West Margin Press is a book

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 ...

company. Using two additional imprints — Graphic Arts Books and Alaska Northwest Books — West Margin publishes books that focused on lifestyle and place.

History

Graphic Arts Center Publishing started in 1967 as a division of Graphic Arts Center, Inc., Oregon's largest printer. The publishing house was one of the pioneers in publishing large-format, full-color print books. These became known as "

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire convers ...

s." Their first book in this format was the popular ''Oregon'', a book of photographs by

Ray Atkeson Ray Atkeson (February 13, 1907 – May 25, 1990) was a U.S. photographer best known for his landscape images, particularly of the American West. His best known photographs are black and white prints, many still popular in galleries, stores, books ...

, which became a series that includes ''Oregon 2'' and ''Oregon III''. In the mid 1980s, Graphic Arts began to diversify from photographic books into subjects like children's fiction and non-fiction. In 1993, Graphic Arts acquired Alaska Northwest Books, the largest trade book publisher in the

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

n market. In 1998, Graphic Arts started its third imprint, WestWinds Press, to launch a series of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

titles and photography books. Graphic Arts Center was one of the Northwest's largest book publishers, publishing about 40 books annually and selling over 500 titles to the U.S.,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In April 2006, the company filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

. In October 2006,

Ingram Content Group Ingram Content Group is an American service provider to the book publishing industry, based in La Vergne, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries. Shawn Morin is CEO, and John R. Ingram is chairman of Ingram Industries. History The ...

invested in Graphic Arts as part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan. In January 2007, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company emerged from bankruptcy. The company again filed for bankruptcy in order to liquidate in November 2009. Ingram became the owner of Graphic Arts. In 2012, Graphic Arts acquired Pruett Publishing. In 2014, Graphic Arts acquired Companion Press. In 2019, Graphic Arts was renamed West Margin Press, with Graphic Arts remaining as an imprint and the WestWinds Press replaced by West Margin. Turner Publishing acquired West Margin from Ingram in 2022.

References

Companies based in Portland, Oregon Publishing companies established in 1968 Book publishing companies based in Oregon Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006 Privately held companies based in Oregon Defunct companies based in Oregon 1968 establishments in Oregon 2009 disestablishments in Oregon {{US-publish-company-stub