Hawthorn Books
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Hawthorn Books was an American publishing firm located in New York City that operated from 1952 to 1977. Originally founded as a subsidiary of Prentice-Hall, Hawthorn Books went out of business after its publishing assets were acquired by E. P. Dutton.
Hawthorn Books was founded in 1952 as a subsidiary of Prentice-Hall by Kenneth S. Giniger, editor in chief Prentice‐Hall's Trade Book Division. With its offices located at 70 Fifth Ave, New York, Hawthorn Books became a leading publisher of Catholic books including such works as the 150‐volume Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism.[1] The firm announced its plan to publish the English language version of the 150 volume encyclopedia in early 1958, after 40 volumes had already been published in France.[2]
Then on April 11, 1958, Hawthorn Books presented to Pope Pius XII the first copy of the St. Peter's edition of a Catholic Bible that also included commentary from Rev. R. Byson;[3] this book was a leather-bound edition, limited to 3000 copies, of a large folio format Bible.[4] The Pope was so impressed with this new edition of the Bible that he wrote a note in which he stated that, "We warmly welcome this new edition of a Family Bible" for English-speaking Roman Catholics.[5]
The company rapidly expanded its catalog and published a total of 73 various titles in 1963 alone. While under the leadership of Kenneth Giniger, it was his intention to have Hawthorn Books publish non-fiction books "of lasting value."[6]