{{short description|American publishing house}} {{Infobox publisher | image = | parent = Penguin Young Readers Group (Penguin Group) | status = | founded = {{start date and age|1898}} | founders = Alexander Grosset and George T. Dunlap | successor = | country = United States | headquarters = 345 Hudson Street, 14th floor, New York City | distribution = | keypeople = | publications = Books | topics = | genre = Photoplay editions, children's literature, mystery fiction | imprints = Platt & Munk <br /> Charter Books (Ace Charter) <br /> Bedtime Stories <br /> Junior Library | revenue = | numemployees = | nasdaq = | url = {{URL|https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2034385/grosset-and-dunlap/}} }}
'''Grosset & Dunlap''' is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982<ref name="Corry">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/07/books/briefs-on-the-arts-258982.html|title=Briefs On The Arts. Putnam and Berkley Buy Grosset & Dunlap, PEI|last=Corry|first=John|date=July 7, 1982|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 8, 2010|url-access=limited}}</ref> and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pearson Timeline |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141020151110/http://www.ulib.niu.edu/publishers/Pearson.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-10-20 |url=http://www.ulib.niu.edu/publishers/index.htm |work=The Academic Publishing Industry: A Story of Merger and Acquisition |author= Mary H. Munroe |year=2004 |via= Northern Illinois University}}</ref>
In recent years, through the Penguin Group, they have published approximately 170 titles a year, including licensed children's books for such properties as ''Miss Spider'', ''Strawberry Shortcake'', ''Super Why!'', ''Charlie and Lola'', ''Nova the Robot'', Weebles, Bratz, The Wiggles, ''Sonic X'', and ''Atomic Betty''. Grosset & Dunlap also publishes ''Dick and Jane'' children's books and, through Platt & Munk, ''The Little Engine That Could''.
==History== The company was founded in 1898 by Alexander Grosset and George T. Dunlap. It was originally primarily a hardcover reprint house. In 1907, Grosset & Dunlap acquired Chatterton & Peck, who had a large children's list including the Stratemeyer Syndicate.<ref name="stark">{{Cite web | title = A Bookseller's Guide to Grosset & Dunlap | access-date = 2019-01-20 | url = http://www.bookthink.com/0170/170gad1.htm}}</ref>
Grosset & Dunlap is historically known for its photoplay editions and juvenile series books such as The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, Cherry Ames and other books from their long partnership with the Stratemeyer Syndicate (currently owned by Simon & Schuster).
After George T. Dunlap retired in 1944, Grosset & Dunlap was sold to a consortium of Random House; Little, Brown; Harper and Brothers; Scribners; and the Book of the Month Club.<ref name="stark"/> Grosset & Dunlap launched the paperback reprint house Bantam Books in 1945 in cooperation with Curtis Publishing Company.<ref>{{Cite web | title = How Paperbacks Transformed the Way Americans Read {{!}} Mental Floss | date = 19 April 2014 | access-date = 2019-01-20 | url = http://mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transformed-way-americans-read | work = Mental Floss}}</ref> In 1954, Grosset & Dunlap acquired McLoughlin Brothers.<ref>{{Cite web | last = aasmaster | title = McLoughlin Bros | work = American Antiquarian Society | format = Text | access-date = 2019-04-15 | date = 2014-11-05 | url = https://www.americanantiquarian.org/mcloughlin-bros}}</ref> Grosset & Dunlap had an initial public offering in 1961, by which time the majority of the books published were children's books.<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | title = GROSSET & DUNLAP IN STOCK OFFERING; 436,086 Shares Marketed at $29 in First Public Sale | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2019-01-20 | date = 1961-05-12 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1961/05/12/archives/grosset-dunlap-in-stock-offering-436086-shares-marketed-at-29-in.html | url-access=limited}}</ref> In 1964, Grosset & Dunlap acquired full ownership of Bantam from Curtis.<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | title = Curtis Sells Stake in 3 Book Concerns | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2019-01-20 | date = 1964-02-13 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/13/archives/curtis-sells-stake-in-3-book-concerns.html|url-access=limited}}</ref>
Grosset & Dunlap obtained permission from Little, Brown, to reprint Thornton W. Burgess's many children's books, and began issuing the Bedtime Stories series (20 books originally published 1913–1919, including such titles as ''The Adventures of Reddy Fox'' and ''The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel'') in 1949. The original Little, Brown editions had plates of high quality paper for the illustrations, but the Grosset & Dunlap editions were to print the illustrations on the same stock as the text. They commissioned the original artist, Harrison Cady, to recreate the illustrations as line drawings appropriate for that type of paper, and to create many additional illustrations. Where the original Little, Brown editions had six full-page illustrations, the Grosset & Dunlap had 14 (fourteen) full-page drawings, plus many smaller drawings placed throughout the text. Cady had matured as an artist in the decades since the original Little, Brown illustrations. The line drawings he did for Grosset & Dunlap are simpler than the illustrations he had made for Little, Brown, and are generally more charming. The original Little, Brown illustrations better convey Cady's remarkable vision for Burgess' creatures.<ref name="Thornton W. Burgess 2000, page 40">''Thornton W. Burgess: A Descriptive Book Bibliography'', revised and enlarged edition, by Wayne W. Wright, The Thornton W. Burgess Society, 2000, page 40, and other misc. sources.</ref>
Grosset & Dunlap published the Burgess books as hardcovers with dust jackets from 1949 to 1957, then as pink hardcovers without dust jackets from about 1962 into the 1970s. They issued them with library bindings in 1977. In most cases, the latest date printed anywhere in the book was from the early 1940s, so the Grosset & Dunlap editions are today often mistaken for being older than they are. In the 1980s, Little, Brown, owned by Penguin, canceled their permission for Grosset & Dunlap to publish the Burgess books. For most of the titles, the Harrison Cady illustrations commissioned by Grosset & Dunlap have never been published since then. An exception is the 2000 Dover edition of ''The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver'', which has all of them (the illustrations in most of the Dover editions are not the Grosset & Dunlap commissions).<ref name="Thornton W. Burgess 2000, page 40"/>
In 1963 Grosset & Dunlap published ''Babies'', written and illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa, which was one of the earliest children's books to use multiracial characters.
In 1968, Grosset & Dunlap was acquired by conglomerate National General Pictures, run by Gene Klein.<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | title = Grosset & Dunlap, Publisher, Acquired by National General | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2019-01-20 | date = 1968-03-15 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1968/03/15/archives/grosset-dunlap-publisher-acquired-by-national-general.html | url-access=limited}}</ref> National General was acquired by American Financial Group in 1973.<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | last = Wilcke | first = Gerd | title = $32.7‐Million Deal Completed By British Unit of Sterling Drug | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2019-01-20 | date = 1973-11-08 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/08/archives/327million-deal-completed-by-british-unit-of-sterling-drug.html | url-access=limited}}</ref>
In the 1970s and 1980s, the company's Charter Books (also known as Ace Charter) imprint published mystery fiction, most notably the Leslie Charteris series ''The Saint''.
In 1974, film and television company Filmways bought the company from American Financial Group (Bantam was sold separately).<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | title = Filmways to Acquire Grosset Dunlap | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2019-01-20 | date = 1974-07-31 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/31/archives/filmways-to-acquire-grosset-dunlap-loews-application-on-cna-cleared.html | url-access=limited}}</ref> During this time, Grosset & Dunlap acquired a new paperback publisher, Ace Books. Filmways sold Grosset & Dunlap to G. P. Putnam's Sons when Orion Pictures acquired Filmways in 1982.<ref name="Corry"/><ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0362-4331 | last = McDowell | first = Edwin | title = Grosset & Dunlap Being Sold | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2019-01-20 | date = 1982-05-22 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/22/books/grosset-dunlap-being-sold.html | url-access=limited}}</ref>
In 1978, the company drew a great deal of attention with its publication of ''RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon''. The preparation of the book was alluded to briefly in the 2008 Oscar-nominated film ''Frost/Nixon'', which chronicled and dramatized a series of interviews with the ex-president conducted by British television personality David Frost. Shortly after the aforementioned interviews aired to great publicity, the copy editor whom Grosset & Dunlap sent to San Clemente to work on the book with Nixon's staff was named as David Frost.
Grosset & Dunlap also published a series of literary classics which they called the Illustrated Junior Library. This series, published with colorful illustrations, included such titles as ''Heidi'', an expurgated edition of ''Gulliver's Travels'', ''Swiss Family Robinson'', ''The Boy's King Arthur'' (published under the title ''King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table''), and ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (a 1956 reprinting of the 1944 edition with new illustrations by Evelyn Copelman, and published under the title ''The Wizard of Oz'').
Putnam merged with Penguin Group in 1996.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/5618/index1.html|title=Now for the Grann Finale|last=Maneker|first=Marion|date=January 1, 2002|website=New York Magazine|access-date=2018-05-23}}</ref> In 2013, Penguin merged with Bertelsmann's Random House, forming Penguin Random House.<ref name="RBMLibrary">{{cite web|last1=Emily Minehart and Meg Hixon|title=Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|url=http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=943&q=&rootcontentid=90949|website=www.library.illinois.edu|publisher=University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref>
Today, Grosset & Dunlap's new juvenile series include ''Dish'', ''Camp Confidential'', ''Flirt'', ''Katie Kazoo'', ''Dragon Slayers' Academy'', and Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver's ''Hank Zipzer'' series.
==Book series== {{columns-list|colwidth=30em| * ''Beverly Gray'' (1934–1955) * ''Bomba, the Jungle Boy'' (1926–1938) * ''Buddy Books for Boys'' * ''The Bobbsey Twins'' * ''Books of Distinction'' (1926–1937) * ''Cameo Classics'' (1935–1948)<ref>[https://seriesofseries.com/cameo-classics/ Cameo Classics], seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.</ref> * ''Camp Confidential'' * ''Cherry Ames'' (1943–1968) * ''Chip Hilton'' (1948–1966) * ''Christopher Cool'' (1967–1969) * ''The Dana Girls'' (1934–1979) * ''Every Boy's Library'' (1899–1920) * ''Ferret Library'' (1935)<ref>[https://seriesofseries.com/ferret-library/ Ferret Library], seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.</ref> * ''Hal Keen'' * ''Hank Zipzer'' * ''The Hardy Boys'' * ''Honey Bunch''<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/honey-bunch-grosset-and-dunlap.html Honey Bunch (Grosset & Dunlap)], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.</ref> * ''Judy Bolton'' (1932–1967) * ''Ken Holt'' (1949–1963) * ''The Listener's Music Library''<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/listeners-music-library.html The Listener's Music Library], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.</ref> * ''The Little Music Library''<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/little-music-library.html The Little Music Library (Grosset & Dunlap) - Book Series List], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.</ref> * ''The Lone Ranger'' (1936–1956) * ''Macmillan's Standard Library'' (1912–1915)<ref>[https://seriesofseries.com/macmillans-standard-library/ Macmillan's Standard Library], seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.</ref> * ''Nancy Drew Mystery Stories''<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/nancy-drew-mystery-stories-grosset-and-dunlap.html Nancy Drew Mystery Stories (Grosset & Dunlap)], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.</ref> * ''Novels of Distinction'' (1928–1942)<ref>[https://seriesofseries.com/novels-of-distinction/ Novels of Distinction], seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.</ref> * ''Pee-Wee Harris'' * ''Peggy Lane Theater Stories'' (1962–1965) * ''Rick Brant'' (1947–1968) * ''The Rover Boys'' * ''Roy Blakeley'' * ''Signature Biographies''<ref>[https://reshelvingalexandria.com/pub/series/signature-biographies Signature Biographies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925111754/https://reshelvingalexandria.com/pub/series/signature-biographies|date=2020-09-25}}, reshelvingalexandria.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.</ref> * ''Skippy Dare'' * ''Tempo Books''<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/tempo-books-grosset-and-dunlap.html Tempo Books (Grosset & Dunlap)], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 3 October 2025.</ref> * ''Tom Corbett, Space Cadet'' (1952–1956) * ''Tom Slade'' * ''Tom Swift'' (1910–1941) * ''Tom Swift Jr.'' (1954–1971) * ''Tom Quest'' (1947–1955) * ''The Universal Library''<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/universal-library-grosset-and-dunlap.html Universal Library (Grosset & Dunlap) - Book Series List], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.</ref> * ''Westy Martin'' * ''We Were There'' (1955–1963)<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/we-were-there-grosset-and-dunlap.html We Were There (Grosset & Dunlap)], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 3 October 2025.</ref> * ''Who Was...?'' }}
==See also== * Wonder Books
==Notes and references== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== * [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2034385/grosset-and-dunlap/ Grosset & Dunlap] at Penguin Random House
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosset and Dunlap}} Category:Grosset & Dunlap books Category:1974 mergers and acquisitions Category:1982 mergers and acquisitions Category:Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Category:Penguin Random House Category:Publishing companies established in 1898 Category:Stratemeyer Syndicate