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Grolier is one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including '' The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), '' The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''
Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America. With '' Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...
'' (1945), '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' (1980), and numerous incarnations of a
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
encyclopedia (1986–2003). As an educational
publishing company Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
Grolier was known for its presence in school libraries and its in-home encyclopedia sales. It also had a strong presence among parents of children under six years old, the market for Grolier's direct mail-to-the-home business."Acquisition activity in the education market heats up"
Heller Report on Educational Technology Markets, Monday, May 1, 2000 (archived 2007).
In June 2000, Grolier became part of
Scholastic Corporation Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
, which now maintains ''Scholastic GO'', formerly ''Grolier Online''. Since 2007, the Grolier imprint Orchard Books has published the '' Rainbow Magic'' and '' Beast Quest'' series in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.


History

The company that became encyclopedia publisher Grolier Incorporated was founded by Walter M. Jackson (1863–1923) as the Grolier Society. Jackson had been the partner of Horace Everett Hooper in publishing the 10th edition of the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'' and in developing its 11th edition. He split with Hooper in 1908–1909 in a nasty legal fight after failing to wrest control of the ''Britannica'' from Hooper. The ''Grolier Society'' specialized in publishing extra-fine editions of classics and rare literature. The Society was named after the
Grolier Club The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, T ...
, which had been founded in 1884 to advance the arts involved in making books and which was itself named after a well-known French
bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...
, Jean Grolier de Servières. In 1910, Jackson purchased the rights to publish the British '' The Children's Encyclopædia'' under the name '' The Book of Knowledge''. In 1936, the company was acquired by its senior sales executive, Fred P. Murphy, who had joined the firm in 1912. Grolier's common stock began trading publicly in 1954, and it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1965. Under Murphy's leadership, by the mid-1940s, Grolier became one of the largest publishers of general encyclopedias, including ''The Book of Knowledge'' and the ''Encyclopedia Americana.'' Grolier also published the ''Grolier Encyclopedia'' (based on the ''Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopedia'' and the ''Doubleday's Encyclopedia)'' (1941), '' American Peoples Encyclopedia'' (1962), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), the ''Academic American Encyclopedia'' (1980), ''The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia'' (1985 CD-ROM), and the ''Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia'' (1995). Grolier conducted its encyclopedia sales through subsidiaries Americana Corporation; The Grolier Society; Inc.; R.H. Hinckley Company; Spencer International Press, Inc.; and The Richards Company, Inc. Each subsidiary distributed publications as designated by Grolier. Murphy encouraged a productive rivalry among the subsidiaries, giving their executives broad authority and profit-sharing incentives. In 1959, Murphy hired John G. Ryan, formerly president of competitor P.F. Collier & Son, as president of The Richards Company. By 1968, Richards' sales, distributing the ''American Peoples Encyclopedia'', exceeded that of the other Grolier encyclopedia subsidiaries. In 1968, Grolier's annual sales were over $181 million, and the company held a 30 percent market share as the leading publisher of encyclopedias in the United States. Grolier also established a successful mail order subsidiary. In the 1970s, Grolier declined financially. Fred Murphy retired, and the company merged the sales subsidiaries into what became a less profitable unitary sales force. Grolier also made ill-fated investments in non-publishing ventures, including mobile homes. In 1976, Grolier lost $77 million on sales of $247 million. It threatened to file for bankruptcy if its creditors did not agree to restructure its debts. In the 1980s, with its mail order business expanding, Grolier returned to profitability. On August 8, 1986, Grolier announced a joint venture partnership with Hal Roach Studios and Robert Halmi, Inc. (both of these companies were later known as Qintex Entertainment) to set up a joint venture, Grolier Home Video, which was designed to set up adaptations of the Grolier book properties. In 1988 Grolier was purchased by the French media company Hachette, which owned a well-known French-language encyclopedia, the ''Hachette Encyclopedia''. The sale price was $450 million. Hachette was later absorbed by the French conglomerate, the
Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. Based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the group was founded and created in 1992 by Jean-Luc Lagardère under the name Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed ...
. In 1995, Grolier acquired
Children's Press Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
, moving its operations from
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and
Danbury, Connecticut Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...
. In 1999, Grolier had revenues of $450 million and earnings of approximately $45 million, with $4.5 million in Internet revenues. It had a US$100 million international business, primarily located in the UK, Canada and Asia. Grolier was purchased by Scholastic for US$400 million in June 2000. The new owners projected a 30% increase in operating income, although historically Grolier had experienced earnings of 7% to 8% on income. Staff reductions as a means of controlling costs followed soon thereafter, even while an effort was made to augment the sales force. Cuts occurred every year between 2000 and 2007, leaving a much-depleted work force to carry out the duties of maintaining a large encyclopedia database. Scholastic, which specializes in works for the K-8 market (Kindergarten-to-8th grade), has sought to position the ''
Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America. With '' Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...
'' as a reference resource for schools. It remains to be seen whether that strategy, applied to a venerable upper-level (even adult-level) publication, will work in the long run. The name ''Grolier'' is retained as the Scholastic website ''Scholastic GO''. The company exists as Grolier Incorporated.


Imprints


Franklin Watts

Franklin Watts Inc. was formed in 1942. The company was sold to Grolier in 1957. When the namesake founder retired in 1967, he moved to London to start Franklin Watts Ltd. in 1969. Franklin Watts retired again in 1976. When Grolier acquired
Children's Press Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
in 1995, much of Franklin Watts were published under the Children's Press imprint. When Hachette sold Grolier to Scholastic Corporation in 2000, Scholastic took U.S. rights to Children's Press and Franklin Watts as well. The UK branch exists today as an imprint of Hachette UK's Hachette Children's Books.


Orchard Books

Orchard Books was founded in 1986 by Grolier as a children's publisher. When editors Neal Porter, Richard Jackson and Melanie Kroupa left Orchard for DK in 1996, Grolier sued the trio. DK and Grolier settled the lawsuit. When Hachette sold Grolier to Scholastic Corporation in 2000, they included the U.S. branch of Orchard Books while retaining the UK branch. Publications by Orchard UK include the '' Rainbow Magic'' and '' Beast Quest'' series, as well as titles by
Lauren Child Lauren Margot Peachy Child (born Helen Child; 29 November 1965) is an English children's author and illustrator. She is best known for the Charlie and Lola picture book series. Her influences include E. H. Shepard, Quentin Blake, Carl Lar ...
, Giles Andreae, Catherine and Laurence Anholt, Cressida Cowell, James Mayhew,
Anthony Horowitz Anthony John Horowitz (born 5 April 1955) is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His works for children and young adult readers include the '' Alex Rider'' series featuring a 14-year-old British boy who spi ...
, Shoo Rayner, Saviour Pirotta and Michael Lawrence. Publications by Orchard US include titles by
Jenny Nimmo Jenny Nimmo (born 15 January 1944) is a British author of children's books, including fantasy and adventure novels, chapter books, and picture books. Born in England, she has lived mostly in Wales for 40 years. She is probably best known for tw ...
, P. B. Kerr and Patrick Carman.


CD-ROM editions

Grolier's first
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
publication was the text-only ''Academic American Encyclopedia on CD-ROM'' in 1985, and was one of the first commercial CD-ROM titles. The text was based on the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'', which comprised 30,000 entries and 9 million words. The editions were updated quarterly—a rate which outpaced the print edition. Eventually, the CD-ROM edition was quite different from the print edition. Grolier published the encyclopedia with numerous name variations: ''The Electronic Encyclopedia'' (1986), ''The Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia'' (1987), ''The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia'' (1988–91), ''The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia'' (1992).'' Kister's Best Encyclopedias'', 1994. The 1990 edition was the first to feature pictures, and the 1992 edition was the first to deliver video and sound. The last CD-ROM edition published was the 2003 ''Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia''.


Video games

In 1982, Grolier formed a subsidiary called Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc. Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc. was renamed Grolier Interactive Inc. in February 1996. They made electronic encyclopedias for the
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...
and
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
for DOS,
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
and the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
. The
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
they released include:MobyGames
Grolier Interactive ceased releasing video games when Grolier was bought by Scholastic.


See also

*
List of online encyclopedias This is a list of well-known online encyclopedias that are accessible or formerly accessible on the Internet. The largest online encyclopedias are general reference works, though there are also many specialized ones. Some online encyclopedias ar ...


References


External links

* {{official, 1=http://auth.grolier.com/login/go_login_page.html?bffs=N Grolier's
Grolier Interactive's Official homepage (old, no longer in use)


American online encyclopedias Publishing companies established in 1909 Publishing companies disestablished in 2000 Publishing companies of the United States 1909 establishments in New York (state) Reference publishers Scholastic Corporation