Private company

Henry Holt and Company

Logo: ™/®Macmillan Publishers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

American book-publishing company

Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in the fields of American and international fiction, biography, history, politics, science, psychology, health, and children's literature.2 It is part of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1866Founded1
  • Industrycomics industry, publishing1
  • HeadquartersNew York City1
  • Founded inNew York City1
  • Websitehenryholt.com

Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in the fields of American and international fiction, biography, history, politics, science, psychology, health, and children's literature. In the U.S., it operates under Macmillan Publishers.2

Corporate structure

Henry Holt and Company is part of a group headed by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. 100 entities, 14 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Holtzbrinck Publishing Group Stuttgart, Germany
    • GvH Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft XXXIII mbH Stuttgart, Germany
    • Henry Holt and Company New York City
      • Metropolitan Books Subsidiary · United States
    • Macmillan Publishers Basingstoke, United Kingdom
      • Palgrave Macmillan Subsidiary · Basingstoke
      • St. Martin's Press Subsidiary · New York City
        • St. Martin's Griffin Subsidiary
        • Thomas Dunne Books Subsidiary · United States
      • Tor Publishing Group Subsidiary · Equitable Building, United States
        • Forge Books Subsidiary
        • Tor Books Subsidiary · Equitable Building
        • Nightfire Subsidiary
        • Orb Books Subsidiary
        • Tor Essentials Subsidiary · New York City, United States
        • Tor Fantasy Subsidiary · New York City, United States
        • Tordotcom Publishing Subsidiary
      • PAN MACMILLAN PUBLISHING INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED Subsidiary · 99.99% · New Delhi, India
      • Feiwel and Friends Subsidiary
      • Figshare Subsidiary
      • Flatiron Books Subsidiary · United States
      • Kingfisher Books Subsidiary
      • Macmillan Audio Subsidiary · United States
      • Macmillan London Subsidiary
      • Macmillan Nig. Publishers Ltd. Subsidiary · Lagos, Nigeria
      • Mantle Subsidiary
      • Red Globe Press Subsidiary
      • Square Fish Subsidiary
      • St. Martin's Publishing Group Subsidiary
      • Tor UK Subsidiary
    • Springer Nature Subsidiary · 53% · Berlin, Germany
      • Apress Subsidiary · New York City
      • BioMed Central Subsidiary · London
      • J.B. Metzler Subsidiary · Stuttgart, Germany
      • Macmillan Education Subsidiary · London
      • Nature Portfolio Subsidiary · London
      • Prensa Científica Subsidiary
      • Springer Medizin Subsidiary · Berlin, Germany
      • Springer Nature (Netherlands) Subsidiary · Dordrecht, Netherlands
      • Springer Nature America Subsidiary · New York City
      • Springer Science+Business Media Subsidiary · Luxembourg
      • Springer VS Subsidiary · Wiesbaden
      • SPRINGER NATURE CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER GMBH Subsidiary · 100% · Heidelberg, Germany
      • ASA Press Subsidiary · Switzerland
      • Scientific American Subsidiary
      • Springer Healthcare Subsidiary · United Kingdom
      • Springer Nature (China) Subsidiary · China
      • Springer Nature Limited Subsidiary · London, United Kingdom
      • Springer Nature Switzerland AG Subsidiary · Switzerland
      • SPRINGER NATURE TWO GMBH Subsidiary · Berlin, Germany
        • SPRINGER NATURE DEUTSCHLAND GMBH Subsidiary · 100% · Berlin, Germany
          • 1 more
      • Springer Vienna Subsidiary
      • SPRINGER-VERLAG GMBH Subsidiary · Vienna, Austria
      • SPRINGER-VERLAG GMBH Subsidiary · Berlin, Germany
      • SpringerOpen Subsidiary · Switzerland
      • STAMPDEW LIMITED Subsidiary · London, United Kingdom
    • Argon Verlag Subsidiary · Berlin, Germany
    • Digital Science Subsidiary · London
      • metaphacts Subsidiary · Walldorf, Germany
      • Altmetric Subsidiary · United Kingdom
      • Dimensions Subsidiary
      • Ontopic Subsidiary
    • Droemer Knaur Subsidiary · Munich
    • Farrar, Straus and Giroux Subsidiary · New York City
      • North Point Press Subsidiary · San Francisco
      • MCD | Farrar, Straus and Giroux Subsidiary
      • Sarah Crichton Books Subsidiary
    • Kiepenheuer & Witsch Subsidiary · Cologne
    • Macmillan Learning Subsidiary · New York City
    • NetDoktor Subsidiary · Munich, Germany
    • Picador Subsidiary · London
    • Prognos AG Subsidiary · Basel
    • Rowohlt Verlag Subsidiary · Hamburg
    • S. Fischer Verlag Subsidiary · Frankfurt am Main
    • ZEIT Sprachen Subsidiary · Planegg, Germany
    • Zeitverlag Subsidiary · Hamburg, Germany
    • DIGITAL SCIENCE UK LIMITED Subsidiary · 88% · London, United Kingdom
    • Die Zeit Subsidiary · Germany
    • Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (United States) Subsidiary · Delaware, United States
    • Neobooks Subsidiary · Germany

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Founded by Frederick Leypoldt and Henry Holt in 1866, in New York City.1

The company publishes under several imprints, including Metropolitan Books, Times Books, Owl Books, and Picador. It also publishes under the name of Holt Paperbacks.

The company has published works by renowned authors Erich Fromm, Paul Auster, Hilary Mantel, Robert Frost, Hermann Hesse, Norman Mailer, Herta Müller, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ivan Turgenev, and Noam Chomsky.

From 1951 to 1985, Holt published the magazine Field & Stream.

Holt merged with Rinehart & Company of New York and the John C. Winston Company of Philadelphia in 1960 to become Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The Wall Street Journal reported on March 1 that Holt stockholders had approved the merger, last of the three approvals. "Henry Holt is the surviving concern, but will be known as Holt, Rinehart, Winston, Inc."

CBS purchased the company in 1967, but in 1985, the group split, and the retail publishing arm, along with the Holt name, was sold to the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group based in Stuttgart, which has retained Holt as a subsidiary publishing under its original name and in the US it is part of Macmillan Publishers.

The educational publishing arm, which retained the Holt, Rinehart and Winston name, was sold to Harcourt.

From Wikipedia’s article on Henry Holt and Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Leadership

Who has led Henry Holt and Company, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Subsidiaries

  • Metropolitan Books

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston1

Former names

  • Holt and Williams1871 to 18731
  • Leypoldt, Holt and Williams1870 to 18711
  • Leypoldt and Holt1866 to 18701

Timeline

  1. 1985Acquired Acquired by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group1
  2. 1873Renamed Name changed to Henry Holt and Company1
  3. 1871Renamed Name changed to Holt and Williams1
  4. 1870Renamed Name changed to Leypoldt, Holt and Williams1
  5. 1866Founded Founded in New York City1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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