Arcadia Publishing is an American

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

of neighborhood,

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, and regional history of the United States in

pictorial An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publishes text-driven books on American history and folklore.

History

It was founded in

Dover, New Hampshire Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the New Hampshire Seacoast region and the fifth largest municipality in the state. It is the county se ...

, in 1993 by

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

-based

Tempus Publishing The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, but became independent after being acquired by its CEO in 2004. The corporate office is in

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Mount Pleasant is a large suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. In the Low Country, it is the fourth largest municipality and largest town in South Carolina, and for several years was one of the state's fastest-growin ...

. It has a catalog of more than 12,000 titles, and italong with its subsidiary, The History Presspublishes 900 new titles every year. Its formula for regional publishing is to use local

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

s or

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

s to write about their community using 180 to 240

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

photographs with captions and introductory paragraphs in a 128 page book. The ''Images of America'' series is the company's largest product line. Other series include ''Images of Rail, Images of Sports, Images of Baseball, Black America, Postcard History, Campus History, Corporate History, Legendary Locals, Images of Modern America'', and ''Then & Now''. In 2010, Arcadia became the first major publisher to print all of their books on

Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council A. C. (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. It is an example of a market-ba ...

(FSC) paper. All of the publisher's books are also printed and manufactured in South Carolina on American-made paper. In May 2017, Arcadia acquired Palmetto Publishing Group, a Charleston-based self-publishing service that had been in business since 2015. In 2018, Arcadia was acquired by Lezen, a new company owned by Lili and Michael Lynton. In March 2019,

Walter Isaacson Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...

became the editor-at-large and senior adviser for Arcadia Publishing, where he will be promoting books for the company as well as editing, new strategy development, and partnerships.

The History Press

The History Press is a subsidiary publishing house, owned by Arcadia. Its books mainly deal with "narratives of local heroes, tragic losses, collections of homegrown recipes, historic mysteries, and everything in between." Some of their series include: ''American Legends'' (a series focused on local mythology, legends, and mysteries), ''Forgotten Tales'' (a line of books that catalogue near-forgotten stories), and ''Haunted America'' (paranormal history books that are written by local authors about ghost stories specific to cities across the US). The History Press was originally a US subsidiary of the UK-based publisher of the same name. In 2014, the US-based portion of The History Press was sold to Arcadia Publishing.

Pelican Publishing Company

In May 2019,

Pelican Publishing Company Pelican Publishing Company is a book publisher based in Gretna, a suburb of New Orleans. Formed in 1926, Pelican is the largest independent trade book publisher located in the U.S. South. Pelican publishes approximately 60 titles per year and ...

was officially purchased by Arcadia Publishing.

Distribution

The books are printed in the United States. It handles its own sales and distribution with the following each accounting for one-third of the company's sales: *

Bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...

chains A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

* Independent bookstores,

libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

, and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

s * Nontraditional outlets (like

historical societies This is a partial List of historical and heritage societies from around the world. The sections provided are not mutually exclusive. Many historical societies websites are their museums' websites. List is organized by location and later by special ...

or hardware stores)

References

External links