Hippocrene Books is an independent US

publishing 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 ...

press located at 171 Madison Avenue,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, NY 10016. Hippocrene specializes in foreign language study guides, international

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

s, and Polish-interest publishing. The foreign language catalog includes the Concise, Practical, and Standard Dictionary series, the travel-oriented Dictionary & Phrasebook series, and the Hippocrene Beginner's textbook series. In the past, Hippocrene has published

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

s on

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, translations of

classic literature A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cla ...

, children's dictionaries, and travel guides. The publishing side grew out of Optimum Book Marketing, established in 1970 by Polish immigrant George Blagowidow. The press takes its name from the mythical

Hippocrene In Greek mythology, Hippocrene ( grc-gre, Ἵππου κρήνη or Ἱπποκρήνη or Ἱππουκρήνη) was a spring on Mt. Helicon. It was sacred to the Muses and formed when Pegasus struck his hoof into the ground, whence its na ...

fountain associated with the

Muses In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...

, as seen in the company logo. Hippocrene Books, Inc., is distributed to the trade by Two River Distribution, an Ingram brand.

History

Hippocrene was started by George Blagowidow, who was born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

to Russian parents and survived the Nazi occupation to escape communist Europe in 1945. After attending university in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, he came to

in 1951, where he earned master’s and doctorate degrees in business from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He worked at Doubleday, Macmillan, and ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' before starting his own publishing company with Hippocrene’s first list in spring 1972, featuring European literary classics in

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

, including '' The Doll'' by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

novelist

Bolesław Prus Aleksander Głowacki (20 August 1847 – 19 May 1912), better known by his pen name Bolesław Prus (), was a Polish novelist, a leading figure in the history of Polish literature and philosophy, as well as a distinctive voice in world li ...

. In 1973 the company began distributing foreign-language dictionaries for a German company and continued to thrive in that niche. As of 2008, Hippocrene has published in over 112 languages, including Polish-interest books such as ''

Quo Vadis ''Quō vādis?'' (, ) is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you marching?". It is also commonly translated as "Where are you going?" or, poetically, "Whither goest thou?" The phrase originates from the Christian tradition regarding Saint Pete ...

'' by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winning novelist

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especi ...

. Polish-interest publishing led to the launch of the cookbook business, with the publishing of ''Best of Polish Cooking'', by Karen West, in 1983. This highly successful book was followed by the publication of ''The Polish Country Kitchen: Expanded Edition'' and ''Polish Holiday Cookery''. Hippocrene then expanded with additional ethnic cookbooks from other regions, publishing to date more than 80 titles.

Notes

External links

Hippocrene Books OnlineHippocrene Cooks
(Cooking Blog) Chapter about Hippocrene: * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''The Roots Are Polish,'' Toronto 2004, . {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Small press publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1970