mouse</i> (comic book) 1941–2017 American Disney comics magazine

Mickey Mouse is a Disney comic book series that has a long-running history, first appearing in 1943 as part of the Four Color one-shot series. It received its own numbering system with issue #28, and after many iterations with various publishers, ended with #330 from IDW Publishing.

David McKay was a Scottish American publisher, head of David McKay Publications, which published books of all kinds, including early examples of comic books.

Cassell is a British book publishing house, founded in 1848 by John Cassell (1817–1865), which became in the 1890s an international publishing group company.

<i>The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library</i> Comic book reprints by Fantagraphics

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library is a series of books collecting all of the comic book Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories written and drawn by Carl Barks, originally published between 1942 and Barks' retirement in June 1966. The series was launched in late 2011, and will comprise 6,000 plus pages over roughly 30 200- to 240-page volumes when it is finished.

<i>Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics</i>

Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics is a book series which reprints Walt Disney's Silly Symphony Sunday comic strip, drawn by several different Disney artists from 1932 to 1945. The strip was published by King Features Syndicate. The strip often introduced new Disney characters to the public, including its first comic character, Bucky Bug. The series was published by The Library of American Comics from 2016 to 2019.

Donald Duck: The Complete Daily Newspaper Comics is a series of hardcover books collecting the complete run of the Disney Donald Duck comic strip, a daily newspaper comic strip drawn by the American comic artist Al Taliaferro. The comic strip debuted on February 7, 1938, and within eight weeks became the fastest growing syndicated comic strip worldwide. The publisher behind the project is IDW Publishing and their imprint, The Library of American Comics. The first book of the series was released on September 2, 2015.

Disney Masters is a series of books collecting anthologies of critically acclaimed Walt Disney Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse international comic artists. Italian artist Romano Scarpa was the first featured creator in the series, in the volume titled The Delta Dimension. The publisher behind the project is Fantagraphics Books. The first book of the series was released in May 2018.

Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales is a series of hardcover books that collects the Sunday comic strips of Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales, an umbrella title for comic strips which were drawn by several different Disney artists during the period of the early 1950s to the mid-1980s. The Treasury of Classic Tales comic strips were used by Walt Disney Studios to introduce current movie characters into comic adaptations for the public. The books are being published by IDW Publishing's imprint, The Library of American Comics. The first book of the series was released in November 2016.

Donald Duck is an American comic strip by the Walt Disney Company starring Donald Duck, distributed by King Features Syndicate. The first daily Donald Duck strip debuted in American newspapers on February 7, 1938. On December 10, 1939, the strip expanded to a Sunday page as well. Writer Bob Karp and artist Al Taliaferro worked together on the strip for more than 30 years. The strip ended in May 1995.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.