David McKay Publications (also known as David McKay Company) was an American book

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 ...

which also published some of the first

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s, including the long-running titles ''

Ace Comics ''Ace Comics'' was a comic book series published by David McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title reprinted syndicated newspaper strips owned by King Features Syndicate, followi ...

'', ''

King Comics King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. A few King Comics titles were picked up from Gold Key Comics ...

'', and '' Magic Comics''; as well as collections of such popular

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s as '' Blondie'', ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago T ...

'', and ''

Mandrake the Magician ''Mandrake the Magician'' is a Comic strip syndication, syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk before he created ''The Phantom''.Ron Goulart, ''The Encyclopedia of American Comics''. New York: Facts on File, 1990. . pp. 91, 249 ...

''.Patrick Scott Belk, "King Features Syndicate" in ''Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas'', edited by M. Keith Booker.Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, 2014. (p.217-219). McKay was also the publisher of the

Fodor's Fodor's is a producer of English-language travel guides and online tourism information. It was founded by Hungarian Eugene Fodor, who created his first travel guide, ''1936...on the Continent'', with the intention of improving upon the directo ...

travel guides.

History

David McKay was born in Dysart, Scotland, on June 24, 1860. At the age of 11, he came to the United States with his parents. At the age of 13, he began working for J. B. Lippincott & Co., learning the bookselling trade. By the age of 21, he was placed in charge of the miscellaneous catalog of books by publisher Rees Welsh. One year later, upon hearing McKay had been offered a position with a rival publisher, Welsh asked McKay to take the helm, offering to sell the entire publishing firm to him. In September 1882, with $500 of his own money and $2,500 in borrowed money and notes, McKay began his own publishing company on South 9th Street in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. At age 25, McKay published the first collected set of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

’s works in the United States. By December 1905, McKay had absorbed many rival publishing houses into his own, and was publishing books in almost every popular genre of the time, including world literature, textbooks, and a number of children's books.

Comics

In 1935, the company recognized the potential of the comic book medium and began selling collections of such popular strips as ''

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

'' and ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

strips in ''King Comics'', and in 1937 followed with the ''

'' title. ''Ace Comics'' #11, the first appearance of

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The char ...

, is regarded by many to be a key issue in the history of comics, as it introduced one of the first of the costumed heroes, leading to the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

of superheroes in comics. McKay's son

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

would follow in his father's shoes by taking over the house to go on to publish

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

’s first ''

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

'' comics, the ''

Blondie and Dagwood ''Blondie'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. The comic strip is distributed by King Features Syndicate, and has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930. The success of the strip, which features the eponym ...

'' comic series, and numerous other notable works. David McKay Publications essentially ceased publishing comics in 1950.

Acquisitions and demise

In 1950, David McKay was acquired by two executives from Putnam. In 1961, McKay acquired the American operations of Longmans, Green & Co. In 1968, McKay acquired the children's publishing company Ives Washburn. In 1973, David McKay Publications purchased Henry Z. Walck Publications, a publisher of scholarly and children's books, and Charterhouse Books, which it had launched two years earlier in partnership with

Richard Kluger Richard Kluger (born 1934) is an American author who has won a Pulitzer Prize. He focuses his writing chiefly on society, politics and history. He has been a journalist and book publisher. Early life and family Born in Paterson, New Jersey, in Se ...

. Other imprints acquired included Weybright & Talley and Peter H. Wyden. In 1968, David McKay Publications was bought by

Maxwell M. Geffen Maxwell M. Geffen (May 28, 1896 – October 11, 1980) was an American publisher. Life and career Geffen graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1916. He then worked as a correspondent for The New York American newspaper. ...

. At the end of 1973, David McKay Publications was acquired by the British magazine publisher Morgan Grampian, in which Geffen had an interest.

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

purchased David McKay Publications in 1986.

Titles

* ''

'' (1937–1950) * ''

Barney Baxter ''Barney Baxter in the Air'' is an American comic strip by Frank Miller. It started its run on September 30, 1935, for the Denver's ''Rocky Mountain News''. Starting on December 7, 1936, it was syndicated by King Features. ''Barney Baxter'' was ...

'' (1938) * '' Blondie'' (1942) * '' Blondie Comics'' (Spring 1947-December 1949/January 1950) * '' Blondie: 100 Selected Top-Laughs of America's Best Loved Comic'' (1944) * ''

'' (1937) * '' Feature Book'' (May 1937 – 1948) ** ''

'' (1938) ** ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...

'' (1946) ** ''

Phantom Phantom, phantoms, or the phantom may refer to: * Spirit (metaphysics), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phanto ...

'' (1939) **

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full s ...

(1941) * ''

Future Comics Future Comics was an American comic book publishing company founded by industry polymath Bob Layton, and his creative partners (Layton's mentor, artist/editor Dick Giordano"Reinventing the Rules: Bob Layton on Giordano," in Eury, Michael. ''Dick ...

'' (1940) * ''

'' (1935) * ''

The Katzenjammer Kids ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949).King Comics King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. A few King Comics titles were picked up from Gold Key Comics ...

'' (April 1936-November/December 1949) * ''

Little Annie Rooney ''Little Annie Rooney'' is a comic strip about a young orphaned girl who traveled about with her dog, Zero. King Features Syndicate launched the strip on January 10, 1927, not long after it was apparent that the Chicago Tribune Syndicate had s ...

'' (1935) * '' Little Orphan Annie and the Kidnappers'' (1941, giveaway) * '' Little Orphan Annie Popped Wheat Giveaway'' (1947) * '' Magic Comics'' (1939–1950) * '' Mickey Mouse Series'' (1931-1934) * ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.The Romance of Flying'' (circa late 1942) * ''

They'll Do It Every Time ''They'll Do It Every Time'' is a single-panel newspaper comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which had a long run over eight decades, first appearing on February 5, 1929, and continuing until February 3, 2008. The title of the strip became a pop ...

'' (by

Jimmy Hatlo James Cecil Hatlo (September 1, 1897 – December 1, 1963), better known as Jimmy Hatlo, was an American cartoonist who in 1929 created the long-running comic strip and gag panel ''They'll Do It Every Time'', which he wrote and drew until his d ...

, 1939) *
Conquest of Peru
' - William H. Prescott

Book series

* American Classics Series * International Library * Living Thoughts Library * McKay Chess Library * The Newbery Classics * The Pocket Classics * Stalking (implied series of titles by

Euell Gibbons Euell Theophilus Gibbons (September 8, 1911 – December 29, 1975) was an outdoorsman and early health food advocate, promoting eating wild foods during the 1960s. Early career Gibbons was born in Clarksville, Texas, on September 8, 1911 ...

) * Tartan BooksTartan Books (David McKay Co., Inc.) - Book Series List
publishinghistory.com.Retrieved 25 May 2021.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Comic book publishing companies of the United States Companies based in Philadelphia Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania Mass media companies established in 1882 Mass media companies disestablished in 1986 1882 establishments in Pennsylvania 1986 disestablishments in Pennsylvania