Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products.[3] The company had editorial offices in New York City and Los Angeles, California. Western Publishing became Golden Books Family Entertainment in 1996. Little Golden Books remains as an imprint of Penguin Random House. Golden Guides and Golden Field Guides are published by St. Martin's Press.
"Golden Books" redirects here. For other uses, see Golden Book.Company type
Children's and family entertainment
August 16, 2001[2]
Folded into Golden Books Family Entertainment
1220 Mound Avenue,
3 (New York City, Los Angeles, Poughkeepsie, New York)
United States
- Whitman Publishing Company
- Gold Key Comics
- K.K. Publications
Divisions[edit]
Comic books[edit]
With licenses for characters from Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Walter Lantz Studio, Western produced comics based on these characters, as well as original works. The editorial staff at the West Coast office over the years included: Eleanor Packer, Alice Cobb, Chase Craig, Zetta Devoe, Del Connell and Bill Spicer. Bernie Zuber was an editorial artist, a position similar to that of a production artist, from 1957 until 1982.[23] Oskar Lebeck, Matt Murphy and Wally Green are among those who oversaw the East Coast office.
From 1938 to 1962, Western's properties were published under a partnership with Dell Comics, which also handled the distribution and financing of the comic books. In 1962, Western ended this partnership and published comics itself, establishing the imprint Gold Key Comics. As Murphy explained the split:
Western Publishing Company Inc. owned dozens of trademarks over the years, many of which have now expired.[39] A sampling of Western's trademarks follows. Some like "Golden" for example were registered multiple times for different uses (separated by "/"). Refer to the website cited for a complete listing of all trademarks.