Parent company | Mesorah Publications |
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Status | Active |
Founded | 1976 |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Brooklyn, New York |
Key people | Nosson Scherman and Meir Zlotowitz, general editors |
Official website | www.artscroll.com |
ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Brooklyn, New York. Its general editors are Rabbis Nosson Scherman and Meir Zlotowitz.
In 1975, Zlotowitz, a graduate of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, was director of a high-end graphics studio in New York. The firm, named ArtScroll Studios, produced brochures, invitations, awards and ketubahs. Rabbi Nosson Scherman, then principal of Yeshiva Karlin Stolin Boro Park, was recommended to Zlotowitz as someone who could write copy, and they collaborated on a few projects.
In late 1975, a close friend of Zlotowitz, Rabbi Meir Fogel, died in his sleep, prompting Zlotowitz to want to do something to honor his memory. As Purim was a few months away, he decided to write an English translation and commentary on the Book of Esther, and asked Scherman to write the introduction. The book was completed in honor of the shloshim (the 30-day commemoration of a death) and sold out its first edition of 20,000 copies within two months. With the encouragement of Rabbi Moses Feinstein, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, and other Gedolei Yisrael, the two continued producing commentaries, beginning with a translation and commentary on the rest of the Five Megillot (Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Ruth), and went on to publish translations and commentaries on the Torah, Prophets, Talmud, Passover Haggadah, siddurs and machzors. The name ArtScroll was chosen for the publishing company to emphasize the visual appeal of the books. In its first 25 years, ArtScroll produced more than 700 books, including novels, history books, children's books and secular textbooks, and is now one of the largest publishers of Jewish books in the United States.