Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990.
History
Origins
In 1839,
Moses Woodruff Dodd
Moses Woodruff Dodd (November 11, 1813 – April 8, 1899) was the founder of a publishing company that eventually became Dodd, Mead and Company in New York City.
Biography
He was the son of Ira Dodd (1786–1869) and Anna Harrison (1785–1867) of ...
(1813–1899) and John S. Taylor, at that time a leading publisher in New York,
formed the company of Taylor and Dodd as a publisher of religious books.
In 1840, Dodd bought out Taylor and renamed the company as M.W. Dodd. Frank Howard Dodd (1844–1916) joined his father in business in 1859 and became increasingly involved in the publishing company's operation.
With the retirement of founder Moses Dodd in 1870, control passed to his son
Frank Howard Dodd Frank Howard Dodd (April 12, 1844 – January 10, 1916) was a United States publisher.
Early life
Dodd was born on April 12, 1844 in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He was the second son of Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and Rachel ( Hoe) Dodd (1817–1 ...
, who joined in partnership with his cousin
Edward S. Mead
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...
(1847–1894), and the company was reorganized as Dodd and Mead.
In 1876, Bleecker Van Wagenen became a member of the firm and the name was changed to Dodd, Mead and Company.
[ Tebbel, John, ''Between Covers: The Rise and Transformation of Book Publishing in America''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, , p. 111]
Dodd, Mead and Company, Papers, 1836–1939
American Antiquarian Society (retrieved January 22, 2011).
Growth and prominence
The company was well known for the quality of its publications, including many books on American history and contemporary literature. As a bookseller, the firm was a dealer and leading authority in rare books.
As head of Dodd, Mead and Company, Frank Dodd established ''
The Bookman'' in 1895, and ''The
New International Encyclopedia
''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926.
History
''The New Intern ...
'' in 1902. He was president of the
American Publishers Association
American Publishers Association (APA) was created in 1901 to maintain the price of copyright books in the American market.
In 1913, the New York Supreme court ruled in favor of R. H Macy's & Co. vs American Publishers Association, saying Macy's ...
for a number of years. The firm built the Dodd Mead Building (1910) at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Thirtieth Street, and the 11-story building was heralded as creating a new trade center in New York City.
Dodd, Mead and Company published the work of new poets including
Robert W. Service,
Bliss Carman and
Paul Laurence Dunbar.
When Frank Dodd died in 1916, the partnership was dissolved and the business was incorporated. Dodd's only son, Edward H. Dodd, succeeded him as president.
In 1922 Dodd, Mead and Company began a period of great expansion with the purchase of the American branch of John Lane Company, publisher of
Anatole France,
William John Locke
William John Locke (20 March 1863 – 15 May 1930) was a British novelist, dramatist and playwright, best known for his short stories.
Biography
He was born in Cunningsbury St George, Christ Church, Demerara, British Guiana on 20 March 1863, ...
and many prominent poets. Other authors included
Aubrey Beardsley,
Max Beerbohm,
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
,
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...
,
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
,
Theodore Dreiser, and
Stephen Leacock. In 1924 Dodd purchased Moffat, Yard & Co., adding books by
William James,
Sigmund Freud, and
Carl Jung to their list. Dodd, Mead's ''
New International Encyclopedia
''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926.
History
''The New Intern ...
'' was sold in 1931 to
Funk & Wagnalls
Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...
. In 1934, Dodd, Mead acquired Duffield and Green, publisher of
Elinor Glyn
Elinor Glyn ( Sutherland; 17 October 1864 – 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern stand ...
,
Emma Gelders Sterne
Emma Gelders Sterne (May 13, 1894–August 29, 1971) was an American writer of children's books, with a historical and literary focus. Born in Alabama, she became involved in liberal causes include women's suffrage and racial equality, issues she ...
, and
General Krasnov
Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov ( rus, Пётр Николаевич Краснов; 22 September (old style: 10 September) 1869 – 17 January 1947), sometimes referred to in English as Peter Krasnov, was a Don Cossack historian and officer, promot ...
; and the Sears Publishing Company. Dodd, Mead acquired the complete works of
George Bernard Shaw.
Acquisition and end
In December 1981, Dodd, Mead and Company became a subsidiary of
Thomas Nelson Inc. One of the last family-owned publishers in the United States, it was purchased for $4 million. The company was sold again in 1986 to Gamut Publishing Company, a partnership founded by Jon B. Harden and Lynne A. Lumsden for the purpose of acquiring book publishing companies, for $4.7 million. To retire some of its debt, the owners of the 149-year-old publishing house sold its greatest assets – the U.S. rights to books by
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
and
Max Brand — to the
Putnam Berkley Group in 1988.
The business operations of Dodd, Mead and Company were suspended in March 1989 pending the outcome of arbitration with its fulfillment house, Metro Services, Inc. By the end of 1990 the company ceased publications.
Authors
Authors' names are followed by their known dates of association with Dodd, Mead and Company.
*
Edward Abbey
*
Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr (March 29, 1831 – March 10, 1919) was a British novelist and teacher. Many of the plots of her stories are laid in Scotland and England. The scenes are from her girlhood recollection of surroundings. Her works includ ...
(1885–1911)
*
Caroline French Benton
Caroline Frances Burrell, née Benedict (died 20 September 1923) was a prolific author who wrote under the pseudonym Caroline French Benton.
Works
*''Gala Day Luncheons'' (1901)
*''A Little Cook-Book for a Little Girl'' (1905)
*''The Mother's B ...
(1901, ''
Gala-day luncheons'')
*
N. J. Berrill
Norman John ("Jack") Berrill (28 April 1903 – 16 October 1996) was an English marine biologist. He was born in Bristol and received his BSc degree from the University of Bristol in 1924 and his PhD (1929) and DSc (1931) from University Colleg ...
(1951–1966)
*
Don Blanding
Donald Benson Blanding (November 7, 1894—June 9, 1957) was an American poet, sometimes described as the "poet laureate of Hawaii." He was also a journalist, cartoonist, author and speaker.
Early life
Blanding was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma ...
(1928–1955)
*
Max Brand
*
Anna Alice Chapin
Anna Alice Chapin (December 16, 1880 – February 26, 1920) was an American author and playwright. She wrote novels, short stories, fairy tales and books on music, but is perhaps best remembered for her 1904 collaboration with Glen MacDonough ...
(September 1912)
*
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
(1922–1976)
*
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
*
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1896–1914)
*
Norman A. Fox
Norman Arnold Fox (May 26, 1911 – March 24, 1960) was an American author best known for Western stories and novels. His stories were often set around actual events in Montana history and contained authentic detail for the period. Norman's w ...
(1911–1960)
*
Ernest Holmes (1953 publication of ''
The Science of Mind
''The Science of Mind'' is a book by Ernest Holmes. It proposes a science with a new relationship between humans and God. Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, originally published it in 1926. A revised version was completed by Holmes and Mau ...
'')
*
W. W. Jacobs
William Wymark Jacobs (8 September 1863 – 1 September 1943) was an English author of short fiction and drama. His best remembered story is "The Monkey's Paw". He was born in Wapping, London, on 8 September 1863, the son of William Gage Jacobs ...
*
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...
*
Ross Macdonald
Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...
*
Addison Mizner (1932)
*
Ruth Bryan Owen
Ruth Baird Leavitt Owen Rohde, also known as Ruth Bryan Owen, (née Bryan; October 2, 1885 – July 26, 1954) was an American politician and diplomat who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1929 to 1933 and served as ...
(1935–1942)
*
John Cowper Powys
John Cowper Powys (; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...
(1920–1925)
*
Arthur Ransome
Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...
(1907, published his ''
Bohemia in London'')
*Vincent Scuro (1974–1986)
*
Robert W. Service (1911–1954)
*
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...
*
Bettina Riddle von Hutten
Bettina Riddle (February 14, 1874 – January 26, 1957), also known as Betsey Riddle, and later as Baroness von Hutten, was an American-born novelist, specializing in historical fiction. As an American in England during World War I, she was arreste ...
Book series
* Ajax Series
* American Political Leaders
* Astor Library
* Ebony Library
Ebony Library
owu.edu. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
* Great Illustrated Classics
* International Classics
* Modern American Writers
* Quill Library
* Red Badge Detective
See also
* Books in the United States
As of 2018, several firms in the United States rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: Cengage Learning, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Wiley.
H ...
Notes
References
*Gregory Ames; "Dodd, Mead and Company," ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', Volume 49: American Literary Publishing Houses, 1638–1899 (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1986). pp. 126–130.
Further reading
* Edward H. Dodd, Jr., ''The First Hundred Years A History Of The House Of Dodd, Mead 1839–1939'', New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1939.
External links
Dodd, Mead mss., 1855–1992, Finding Aid
Lilly Library
The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University (Bloomington), Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library co ...
, Indiana University
Dodd, Mead & Company Archive 1896–1974 Finding Aid
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Dodd, Mead & Company Records
a
New-York Historical Society Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Mead and Co.
Publishing companies established in 1839
Publishing companies disestablished in 1990
Defunct companies based in New York (state)
Defunct book publishing companies of the United States
1839 establishments in New York (state)
1990 disestablishments in New York (state)