Western Publishing Company
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| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Publishing |
| Genre | Children's |
| Fate | Acquired jointly by Classic Media and Random House |
| Successor |
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| Founded | 1910 in Racine, Wisconsin, USA |
| Founders |
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| Defunct | August 16, 2001 |
| Headquarters | 1220 Mound Avenue, Racine, Wisconsin, USA |
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Number of locations
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3 (New York City, Los Angeles, Poughkeepsie, New York) |
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Area served
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USA |
| Brands | Little Golden Books |
| Subsidiaries |
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Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products. The company had editorial offices in New York City and Los Angeles, California. Western Publishing became Golden Books Family Entertainment in fall 2001. As of 2016, Little Golden Books remains as an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Edward Henry Wadewitz, the 30-year-old son of German immigrants, worked at the West Side Printing Company in Racine, Wisconsin. When the owner was unable to pay Wadewitz his wages, Wadewitz in 1907 took the opportunity to purchase the company for $2,504, with some of the funds provided by his brother Albert. Knowing that the company needed staff with more knowledge of the business than he had, Wadewitz hired Roy A. Spencer, a printer at the Racine Journal Company.
At the end of its first year sales were $5,000 and the company increased its staff of four to handle a growing number of commercial jobs. It installed a cylinder press, two smaller presses, and an automatic power cutter. In 1910, the company changed its name to Western Printing and Lithographing Company after the purchase of its first lithographic press. By 1914, sales were more than $127,000. The company installed a larger offset press and added electrotyping and engraving departments. Wadewitz was approached by the Hamming-Whitman Publishing Company of Chicago to print its line of children’s books. Unable to pay its bills, Hamming-Whitman left Western with thousands of books. As a result, Western acquired Hamming-Whitman on February 9, 1916 and formed a subsidiary corporation, Whitman Publishing Company. It employed two salesmen and, in the first year, grossed more than $43,500 liquidating the remaining Hamming-Whitman books. In 1916, Sam Lowe joined Western. He convinced Western and Whitman to publish a 10-cent children’s book in 1918 and convinced retailers that children's books could be sold year-round.
Western introduced boxed games and jigsaw puzzles in 1923 Western after purchasing a 38-inch by 52-inch Potter offset press. By 1925, sales exceeded $1 million. Western added another subsidiary, the Western Playing Card Company after purchasing the Sheffer Playing Card Company. In 1929, Western purchased a Chicago stationery and greeting card manufacturer, Stationer’s Engraving Company. Another subsidiary was K.K. Publications, named after Kay Kamen, manager of character merchandising at Walt Disney Studios from 1933 to 1949. K.K. Publications became defunct during the mid/late 1960s.
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Wikipedia