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1838: George
Palmer
Putnam and
John Wiley
form the
book
publishing
and retail
firm of
Wiley &
Putnam in
New York.
1848: Wiley
& Putnam's
partnership
is
dissolved;
Putnam's new
firm, "G.
Putnam
Broadway,"
goes on to
publish the
works of
Washington
Irving,
Edgar Allan
Poe,
Nathaniel
Hawthorne,
Samuel
Taylor
Coleridge
and scores
of other
literary
luminaries
of the
nineteenth
century.
1866: G.
Putnam
Broadway
becomes, "G.
P. Putnam &
Sons" when
Putnam's
three sons
join their
father's
business.
1872: Upon
George
Palmer
Putnam's
death, his
sons take
over the
business
under its
present
name, G.P.
Putnam's
Sons.
1884: A
young
Theodore
Roosevelt,
enamoured of
publishing,
joins G.P.
Putnam's
Sons as a
special
partner.
Over the
years he
wrote
several
works
published by
Putnam,
including
Naval War of
1812 and The
Winning of
the West.
1930: G.P.
Putnam's
Sons merges
with the
publishing
firm of
Minton,
Balch & Co.
Control of
the company
passes to
Minton &
Balch upon
Palmer C.
Putnam's
retirement.
1935: Allen
Lane
publishes
the first
ten Penguin
paperback
books in
London,
filling the
need for
cheap
editions of
good-quality
contemporary
writing.
1936:
Penguin
Books Ltd.
is formed.
Within its
first year
the company
sells over 3
million
books.
1936: G. P.
Putnam's
Sons forms
an alliance
with
London-based
Coward-McCann
(which
became
Coward,
McCann &
Geoghegan in
1971), which
enables it
to publish
writers from
both sides
of the
Atlantic,
including
Elizabeth
Goudge,
Siegfried
Sassoon and,
later John
Le Carré.
1941: Puffin
Books, a
children's
imprint, is
founded by
Penguin.
1945:
Penguin's
first
reference
book, The
Penguin
Dictionary
of Science,
is
published.
1946:
Penguin
Australia is
founded.
1946: The
Penguin
Classics
series is
launched
with The
Odyssey,
which
becomes
Penguin's
best-selling
book.
1958: Putnam
publishes
Lolita by
Vladimir
Nabakov,
unleashing a
storm of
controversy.
Banned by
public
libraries in
some
American
cities—and
officially
banned by
the
government
of
France--the
book becomes
a
best-seller.
Along with
Norman
Mailer's
Deer Park,
published by
Putnam in
1955, Lolita
is a
landmark
victory
against the
threat of
censorship.
1960: The
first
unabridged
version of
Lady
Chatterly's
Lover is
published by
Penguin,
causing the
company to
be charged
under
Britain's
Obscene
Publications
Act. Against
a backdrop
of
tremendous
publicity
the company
is
acquitted,
marking a
turning
point in
censorship
laws in
Britain.
Penguin
sells 2
million
copies of
the book in
six weeks;
the Allen
Lane imprint
sells
another 1.3
million
copies.
1960:
Penguin
Books
celebrates
its 25th
Anniversary.
1961:
Penguin
Books goes
public.
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