Arcadia Publishing is an American

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

of neighborhood,

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publishes text-driven books on American history and folklore.

History

Arcadia Publishing was founded in

Dover, New Hampshire Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous city in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region (New Hampshire), Seacoast region and ...

, in 1993 by

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

-based

Tempus Publishing The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, but became independent after being acquired by its CEO in 2004. The corporate office is in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It has a catalog of more than 12,000 titles, and italong with its subsidiary, The History Presspublishes 900 new titles every year. Its formula for regional publishing is to use local

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

s or

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

s to write about their community using 180 to 240

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

s with captions and introductory paragraphs in a 128-page book. The ''Images of America'' series is the company's largest product line. Other series include ''Images of Rail, Images of Sports, Images of Baseball, Black America, Postcard History, Campus History, Corporate History, Legendary Locals, Images of Modern America'', and ''Then & Now''. In May 2017, Arcadia acquired Palmetto Publishing Group, a Charleston-based self-publishing service that had been in business since 2015. In 2018, Arcadia was acquired by Lezen, a new company owned by Lili and Michael Lynton. In March 2019,

Walter Isaacson Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American journalist who has written biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna and Elon Musk. As of 2024, Isaacson is a profes ...

became the editor-at-large and senior adviser for Arcadia Publishing, where he will be promoting books for the company as well as editing, new strategy development, and partnerships. In 2010, Arcadia became the first major publisher to print all of their books on

Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council GmbH (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. This organization uses a market-b ...

(FSC) paper. All of the publisher's books are also printed and manufactured in South Carolina on American-made paper.

Imprints

Applewood Books Applewood Books is a publishing company which specializes in reissuing original versions of historical books, founded by Phil Zuckerman in 1976. Its popular reprints include a hardcover edition of the Constitution of the United States; Robert L. ...

(purchased in 2023). * Arcadia Children's Books (founded in 2019). * Belt Publishing (acquired in 2024) * Commonwealth Editions (acquired in 2021 from Applewood Books). * The History Press (originally a U.S. subsidiary of

-based publisher of the same name; sold to Arcadia in 2014). The History Press specializes in books dealing with "narratives of local heroes, tragic losses, collections of homegrown recipes, historic mysteries, and everything in between." Some of their series include: ''American Legends'' (a series focused on local mythology, legends, and mysteries), ''Forgotten Tales'' (a line of books that catalogue near-forgotten stories), and ''Haunted America'' (paranormal history books that are written by local authors about ghost stories specific to cities across the US). * Pelican Publishing Company (purchased in 2019). Pelican publishes books focused on Louisiana and Southern culture, cuisine, art, and history.

Distribution

The books are printed in the United States. Arcadia handles its own sales and distribution with the following each accounting for a third of the company's sales: *

Bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

chains *

Independent bookstore An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, ...

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

s * Nontraditional outlets (e.g.,

historical societies This is a partial List of Historical society, historical and heritage societies from around the world. The sections provided are not mutually exclusive. Many historical societies websites are their museums' websites. List is organized by location a ...

hardware store Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing ...

References

External links

*
Arcadia Publishing: Expands Distribution to Reach More Readers
{{Authority control Book publishing companies based in South Carolina Publishing companies established in 1993 1993 establishments in New Hampshire American companies established in 1993