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Viking Press

Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer[1] and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975.[2][3]

Viking Press
Parent companyPenguin Random House
StatusActive
Founded1925; 99 years ago (1925)
FoundersHarold K. Guinzburg, George Oppenheimer
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationNew York City
Key peoplePresident-Brian Tart, Children's publisher Kenneth Wright
Imprints
  • Viking Kestrel
  • Viking Adult
  • Viking Children's Books
  • Viking Portable Library
Official websitepenguin.com/vikingbooks

History edit

Guinzburg, a Harvard graduate and former employee of Simon and Schuster and Oppenheimer, a graduate of Williams College and Alfred A. Knopf, founded Viking in 1925 with the goal of publishing nonfiction and "distinguished fiction with some claim to permanent importance rather than ephemeral popular interest."[4] B. W. Huebsch joined the firm shortly afterward. Harold Guinzburg's son Thomas became president in 1961.[4]

The firm's name and logo—a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent—were meant to evoke the ideas of adventure, exploration, and enterprise implied by the word "Viking."

In August 1961, they acquired H.B. Huesbsch, which maintained a list of backlist titles from authors such as James Joyce and Sherwood Anderson. The first imprint was The Book of American Negro Spirituals, edited by James Weldon Johnson. The young firm focused on aggressive advertising and a liberal return policy. These policies, along with popular fiction authors Dorothy Parker, D. H. Lawrence and Erskine Caldwell, as well as non-fiction authors Bertrand Russell and Mohandis Gandhi, helped the firm weather the Depression.

The house has been home to many prominent authors of fiction, non-fiction, and play scripts. Five Viking authors have been awarded Nobel Prizes for Literature and one received the Nobel Peace Prize; Viking books have also won numerous Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, and other important literary prizes.

In 1943, the Viking Portable Library was introduced, a series designed to provide compact, well-printed anthologies for the general reader and college students. These compilations encompassed works by Hemingway, Steinbeck and Shakespeare. Over the next decade, Viking published works by Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, Rumer Godden and Rex Stout. Saul Bellow published his third novel, The Adventure of Augie March in 1953, and would publish his next five works with the press, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Humboldt's Gift in 1975. In 1957, Jack Kerouac's On the Road was published by the press, and during the 1960s Viking published works by Hannah Arendt, Theodore Draper, Zbignew Brzezinski, Ian Fleming, Ken Kesey, and Jimmy Breslin.

Viking publishes approximately 75 books a year. It has published both successful commercial fiction and acclaimed literary fiction and non-fiction, and its paperbacks are most often published by Penguin Books. Viking's current president is Brian Tart.[5]

Imprints edit

  • Viking Kestrel
  • Viking Adult, who got in legal trouble in 1946 due to John Steinbeck's bold eulogy, and fell out of public favor in 1947[clarification needed]
  • Viking children's Books
  • Viking Portable Library
  • Pamela Dorman Books

Viking Children's edit

In 1933, Viking Press founded a department called Junior Books to publish children's books. The first book published was The Story About Ping in 1933 under editor May Massee. Junior Books was later renamed Viking Children's Books. Viking Kestrel was one of its imprints.

Its books have won the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, and include such books as The Twenty-One Balloons, written and illustrated by William Pene du Bois (1947, Newbery medal winner for 1948), Corduroy, Make Way for Ducklings, The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (1993), The Outsiders, Pippi Longstocking, and The Story of Ferdinand. Its paperbacks are now published by Puffin Books, which includes the Speak and Firebird imprints. From 2012 and as of 2016, Viking Children's publisher is Kenneth Wright.[6]

Viking Critical Library edit

The Viking Critical Library offers academic editions of literary texts. Like W. W. Norton's Norton Critical Editions, all titles print the text alongside a selection of critical essays and contextual documents (including relevant extracts from the author's oeuvre). The series, which only saw sporadic publications in the late '70s and late '90s, has been dormant since 1998, with no new titles released since then. However, a number of existing titles remain in print.

Titles
Author Title Editor Year published Notes
Don DeLillo White Noise Mark Osteen 1998 .
Graham Greene The Quiet American John Clark Pratt 1996
James Joyce Dubliners Robert Scholes 1996
James Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Chester G. Anderson 1977 The only title known to include explanatory end notes.
Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest John Clark Pratt 1977 Out of print.
Jack Kerouac On the Road Scott Donaldson 1979 Out of print.
Arthur Miller The Crucible Gerald Weales 1996
Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman Gerald Weales 1996
John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath Kevin Hearle 1997

Notable authors edit

Notable editors edit

Awards edit

  • 10 Newbery Medals
  • 10 Caldecott Medals
  • 27 Newbery Honors
  • 33 Caldecott Honors
  • 1 American Book Award
  • 2 Coretta Scott King Awards
  • 3 Batcheldor Honors
  • 5 Christopher Medals
  • 2 Margaret A. Edwards Awards for authors S. E. Hinton and Richard Peck

References edit

  1. ^ Kenneth T. Jackson; Lisa Keller; Nancy Flood (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. New York City: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300055368.
  2. ^ Egli, ed. (1975). "Viking Press Is Sold To Penguin Books". School Library Journal. New York City: Media Source Inc. 22 (4): 16.
  3. ^ Whitman, Alden (November 11, 1975). "Viking Press Is Sold to Penguin Books". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Weber, Bruce (September 10, 2010). "Thomas Guinzburg, Paris Review Co-Founder, Dies at 84". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  5. ^ "Brian Tart | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  6. ^ "Viking Children's Books". Penguin Random House. Retrieved April 17, 2016.

Further reading edit

Bean, Martha Sue. A History and Profile of the Viking Press, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Theses, 1969.

"Viking Press, Viking Penguin", Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 46, pp. 365-368.

External links edit

  • Viking Press overview at Penguin
  • at Penguin (page from August 28, 2006 stored by the Internet Archive)
  • Viking Children's Books overview at Penguin
  • at Penguin (page from April 26, 2008 stored by the Internet Archive)

viking, press, formally, viking, penguin, also, listed, viking, books, american, publishing, company, owned, penguin, random, house, founded, york, city, march, 1925, harold, guinzburg, george, oppenheimer, then, acquired, penguin, group, 1975, parent, company. Viking Press formally Viking Penguin also listed as Viking Books is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House It was founded in New York City on March 1 1925 by Harold K Guinzburg and George S Oppenheimer 1 and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975 2 3 Viking PressParent companyPenguin Random HouseStatusActiveFounded1925 99 years ago 1925 FoundersHarold K Guinzburg George OppenheimerCountry of originUnited StatesHeadquarters locationNew York CityKey peoplePresident Brian Tart Children s publisher Kenneth WrightImprintsViking Kestrel Viking Adult Viking Children s Books Viking Portable LibraryOfficial websitepenguin com vikingbooks Contents 1 History 2 Imprints 2 1 Viking Children s 2 2 Viking Critical Library 3 Notable authors 4 Notable editors 5 Awards 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksHistory editGuinzburg a Harvard graduate and former employee of Simon and Schuster and Oppenheimer a graduate of Williams College and Alfred A Knopf founded Viking in 1925 with the goal of publishing nonfiction and distinguished fiction with some claim to permanent importance rather than ephemeral popular interest 4 B W Huebsch joined the firm shortly afterward Harold Guinzburg s son Thomas became president in 1961 4 The firm s name and logo a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent were meant to evoke the ideas of adventure exploration and enterprise implied by the word Viking In August 1961 they acquired H B Huesbsch which maintained a list of backlist titles from authors such as James Joyce and Sherwood Anderson The first imprint was The Book of American Negro Spirituals edited by James Weldon Johnson The young firm focused on aggressive advertising and a liberal return policy These policies along with popular fiction authors Dorothy Parker D H Lawrence and Erskine Caldwell as well as non fiction authors Bertrand Russell and Mohandis Gandhi helped the firm weather the Depression The house has been home to many prominent authors of fiction non fiction and play scripts Five Viking authors have been awarded Nobel Prizes for Literature and one received the Nobel Peace Prize Viking books have also won numerous Pulitzer Prizes National Book Awards and other important literary prizes In 1943 the Viking Portable Library was introduced a series designed to provide compact well printed anthologies for the general reader and college students These compilations encompassed works by Hemingway Steinbeck and Shakespeare Over the next decade Viking published works by Lillian Hellman Arthur Miller Rumer Godden and Rex Stout Saul Bellow published his third novel The Adventure of Augie March in 1953 and would publish his next five works with the press including the Pulitzer Prize winning Humboldt s Gift in 1975 In 1957 Jack Kerouac s On the Road was published by the press and during the 1960s Viking published works by Hannah Arendt Theodore Draper Zbignew Brzezinski Ian Fleming Ken Kesey and Jimmy Breslin Viking publishes approximately 75 books a year It has published both successful commercial fiction and acclaimed literary fiction and non fiction and its paperbacks are most often published by Penguin Books Viking s current president is Brian Tart 5 Imprints editViking Kestrel Viking Adult who got in legal trouble in 1946 due to John Steinbeck s bold eulogy and fell out of public favor in 1947 clarification needed Viking children s Books Viking Portable Library Pamela Dorman BooksViking Children s edit In 1933 Viking Press founded a department called Junior Books to publish children s books The first book published was The Story About Ping in 1933 under editor May Massee Junior Books was later renamed Viking Children s Books Viking Kestrel was one of its imprints Its books have won the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and include such books as The Twenty One Balloons written and illustrated by William Pene du Bois 1947 Newbery medal winner for 1948 Corduroy Make Way for Ducklings The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith 1993 The Outsiders Pippi Longstocking and The Story of Ferdinand Its paperbacks are now published by Puffin Books which includes the Speak and Firebird imprints From 2012 and as of 2016 update Viking Children s publisher is Kenneth Wright 6 Viking Critical Library edit The Viking Critical Library offers academic editions of literary texts Like W W Norton s Norton Critical Editions all titles print the text alongside a selection of critical essays and contextual documents including relevant extracts from the author s oeuvre The series which only saw sporadic publications in the late 70s and late 90s has been dormant since 1998 with no new titles released since then However a number of existing titles remain in print TitlesAuthor Title Editor Year published NotesDon DeLillo White Noise Mark Osteen 1998 Graham Greene The Quiet American John Clark Pratt 1996James Joyce Dubliners Robert Scholes 1996James Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Chester G Anderson 1977 The only title known to include explanatory end notes Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest John Clark Pratt 1977 Out of print Jack Kerouac On the Road Scott Donaldson 1979 Out of print Arthur Miller The Crucible Gerald Weales 1996Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman Gerald Weales 1996John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath Kevin Hearle 1997Notable authors editAbdullah II King of Jordan Kingsley Amis Sherwood Anderson Hannah Arendt Antony Beevor Saul Bellow Ludwig Bemelmans Dan Blum T C Boyle Geraldine Brooks Daniel James Brown William S Burroughs Lan Cao Rosanne Cash Ferreira de Castro J M Coetzee Leonard Cohen Roald Dahl Theodore Draper Lawrence Durrell Kim Edwards Daniel Ellsberg Helen Fielding Frederick Forsyth Don Freeman Tana French Elizabeth George Elizabeth Gilbert Rumer Godden Will Gompertz Graham Greene R K Narayan Robert Greene Martha Grimes S E Hinton David Irving Kristopher Jansma James Weldon Johnson James Joyce Jan Karon Ezra Jack Keats Garrison Keillor William Kennedy Jack Kerouac Ken Kesey Sue Monk Kidd Stephen King Jamil Jan Kochai D H Lawrence Tobsha Learner Rebecca Makkai Hilary Mantel Peter Matthiessen Robert McCloskey Terry McMillan Arthur Miller Jojo Moyes John Julius Norwich Barack Obama Michelle Obama Octavio Paz Steven Pinker Thomas Pynchon Ruth Sawyer Jon Scieszka Kate Seredy Katherine Binney Shippen Upton Sinclair Wallace Stegner John Steinbeck Rex Stout August Strindberg Simms Taback Whitney Terrell Barbara Tuchman Carl Van Doren William T Vollmann David Foster Wallace Rosemary Wells Rebecca West Patrick White Vikram SampathNotable editors editJacqueline Kennedy Onassis consulting editor Wendy Wolf vice president and associate editor 1994 Awards edit10 Newbery Medals 10 Caldecott Medals 27 Newbery Honors 33 Caldecott Honors 1 American Book Award 2 Coretta Scott King Awards 3 Batcheldor Honors 5 Christopher Medals 2 Margaret A Edwards Awards for authors S E Hinton and Richard PeckReferences edit Kenneth T Jackson Lisa Keller Nancy Flood 1995 The Encyclopedia of New York City Second Edition New York City Yale University Press ISBN 978 0300055368 Egli ed 1975 Viking Press Is Sold To Penguin Books School Library Journal New York City Media Source Inc 22 4 16 Whitman Alden November 11 1975 Viking Press Is Sold to Penguin Books The New York Times New York City Retrieved May 28 2020 a b Weber Bruce September 10 2010 Thomas Guinzburg Paris Review Co Founder Dies at 84 The New York Times New York City Retrieved September 13 2010 Brian Tart The Bookseller www thebookseller com Retrieved 2017 09 13 Viking Children s Books Penguin Random House Retrieved April 17 2016 Further reading editBean Martha Sue A History and Profile of the Viking Press Chapel Hill NC University of North Carolina Theses 1969 Viking Press Viking Penguin Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 46 pp 365 368 External links editViking Press overview at Penguin Viking Press history at Penguin page from August 28 2006 stored by the Internet Archive Viking Children s Books overview at Penguin Viking Children s Books history at Penguin page from April 26 2008 stored by the Internet Archive Portals nbsp Companies nbsp Books Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Viking Press amp oldid 1187525058, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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